No direct flight? How to reach smaller cities from Singapore

Many of the best places, like Dali, Kanazawa, Gyeongju or Chiang Rai, have no direct flight from Singapore. That doesn't make them hard to reach; you just need to look at the problem differently.

1. Look at every airport nearby

Your destination's own airport may have few routes while a bigger airport two hours away has many. Dali is a good example: a direct flight to Kunming plus a two-hour high-speed train is often quicker overall than flying into Dali itself.

2. Connect through a hub

The fastest one-stop routes usually pass through a big hub that already has a direct flight from Singapore: Kunming, Chengdu or Shanghai for western China; Seoul or Busan for the rest of Korea; Bangkok for northern Thailand; Tokyo or Osaka for regional Japan.

3. Fly, then take the train

High-speed rail in China, Japan and Korea is often better than a second flight: city-centre stations, no check-in queue and fewer delays. Japan's shinkansen links Tokyo with Kanazawa in about two and a half hours; Korea's KTX links Seoul and Busan in under three.

4. One ticket or two?

• One ticket for the whole journey: your bags are checked through, and if the first flight is late, the airline rebooks you.
• Separate tickets: often cheaper, but you collect bags, check in again, and miss the second flight at your own cost if the first is late. Leave a long gap.

Let the planner do it

The trip planner checks every airport within about 400 km of each stop, lists direct flights, one-stop connections and fly-then-train options with estimated door-to-door times, and links each one to a live search for your date.

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