When it rains
Rain here comes down hard and usually clears within the hour, so one indoor stop nearby is all the backup you need.
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Every cool thing to do in Singapore
Start with breakfast at a hawker stall and end by the bay after dark, with a whole island in between.
Late nights are for supper
Something for every kind of day
Here’s where we’d go when it rains, or when you’ve only got a morning. Day plans lay out whole routes, stop by stop.
After midnight
Late nights are for supper
Supper, the meal after dinner, is how plenty of Singapore ends the day. We’d go to Satay Street beside Lau Pa Sat, where Boon Tat Street closes to cars at 7pm and fills with grills. For a late walk with a view, Henderson Waves is lit until 2am.
On a Monday
A few museums and parks take Monday off, including the TreeTop Walk unless it’s a public holiday. Chinatown’s temples and the zoo keep their usual hours.
With just a morning
Wet markets, where the neighbourhood shops for fish and vegetables, are liveliest early, and the temples are quieter before the heat and the lunch queues build.
With just an evening
Garden Rhapsody lights the Supertrees at 7.45pm and 8.45pm. We’d catch the early one, then walk over to Event Plaza for the 9pm Spectra, a light-and-water show on the bay. Both are free.
Fits today
For a green day
The Botanic Gardens are an easy orchid stroll, and MacRitchie needs walking shoes. Pulau Ubin is a short hop from Changi by bumboat, the little wooden ferry. From Venus Drive it’s 45 to 60 minutes on foot to the TreeTop Walk, with last entry at 4.45pm, so we’d set off before 1pm and add a second green stop only when there’s time to be back by 6pm.
For a first weekend
We’d give the first morning to breakfast at Maxwell and a slow walk round Katong, out east. Universal Studios takes a full day and its own ticket.
October and November are the inter-monsoon months, with afternoon and early-evening thunderstorms, sometimes severe, and generally more rain than the March to May break. NEA’s weather site has more on each season. Hours do change, so it’s worth a look at the venue’s own page before you set off.
Read before you go
Borrow a day we’ve already planned, wet or dry.
For your first weekend
We’d give the forest the early morning and the bay the evening. For the whole weekend, read the first-timer story.
PreviewMacRitchie Dawn Trek & Treetop Walk
Dawn in the forest, then the TreeTop Walk before the crowds
3 hours·MacRitchie·S$59
RequestKatong Peranakan Walk & Laksa Lab
Katong's Peranakan terraces, then a laksa you cook yourself
3 hours·East Coast·S$75
PreviewHawker Champions After Dark
Eat through Old Airport Road in the evening with a local ex-chef
3.5 hours·Geylang·S$89
Neighborhoods
Choose an area to see where to eat and how to get there.
Marina Bay
The skyline, the lights, the free shows
Chinatown
Temples, chicken rice and shophouse rooftops
Sentosa
Free beaches, big-ticket parks and an old fort
Katong & Joo Chiat
Peranakan terraces, kueh, laksa and the sea
Little India
Tekka's market, Serangoon temples, banana leaf
Kampong Glam
Sultan Mosque's gold dome and the lanes around it
Jalan Besar & Kallang
Hardware shops, late dim sum and The Kallang
Orchard
Malls, a Peranakan terrace and a sky deck
More things to do
See all
TicketsUniversal Studios Singapore
Seven themed zones, including Minion Land
Full day·Sentosa·From S$76
TicketsMarina Bay Sands SkyPark
57 floors up, 360° of Singapore
1 hour·Marina Bay·From S$35
TicketsSingapore Cable Car Sky Pass
Mount Faber Line and Sentosa Line, round trip
2 hours·Harbourfront·From S$35
TicketsJewel Canopy Park
Level 5 gardens and slides above the Rain Vortex
2 hours·Changi·From S$8
TicketsNational Gallery Singapore
Southeast Asian art in two national monuments
3 hours·Civic District·From S$20
TicketsNational Museum of Singapore
The nation's story, in the 1887 building
2 hours·Dhoby Ghaut·From S$20
TicketsLee Kong Chian Natural History Museum
Three dinosaur skeletons on the NUS Kent Ridge campus
2 hours·Kent Ridge·From S$27
TicketsMINT Museum of Toys
50,000 vintage toys across five floors
1.5 hours·Bugis·From S$30
Plan the day you’ve got
Most of a good day here comes down to the weekday and the weather.