Bishan, Bright Hill and the Kallang River

Come out of Bright Hill MRT, on the Thomson-East Coast Line, and in about five minutes you're at the Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 entrance to Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park. That's the way in we'd pick. Bishan MRT, on the North-South and Circle Lines, works too, and the river is a short walk away once you're past Junction 8 and its cinema. Either way you end up beside the Kallang River, which used to run through here in a concrete canal and has since been restored into a river you can walk along. The park stretches 62 hectares over more than 3km of it, and it's open 24 hours.

Otters turn up sometimes, though nobody can promise them, and herons are the likelier sighting. The long lawn is well used by the people who live in the blocks around it. Get to the river by about 9am, while it's still cool. Carry water, because it's already hot by mid-morning.

The river and Recycle Hill

Climb Recycle Hill first for the lookout over the whole park, then follow the water. The landscape pond, more than 2 hectares, was once a commercial fishing pond. The Butterfly Habitat holds more than 30 species, the Tawny Coster and Plain Tiger among them, and it's worth walking into rather than admiring from a bridge. More than 90 bird species have been logged here. Purple Herons and White-breasted Waterhens are on the list, and so is the Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker. By the water playground, the Cleansing Biotope is a bed of plants that filters the water before children splash in it.

The paths are wheelchair accessible and easy going for older walkers, and dogs are welcome on a leash. There's a dog run, whose lights switch off at 10.30pm, and a McDonald's inside the park with a water point for dogs. Cycling on the bridges is discouraged, so walk your bike across. Line-fishing isn't allowed in the river or in the Dragonfly and Lotus ponds. If the otters are out, keep your drone in its bag and give them room.

Two bridges are closed for improvement works: the one closest to Bishan Park Condominium until 31 December, and the one near Dragonfly Pond until 4 December. Follow the signed detours. The Land Transport Authority is also building the North-South Corridor tunnel and the Cross Island Line's Teck Ghee station through the park, which stays open around the works. The old entrance at the corner of Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 and Marymount Road has been closed since 2020, so use the new entrance along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1.

If you're driving, Carpark A has 130 lots, Carpark B has 55 and Carpark C has 78, including 10 for season holders. Parking fees apply, and there are also 48 bicycle lots. The park sits on the Central Urban Loop of the Park Connector Network, so on a bike you can carry on towards Toa Payoh or Upper Thomson. On foot in the midday heat, we'd save that for another day.

Breakfast at Shunfu Mart

Shunfu Mart at 320 Shunfu Road is the hawker centre we'd start with, a hall of small cooked-food stalls. It opened in June 2000, was renovated in 2022 and is typically open 6am to 8pm, though most of the cooked-food stalls are winding down by mid-afternoon. From Marymount MRT, on the Circle Line, take Exit A and walk about five minutes along Shunfu Road. Upper Thomson MRT is about seven minutes away. Get there before 11am, and return your tray when you're done. The centre closes for NEA cleaning on 14 December, so check the schedule before you take a taxi across.

Upstairs, Mei Zhen Hakka Delicacies at #02-26 makes soon kueh, steamed Hakka dumplings filled with turnip, along with yam cake and glutinous rice. It's typically open 6.30am to 1pm and closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Wak Limah at #02-15 does mee rebus, noodles in a thick sweet gravy, and lontong in the mornings. Chocolat N' Spice at #02-12 is the muffin stall, typically open Tuesday to Saturday from 7.30am to 2.30pm. Leong Hainanese Chicken Rice at #02-22 typically runs 10am to 7pm and closes on Mondays, but its Tuesday hours are unclear, so check before you go.

AMK 628 and the town gardens

AMK 628 at 628 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 is open again after a round of improvement works, and it's the lunch we'd pair with the river. The centre is typically open 6.30am to 9.30pm, but each stall keeps its own hours, and those are the ones to plan around. Song Heng Fishball Minced Meat Noodle at #01-75 typically opens 5.30am to noon, Tuesday to Saturday, and closes on Sundays and Mondays. A dry mee pok, the flat egg noodles, starts at about S$4. Check the queue before you set off.

At #01-76, Sumo Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee cooks the wetter style and is typically closed on Wednesdays. Ho Bee Roasted Food at #01-84 is where the queue forms. If you're coming on the North-South Line, get off at Yio Chu Kang MRT rather than Ang Mo Kio, because it's closer, and walk through the estate.

Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West is the walk after lunch if you've still got the legs: 21 hectares of hill forest, open 24 hours, opposite the town library on Avenue 6. North-South Corridor works have closed one section and taken out the pond, and an interim path runs past them. The hill itself stays open.

Ang Mo Kio Town Garden East is smaller, 5 hectares on a former rubber estate behind Ang Mo Kio MRT, with spice trees and a sand playground. The stairs up from the station are still fenced off. There's more on both gardens in Ang Mo Kio Town Garden.

Kong Meng San and Harmony Centre

Kong Meng San at 88 Bright Hill Road is about five minutes on foot from Bright Hill MRT. It's free, and it's a working monastery campus, so photography isn't allowed indoors. We'd give it a morning of its own: be at Bright Hill around 9am and reach Shuang Lin in Toa Payoh by noon. The monasteries story has the full route. Toa Payoh Town Park is closed until 2030, so come back to the river lawn here when you want grass after the monasteries.

Harmony Centre, at Masjid An-Nahdhah in Bishan, is an interfaith gallery and a good stop if a child has started asking questions the river can't answer. Call ahead, and dress modestly.

Up Upper Thomson Road

Thomson Nature Park is forest rather than lawn: 50 hectares, open 7am to 7pm every day, Mondays included. It's a key conservation site for the critically endangered Raffles' Banded Langur and a buffer for the Central Catchment forest. Among the trees are the ruins of a Hainanese village that stood here from the 1930s to the 1980s. Arrive when the gates open at 7am for your best chance of langurs, and move quietly if you'd like to see a lesser mouse-deer.

Pets, bikes and fishing aren't allowed, and nor are PMDs, the e-scooters and the like. Stay on the trails and keep food out of sight. Wheelchair access reaches only the entrance node. The carpark on Upper Thomson Road has 34 lots. Lentor MRT is the listed station, but it's 2.3km from the park along Yio Chu Kang Road, an unpleasant walk in the heat, so take a bus to Upper Thomson Road instead.

Springleaf Nature Park covers 6 hectares along Nee Soon Road and Upper Thomson Road, and it's open 24 hours. From Springleaf MRT, walk 550 metres along Upper Thomson Road against the traffic, past the Shell station. It has a 21-lot carpark, and groups of more than 30 need a permit, applied for a month ahead. Keep to the marked trails, and keep an eye on Sungei Seletar, where otters are possible but never a sure thing.

Sembawang Hills Food Centre at 590 Upper Thomson Road is where we'd eat in the evening up here. It dates from 1974, has 36 stalls and is typically open 6am to 9pm. Despite the name, the station to use is Mayflower MRT. It closes for NEA cleaning on 12 October. For a sit-down dinner, Mellben, known for its white-pepper crab, is where the north-east still books a table.

A day in Bishan

Here's how we'd string it together. Eat at Shunfu around 7am on a day Mei Zhen is open, which rules out Mondays and Tuesdays. Walk the river around 9am, up Recycle Hill and through the Butterfly Habitat. Reach 628 by 11.30am if you want Song Heng before it sells out, or save it for another morning. If incense is the point of the trip, swap Shunfu for Kong Meng San. Chasing langurs instead? Your best chance is at Thomson Nature Park when it opens at 7am, but it stays open until 7pm, so a walk from about 4pm followed by dinner at Sembawang Hills works too.

Monday works better than you'd expect. Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park and Springleaf are open 24 hours, and Thomson Nature Park keeps its usual hours. The catch is the food. Mei Zhen and Leong at Shunfu both close on Mondays, and so does Song Heng at 628, so make it an early walk on the lawn and eat at whichever stalls are serving. Come back on a Wednesday for the soon kueh.

With a second day, Bidadari Park has its lake near Woodleigh MRT, and Toa Payoh Lorong 8 is Toa Payoh's town hawker centre. But if you only get one evening here, spend the end of it back on the river lawn, once the heat has gone out of the day.