East Coast Park After the Tiles

Once you've had your fill of the Peranakan terraces in Katong and Joo Chiat, head down to the water they sit beside. East Coast Park runs for 13 kilometres along the shore, 180 hectares of cycle paths and beach, and it's free and open 24 hours. Start at Area C4, by the bike-rental row, and ride toward the lagoon and Bedok. The first choice is when: a guided ride at sunrise, or your own bike once the rental counter opens.

Marine Parade MRT (TE26) on the Thomson-East Coast Line is the closest station to East Coast Road and the shophouses. The sand is further on, a short taxi ride away or a bus down East Coast Parkway, and if you already have a bike, the park connector takes you straight in. On the East-West Line, get off at Eunos or Paya Lebar and change to a bus. Dakota MRT is the stop for Old Airport Road, about ten minutes from the tiles.

Sunrise from Area C4

We'd ride early, while the path is at its emptiest. The sunrise cycle meets at 6.30am with the bikes sorted for you, and it finishes over kopi, the local coffee that comes sweetened with condensed milk unless you order it otherwise. To ride on your own, GoCycling at Area C4 rents bikes daily from 8am to 10pm, with adult singles from S$10 an hour.

The path runs from Marine Cove toward Bedok. Wear a helmet and keep to the signed park connector, because East Coast Parkway alongside the park is a highway. Keep riding toward the airport and you'll see planes on their final approach over the water. Try to be off the bike before midday, when the heat on the open path gets serious and the lagoon is a far better place to be. The Park Connector Network links East Coast to the rest of the island, and a rented SG bike gets you onto its Eastern Coastal loop.

A few corners of the park are being worked on. The footpath to the C4 car park is closed for widening until 21 November. At Area C1, the dog run is closed for upgrading until 6 November and the footpath to the C1 car park until 31 October, while the Parkland Green lawn there is being returfed until 30 October. Toilet E1 stays shut until 31 October as well.

The lagoon and the food village

Swim in the lagoon and keep the open beach for sitting, cycling and barbecues. Whenever you go in the water, cover up, and check NParks' jellyfish advisory for the southern coast first. Lunch or an early dinner is a few steps away at East Coast Lagoon Food Village, a hawker centre on the sand, made up of small stalls where you queue at the counter you want and carry your own tray. Come for grilled stingray and satay with a coconut to drink. There's no booking, cash is handy, and the tray goes back to the rack when you're done. We'd eat at 11.30am or 5.30pm rather than at 1pm.

For a longer evening, book one of the 74 barbecue pits along the beachfront in Areas C to G before you haul the charcoal down. A booking costs S$12 to S$20 depending on the area. On weekends the pits fill from 5pm, while weekday evenings are almost empty. Camping is allowed in Areas D and G only, with a free permit. Tents go 5 metres apart, and open fires aren't allowed, camping stoves included.

The lagoon side is also where you get out on the water. Stand-up paddleboarding is at its gentlest in the morning, before the afternoon sea breeze kicks up a chop, so book an early slot. Renting a board needs a certificate, which is worth knowing before you turn up. Windsurfing tasters run from Aloha Sea Sports Centre beside the Lagoon hawker centre, for anyone who'd rather let the wind do the work.

For something faster, Singapore Wake Park pulls you round the lagoon on a cable with no boat involved. The System A beginner lesson takes up to four riders, you must be able to swim, and there are nine lessons a day, so book ahead. Riders who can already stand on the board take the System B or C cables instead, and weekday mornings are quieter.

A water-ski taster is the boat version, pulled behind a boat rather than by a cable. Expect to fall a lot at first.

Further east, at Changi, the Constant Wind Sailing Taster is a two-hour hands-on lesson where you work the ropes yourself. It needs four people, so round up three friends, and wind conditions can cancel a session.

Crab on East Coast Parkway

East Coast Seafood Centre, at 1206 East Coast Parkway, has long been where the east goes for crab by the sea, and NParks is redeveloping it. The work closes the flagship that Jumbo opened here in 1987. For Jumbo's chilli crab, go to its Riverside Point branch at 30 Merchant Road instead, open daily from 11.30am to 11pm with last orders at 10.15pm, and it's worth booking. That's on the river in town, so plan it as a dinner of its own rather than the end of a beach day.

For crab near the sand, our pick is Long Beach, which makes the case for black pepper crab over chilli. It's moving from the seafood centre to Coastal PlayGrove, inside the park, so check where it's cooking when you book, and book ahead for weekends. If a crab dinner feels like a lot after a morning on the bike, the stingray back at the lagoon is cheaper and needs no booking at all.

Coastal PlayGrove with children

Coastal PlayGrove in Area B is where to bring anyone small. Its water play runs from 8am to 8pm, Tuesday to Sunday, and is closed on Mondays except public holidays. The Vertical Challenge keeps the same days, from 8am to 10pm, and the slides are open daily from 8am to 10pm, though they're best left alone when wet.

Further along the coast, the KPMG Wellness Garden in Area D5 is open 24 hours.

From the tiles to the sand

With one day for the east, do Katong in the morning and the park in the afternoon. The Peranakan walk meets at 112 Katong at 9.30am and reaches the terraces of Koon Seng Road ahead of the tour coaches, with kueh, the bite-sized cakes sold by the piece, and a bowl of laksa along the way. Afterwards, take a taxi or the park connector down to the lagoon for stingray, or save yourself for a booked crab dinner at 7pm. The terraces also get a slower morning of their own.

If the lagoon can wait, Katong has quieter afternoons too. The batik workshop teaches wax-resist dyeing in a small group over three hours, with a finished piece to carry out at the end. Goodman Arts Centre at Mountbatten fills an old school with artists' studios and opens them up on some weekends. Give it about 90 minutes plus the ride over.

The Eurasian Heritage Gallery tells the story of Singapore's Eurasians, the part of the neighbourhood the Peranakan walk leaves out. For lunch among residents rather than on the sand, Marine Parade Food Centre has a few stalls with loyal followings and no sea view.

Two more residents' hawker centres are close by: Haig Road is an easy walk from Joo Chiat, and Dunman is another neighbourhood regular.

Further east

Inland, Bedok has hawker mornings of its own. Bedok 85 is the east side's breakfast market, and the hawker centre at Bedok Interchange has plenty of stalls with the bus interchange upstairs.

Bedok Reservoir has a gravel loop and Forest Adventure, a high-ropes course over the water that needs closed shoes and a morning booking. A walk round Bedok Reservoir covers both, and it fills a morning by itself.

Up the coast, Pasir Ris Park has a mangrove boardwalk, with Wild Wild Wet next door for a day when the lagoon isn't wet enough. The waterpark is closed on Tuesdays, and off-peak adult tickets are S$29.

Changi Point is further east again, with nasi lemak (coconut rice with sambal) and the bumboats, small wooden motorboats that cross to Pulau Ubin. It's worth it if you still have a morning, but give Ubin a day of its own rather than squeezing it between a 6.30am ride and a crab dinner.

Sunset over the tankers

Stay for the light. As the day goes, you're looking out at tankers on the horizon and planes lining up for Changi. The night cycle rides the morning's path once the heat has gone out of it, and jetty fishing at dusk is the slowest way to watch the water.

Pack a towel for the lagoon and some cash for the stingray, and wait until the ships on the horizon are only lights.