Singapore on a Monday: What's Open

A lot of Singapore takes Monday off. Museums close and a few famous stalls keep their shutters down. Plenty stays open, though, and our pick for a first Monday is the city centre: the Singapore City Gallery when it opens at 9am, porridge at Maxwell, the National Gallery for the afternoon and a temple or a light show once the evening cools. The cost is Tian Tian's chicken rice, which can wait for another visit.

Here's what's shut on a typical Monday. Tian Tian at Maxwell is closed, and so is Chye Seng Huat Hardware, the coffee bar in an old hardware shop in Lavender. The HSBC TreeTop Walk and the Changi Chapel close on Mondays except public holidays, and the Science Centre opens on a Monday only when it's a public holiday or falls in the gazetted school holidays. The Indian Heritage Centre, the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum and the Former Ford Factory are closed, and so are the galleries at the Malay Heritage Centre.

Reflections at Bukit Chandu is usually closed on Mondays too. On the days it opens, adult visitors pay S$7 and concessions S$5, cashless, and it's free for Singaporeans and PRs. Two places are shut every day of the week: Baba House on Neil Road closed for restoration in May 2025 and stays closed until 2027, and the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall is closed until 2027 as well. Sri Mariamman opens on Mondays but closes through the middle of the day, which shapes the plan more than any museum does.

Morning on Maxwell Road

Start at the Singapore City Gallery in the URA Centre at 45 Maxwell Road. It's free and open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm, closed on Sundays and public holidays. The centrepiece is a room-sized model of the island, and a three-minute projection of the city runs every 20 minutes. Leave food, bottled water and luggage outside, and book a slot if your group is bigger than 20. Maxwell MRT is a few minutes' walk away, and Tanjong Pagar about six.

Across Kadayanallur Street is Maxwell, a hawker centre: a covered hall of small cooked-food stalls around shared tables. You can study a model of the entire island in the morning and still find the one chicken rice stall you came for shuttered across the road. Zhen Zhen Porridge feeds the neighbourhood from dawn, so have a bowl of congee there instead.

Temples that keep Monday hours

Chinatown's temples keep ordinary hours. The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple at 288 South Bridge Road is free and open daily from 7am to 5pm, rooftop orchid garden included, and it's quietest soon after it opens. Sri Mariamman is a short walk away and opens from 6am to noon, then again from 6pm to 9pm, running to 9.15pm on Fridays. Visit before lunch, or come back once it reopens in the evening.

Up in Bras Basah, Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho at 178 Waterloo Street is open from 7am to 6.30pm with no midday break, about five minutes from Exit A of Bras Basah MRT. People come to shake the fortune sticks, which are available until 6.25pm, and photography stays outside. On Telok Ayer Street, Masjid Al-Abrar at number 192 is the Chulia mosque, a working prayer hall on the same street as Thian Hock Keng, so dress modestly and leave your shoes at the door. Sultan Mosque closes to visitors for Friday prayers and is open on Mondays.

Afternoon at the National Gallery

The National Gallery opens every day from 10am to 7pm, Mondays included, with last admission at 6.30pm. It's four minutes from Exit B of City Hall MRT, and an afternoon among its old courtrooms and paintings keeps you in the air-con through the hottest hours. Art Remembers fills Level 3 until 18 October and comes with General Admission, which is free for Singaporeans and PRs. The UOB Southeast Asia Gallery is closed until late 2027, and the rest of the building is plenty for one afternoon.

From 5 to 11 October, the Padang Atrium entrance facing the Padang is closed, so come in from Coleman Street or Parliament Place. The gallery keeps its usual hours through that week, though the carpark closes from 10am on 9 October. When you're done with the galleries, the roof decks look out over the Padang and the bay.

Straits Boulevard and Robertson Quay

SINGAPO人, the free exhibition on Level 2 of the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre at 1 Straits Boulevard, opens at 2pm on Mondays and runs until 8pm. From Tuesday to Sunday it's 10am to 8pm, public holidays included. It's walk-in with no registration, and Downtown or Raffles Place MRT gets you there. At weekends there are tours in English at 3pm and in Mandarin at 4pm, first come, first served on Level 2.

Up on the roof garden, Bit Bit Forest is lit and free from 10am to 10pm until 13 December, so this stop stretches comfortably past dark. With the City Gallery in the morning and SINGAPO人 after lunch, you've seen Maxwell Road and Straits Boulevard without leaving the city centre.

STPI, a print and paper workshop with a gallery, is at 41 Robertson Quay. It's free and open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 7pm, with last admission at 7pm, and closed on Sundays and public holidays. From Exit A of Fort Canning MRT it's about eight minutes along River Valley Road, or about 12 along the river from Exit C at Clarke Quay. STPI is on the river, not at Gillman Barracks, the old colonial army blocks under the Southern Ridges, so give the taxi Robertson Quay.

Chinatown towards evening

Later in the day, head back into Chinatown for the Chinatown Heritage Centre at 48 Pagoda Street, open daily from 10am to 8pm, with last entry at 7.15pm. Inside are recreated cubicles from the old shophouses, the narrow terraced buildings with a shop downstairs and rooms above. Book a timeslot before you go. Under-3s go free, and children under 12 need an adult with them. It closes for maintenance on 13 October.

Around 6pm, climb to Pearl's Hill City Park, 8.5 hectares of tembusu trees and a lotus pond around a service reservoir above Chinatown, with the CBD showing through the branches. It's open 24 hours and about 10 minutes uphill from Outram Park MRT, with no wheelchair access. For a bench without the climb, Hong Lim Park is the small civic lawn that holds Speakers' Corner. From either one, it's a short walk down to Sri Mariamman for its evening hours.

Evening by the Bay

If you'd rather end with a show, head to Gardens by the Bay. Garden Rhapsody, the free light and music show in the Supertree Grove, runs at 7.45pm and 8.45pm every night. Spectra plays over the water at Event Plaza at 8pm and 9pm from Sunday to Thursday, with an extra 10pm show on Fridays and Saturdays. We'd give the evening to one of them rather than rushing between the two. If you want more of the gardens first, last admission to Cloud Forest is 8pm, and Flower Dome, Floral Fantasy and the OCBC Skyway take their last visitors at 8.30pm.

Out at Changi, Jewel runs its Rain Vortex light and music show at 8pm and 9pm from Monday to Thursday, adding a 10pm show from Friday to Sunday, and the waterfall runs until 10pm.

Mandai, zoo to Night Safari

For a different kind of Monday, head north to Mandai. The Singapore Zoo opens from 8.30am to 6pm, with last entry at 5pm, and the orangutans are out at opening. The M2 bus from Exit A of Khatib MRT costs S$2.50, but its first run is at 8.30am, so take a taxi if you want to be at the gate when it opens. Check Mandai's page for any exhibit closures that day.

The Night Safari opens daily from 6pm to midnight, with last entry at 11.15pm. The walking trails and the first tram start at 7pm, and the last tram leaves at 11.20pm. Creatures of the Night plays at 7.30pm, 8.30pm and 9.30pm, and Embers of Night at 9pm, with an extra 10pm show on Fridays, Saturdays and public holidays. We'd treat the Night Safari as its own evening and Bird Paradise as its own day, and our Mandai guide helps you choose one park.

Monasteries in Bright Hill and Toa Payoh

Two monasteries among the HDB estates, Singapore's public housing, make a green, quiet Monday that needs no hiking boots. Kong Meng San at 88 Bright Hill Road is Singapore's largest Buddhist monastery, a free, working campus about five minutes from Bright Hill MRT. Dress modestly, take your shoes off in the halls and keep the camera away indoors. The vegetarian dining hall serves lunch for a donation, and it runs out; on weekdays it's finished by around 12.30pm.

Lian Shan Shuang Lin at 184 Jalan Toa Payoh dates from 1902 and is a National Monument, open daily from 8am to 5pm. From Toa Payoh MRT, bus 230M, 235 or 238 takes you about four stops to Opp Blk 26, and a walkway near Blk 27 leads in. You can also walk it in about 15 minutes, through a town busy with its own Monday.

Sembawang, Yishun and Kranji

Sembawang Hot Spring is a free foot bath in the north, 1.1 hectares and open from 7am to 7pm. On Mondays and Thursdays the cascading pool closes from 11am to 2pm for cleaning, so go at opening or after 2pm. The water comes out at around 70°C and cools through four tiers to about 40°C where you dip your toes, and the sulphur smell comes with it. Bring your own pail, plus eggs and a container if you want to use the egg-cooking station.

There's no carpark on site. The nearest is at 114 Yishun Ring Road, 450 metres or about eight minutes' walk away, and Canberra is the listed MRT station. Cycling isn't allowed inside the park, and groups of more than 20 need a permit. Weekends bring queues, so a weekday soon after 7am is the easy time to go. Our Sembawang Hot Spring guide has the rest.

Yishun Pond is the garden behind Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, 2.3 hectares open 24 hours, with a 14.5m spiral tower to climb. Visiting hours on the wards run from noon to 2pm and 5pm to 8pm, and the garden around the pond is open at any hour. There's more in our guide to the hospital garden.

If you came north for crocodiles rather than hot water, Kranji is the next stretch of countryside. Sungei Buloh opens at 7am, and Hay Dairies is open from 9am to 4pm on Mondays. Poison Ivy at Bollywood Farms does private dining only on Mondays. The Jurong Frog Farm has kept its public gate closed since February 2023.

Monday with children

Families lose a few favourites on Mondays. Jacob Ballas Children's Garden is closed except on public holidays, so there's no waterplay, and the Children's Museum and the MINT Museum of Toys are closed too. At Jurong Lake Gardens, Forest Ramble, the SkatePark and Clusia Cove close for maintenance every Monday except public holidays, though the lawns stay open. The zoo is the easy swap, and it keeps its full hours on a Monday.

Hell's Museum at Haw Par Villa opens daily from 10am to 6pm, with last entry at 5pm and the last highlight tour at 4.15pm. Wild Wild Wet takes Tuesdays off rather than Mondays, so a water park day works, and Palawan Beach on Sentosa is free.

A Monday that fits together

Here's the day we'd plan. Be at the City Gallery when it opens, have porridge at Maxwell, then see Buddha Tooth before the heat builds, or Kwan Im if you're starting from Bras Basah. Give the afternoon to the National Gallery, stop at SINGAPO人 on your way to the Bay, and finish with Garden Rhapsody, or with Sri Mariamman's evening hours if you missed it in the morning. Keep the zoo for another Monday, and take a taxi if you want to be at the gate for the orangutans.