Orchard, Once You're Done Shopping

Orchard is a mall that ate a road, and once the bags are full it's still one of the easiest places in the city to slow down. The good stuff sits just off the pavement, from a lounge on the 55th floor to a hill with a wartime bunker inside it. If it's raining, stay in ION and go up. If it's dry, walk the length of Orchard Road towards Fort Canning.

We'd give Orchard a rainy afternoon or a slow evening rather than your only day in Singapore. The strip runs three MRT stops. Orchard station puts you at ION and Tang Plaza, Somerset at 313@somerset and Killiney Road, and Dhoby Ghaut at Plaza Singapura. Orchard to Somerset is one stop on the North-South Line or about 12 minutes on foot, and Somerset to Dhoby Ghaut is one more.

Up Emerald Hill

Start with the detour most first-timers walk straight past. Emerald Hill is a pedestrian slope of Peranakan terrace houses from the 1900s, two minutes from Orchard MRT and tucked in behind Centrepoint. A couple of bars on the hill fill up after 7pm. Walk it at about 5pm, before the after-work crowd, and it's a quiet heritage street a few steps off the main road. The walk is free and takes 10 minutes, after which the malls are all yours again.

ION Sky at blue hour

Back on the road, the tallest option is also the driest. ION Orchard is the big flagship mall sitting on top of Orchard MRT, and at the top of it is ION Sky, the lounge view on levels 55 and 56 at 1-Atico. There's no ticket. Take the lifts from ION Art, the gallery space on level 4, or ask the concierge. If you've spent S$50 in the mall that day, the receipt can get you a welcome drink between noon and 4pm, on the mall's terms.

We'd still come up for blue hour, the short spell after sunset when Orchard Road lights up below you, and give it about 45 minutes. The MBS SkyPark has the famous view over the bay, and ION Sky is the one to take when you're already in the building. Hours change, so check the mall's page before you go up.

The public library at Orchard Gateway, library@orchard, is closed for renovations, so the quiet option is Central Library in the basement of the National Library on Victoria Street. It's free to walk into and cool inside, and Bras Basah MRT is close.

Killiney Road and the old malls

Two of the older malls are more fun for 20 minutes than another atrium. Lucky Plaza is a warren of Filipino remittance counters and camera shops that still feels like 1998. Its neighbour Far East Plaza is the teenage version, all streetwear and tattoo studios.

At Somerset, turn up Killiney Road for Killiney Kopitiam, the original toast shop, the one the mall branches copy. A kopitiam is an old-style coffee shop, and here that means toast with runny eggs and a kopi-o kosong, which is black coffee with no sugar. It takes about 20 minutes, and it makes a good breakfast before a massage at 11am.

A massage near Somerset

Orchard's own wellness stop is the Urban Spa Reset: 90 minutes of deep-tissue massage and guided breathwork in a private studio about five minutes from Somerset MRT. The address comes after you book, which keeps the suite quiet. We'd pick it if you're staying on Orchard, because it's the one you can walk to. The catch is a fixed slot, where a bathhouse lets you linger. For that, G.Spa is a train ride away on Guillemard Road, open 24 hours with hot and cold pools, steam, nap lounges and food, which makes it the late-night answer when the malls shut.

Spa Esprit is a mid-range Singapore chain with outlets around town, and booking online works better than walking in. A facial is a good switch if you've had enough massage oil for one trip. For two, The St. Regis Spa has a couple suite with a private jacuzzi, so book the full ritual there.

People also pair Orchard with Yunomori, though it's out at Kallang Wave Mall by Stadium MRT. It has sento-style baths, the Japanese public-bath kind, and ganbanyoku, where you lie on heated stone before a rest in the café. Check its tattoo policy before you go, because it's a house rule. For hot water straight out of the ground, Sembawang Hot Spring is free and a long ride north.

Dhoby Ghaut and the Istana

At the Dhoby Ghaut end, the grass comes back. Dhoby Ghaut Green is a free lawn laid over the MRT interchange. Five minutes' walk away, Istana Park is another free one, with a fountain and palms facing the gates of the Istana, the President's official residence, and it makes a good pause if Emerald Hill left you wanting more green.

Two dates are worth knowing at this end of the road. The Istana opens its own grounds only on selected public holidays, typically around Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali and National Day, so an Istana Open House is something to plan for rather than a walk-up. About 10 minutes from Dhoby Ghaut towards the river, Sri Thendayuthapani on Tank Road is the Chettiar temple where Thaipusam's procession ends each year, usually in January or February. The rest of the year it's a quiet hall. Shoes come off at the entrance and shoulders stay covered.

Up Fort Canning

Fort Canning is a 10-minute walk from Dhoby Ghaut: 22 hectares of hill, free and open 24 hours, with a spice garden and old bunkers under the trees. Inside the hill is the Battlebox, the wartime command bunker at 2 Cox Terrace. It's open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm, with last entry at 5pm, and closed on Mondays. Basic entry is free, but the hourly slots are limited, so reserve one before you walk over. The Enhanced Experience audio tour is S$20 for adult visitors and S$15 for adult Singaporeans and PRs.

If the massage has emptied you out and you'd still like an hour indoors away from the shops, the Battlebox is a good one. The hill itself deserves a morning of its own, and Fort Canning, the Forbidden Hill takes it from the spice garden down to the city's oldest church. If the day has turned into museums, the Civic District is a 15-minute walk from Dhoby Ghaut.

Trees at the Botanic Gardens

At the far end of Orchard Road, the trees take over. Ride the Thomson-East Coast Line from Orchard to Napier for the Tanglin Gate of the Botanic Gardens, or take the Circle or Downtown Line to Botanic Gardens MRT for the Bukit Timah Gate. It's a train ride rather than a walk from ION in the heat. The gardens are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and they're free and open from 5am to midnight every day.

The National Orchid Garden inside is the ticketed part: S$15 for adult visitors and S$5 for adult Singaporeans and PRs, open 8.30am to 7pm with last tickets at 6pm. The Healing Garden is closed on Tuesdays. The visitor services desks are staffed daily from 8am to 5.30pm and lend out wheelchairs. Inside the Gardens, the free Nature Immersion Trail at Saraca Stream is a self-guided 150-metre forest-bathing walk, with prompts that ask you to slow down and notice the forest with all your senses.

Two neighbours each deserve an afternoon of their own. Dempsey Hill, right beside the gardens, is a set of former barracks filled with antique shops and restaurants made for long lunches. Holland Village has its own Circle Line stop, and its day runs from a wet market in the morning, the kind that sells fresh fish and vegetables, to bars that stay open after Orchard Road has gone to sleep, with cafés full of regulars in between.

Satay at Newton

The mall food courts are fine, but we'd eat elsewhere. Newton is one stop up the North-South Line from Orchard. Leave Newton MRT by Exit B for Newton Food Centre at 500 Clemenceau Avenue North, a hawker centre, the open-sided food hall where you order at each stall and find your own table. It's the touristy one, and the satay is still good. Agree the price before they start grilling.

If you do eat in a mall, Din Tai Fung serves xiao long bao, thin-skinned dumplings with hot soup inside, at ION, and queues build at mealtimes, so go off-peak. Paradise Dynasty does soup dumplings in eight colours, each a different flavour, and the same advice applies.

Crystal Jade is the easy choice for a sit-down dim sum meal between shops, from a Cantonese chain with branches across the malls, and you can reserve a table online.

For a booked dinner, the hotels on Orchard have several dining rooms worth planning around. Shisen Hanten on Level 35 of the Hilton does Michelin-recognised Sichuan cooking, so order the mapo tofu, and Min Jiang at Goodwood Park is known for Sichuan cooking and Beijing duck. Book ahead at weekends.

Jiang-Nan Chun at the Four Seasons is a Cantonese dining room listed in the Michelin Guide, and we'd go at lunch, when the express menu keeps the bill down. Les Amis in Shaw Centre has three Michelin stars and a wine list to match. Book months ahead, and let lunch run into the afternoon.

For sushi, Shinji by Kanesaka has a counter in the lobby of The St. Regis, and lunch sets cost well below the dinner omakase. Sushi Kimura Plus is a nine-seat omakase counter at the Conrad on Cuscaden Road that holds a Michelin star. Book ahead for both.

Closer to the malls, The Other Room is a whisky bar tucked into the Marriott Tang Plaza hotel, and it's worth booking. For breakfast the next day, Tiong Bahru and Jian Bo's chwee kueh, soft steamed rice cakes under fried preserved radish, are a short ride south.

By 11pm Orchard Road is mostly shutters and a taxi queue. Be on a stool at Newton by then, satay in hand, or halfway to a bathhouse that keeps its own hours.