Quiet Wetlands and Coastal Loops

If you have one morning, we'd start at Lorong Halus Wetland and go into Coney Island Park by its east entrance. The 81-hectare park has five themed beaches, a mangrove boardwalk and an estuary with giant mudskippers, and it opens from 7am to 7pm. The catch is preparation: NParks asks visitors to wear long pants and covered shoes against sandflies, and to keep a safe distance from the wild boars, stray dogs and box jellyfish that have been spotted in the area. For something gentler, Hampstead Wetlands Park is a boardwalk wetland open 24 hours.

Lorong Halus and Coney Island

Lorong Halus Wetland lies along the eastern bank of Serangoon Reservoir and has a job to do: it collects and treats water that passes through the former landfill, so that water doesn't flow into the reservoir. PUB, the national water agency, offers a self-guided learning trail there, which covers how wetlands treat the water, the area's wildlife and a hands-on water quality test.

Coney Island's east entrance is near the wetland and its west entrance is near Punggol Promenade, so you can start at either end. Each beach is planted with different species, and the mangroves have a boardwalk. Look down in the estuary for giant mudskippers, mud lobsters and tree-climbing crabs, and near Beach Area C for the only two wild Paku Raja cycads on mainland Singapore. There's no carpark on the island, and NParks lists Punggol Coast as the nearby MRT station. The ground is rugged in places, though the east and west ends are wheelchair accessible and stroller friendly. Coney Island from the West Gate has the loop.

Punggol's waterway and promenade

The Punggol Promenade Nature Walk is the 2.4 km middle section of the promenade, between Punggol Point Walk and Riverside Walk. Fishing platforms and rest shelters line its meandering track, and NParks calls it wheelchair friendly. Inland, Punggol Waterway Park covers 25.79 hectares and is open 24 hours. Jewel Bridge is the place for sunset, otters and migratory birds, and Sunrise Bridge on the eastern side is named for its views of the rising sun. Punggol Waterway at Sunrise plans the walk.

Hampstead and Rower's Bay

Hampstead is a 3.23-hectare freshwater wetland inside Seletar Aerospace Park, with a nature trail and a boardwalk. NParks lists Punggol MRT and Thanggam LRT as the nearby stations. There's no carpark on site, and drivers walk 50 metres, about five minutes, from the carpark at 2 Park Lane. The wetland is a haven for birds, and the regulars include the white-breasted waterhen, whose males have a red spot on the face.

NParks asks visitors not to swim, fish or feed the fish at Hampstead, and to leave bikes off the boardwalk. There's no wheelchair access between the nature trail and the boardwalk.

In the same corner of Seletar, Rower's Bay on Seletar Club Road is a rest stop on the Round Island Route, whose first phase runs for 60 km. It has a boardwalk close to the water, a lookout pavilion, swales and a wetland planted with species that feed and shelter native wildlife such as the grey heron and the copper-cheeked frog. You'll also find shelters, a toilet and vending machines. Buses 103, 117 and 117M stop opposite JTC Aviation Two, and the Round Island Route connects it to Sengkang Riverside Park, Pasir Ris Park, Changi Beach Park and East Coast Park. Sengkang Riverside Park's Wetland Walk covers the first of those.

Changi Bay Point

The Changi Bay Park Connector runs 3.6 km along Aviation Road and links Changi Beach Park to the East Coastal Park Connector Network. Changi Bay Point is its lookout: a boardwalk that joins a breakwater, a pavilion with benches facing the water, and two cycling bridges about 80 metres long. NParks lists bus 35 for it and says the route is wheelchair accessible. Changi Beach Park sits at one end of the connector.

Woodlands, Sembawang and Yishun

The 25 km Northern Explorer Loop strings together 11 parks and nature areas in Woodlands, Sembawang and Yishun. At Woodlands Waterfront Park, a 400-metre jetty reaches the northernmost point of mainland Singapore, and Woodlands North is the nearby MRT station. At Sembawang Park, NParks calls Sembawang beach the only natural beach in the north that's open to the public. The 30-metre jetty there was built by the British in the early 1940s and finished by the Japanese. Canberra and Sembawang MRT stations are both nearby.

Yishun is the inland stop. Yishun Park is 13.9 hectares on an old rubber estate, open 24 hours, and it holds Singapore's first arboretum, with over 70 dipterocarp species, the hardwoods known as the forest giants of Southeast Asia. The park is densely forested but close to waterways, so kingfishers, woodpeckers and herons turn up. Yishun MRT is the nearby station, and drivers use the carparks at SAFRA Yishun or the nearby blocks, since the park has none. Yishun Pond and the Khoo Teck Puat Garden is the water to see next.