Sembawang Hot Spring and the Jetty at Dusk

Sembawang Hot Spring is a free, 1.1-hectare park along Gambas Avenue in the north of the island, built around Singapore's only natural hot spring. The water comes out of the ground at 70°C and runs down a stepped pool, and you sit on the edge with your feet in it, breathing in a little sulphur. We'd have breakfast in Yishun first and be at the spring by about 8am on a weekday, before the heat builds and the crowd arrives.

The park is open daily from 7am to 7pm. The cascading pool, the main foot bath, closes for cleaning every Monday and Thursday from 11am to 2pm, though the rest of the park stays open, so on those days get your soak in before 11am or after 2pm. It gets busy from 4pm to 7pm on weekday evenings and all day on weekends and public holidays. There's no shade over the pool, so bring a hat or an umbrella, and plenty of water.

Breakfast in Yishun

Chong Pang Market is where Yishun queues for breakfast. Chong Pang is a neighbourhood walk from Yishun MRT. It's a hawker centre, one of the island's open-sided halls of small cooked-food stalls, set with long tables, where you can order by pointing. Clear your tray to the return rack when you're done. If the queues at Chong Pang are long, Yishun Xinghua is a second hawker breakfast in the same town. From either, head for the spring while the morning's still cool.

Getting to Gambas Avenue

There's no carpark at the spring itself. The nearest is at 114 Yishun Ring Road, 450 metres or about eight minutes on foot from the gate, and it's the easy way in after breakfast: make your way to Block 114 and walk in from the carpark. Coming straight by train, take the North-South Line to Canberra MRT, then a short bus towards Sembawang Road; the nearest bus stops are about 400 metres from the park. Despite the name, Sembawang MRT is the stop for the coast, so use Canberra for the spring. Walking Gambas Avenue in the early afternoon is hot work, so carry water whichever way you come.

The park is wheelchair accessible. Cycling and skating aren't allowed inside. The same goes for PMDs, the personal mobility devices such as e-scooters, so if you ride to the gate, dismount and park behind the toilet block. There's also a bicycle bay with 20 lots. Groups of 20 or more need a permit, which you apply for online.

At the cascading pool

The pool runs down four tiers. Hot water emerges at the top and cools on its way to the bottom, so start low and work your way up until you find a tier your feet are happy in. Rinse your feet at the ordinary tap before you go in, which keeps the water clean for everyone. Then sit at the edge and soak. There's no changing room, so wear something you can roll up past your ankles, and bring a small towel.

Bring a pail if you'd like to take some spring water home. There's also a water collection and egg-cooking station where the water runs at 70°C, so if you fancy a hot-spring egg, bring your own eggs and a container. Keep children close there and around the top tiers, because water that hot scalds, and the top of the pool is no place to play. Let small feet start on the cooler bottom tier.

The garden beyond the pool

Once your feet are done, take a slow lap of the rest of the park, which is designed to feel like a kampung, a traditional village. The educational zone has mild water play for children and panels on the geology and the groundwater cycle behind the spring. The Floral Walk has rambutan and lemongrass growing beside it and a banyan whose aerial roots have grown into trunks of their own. It's also where to look for birds: Yellow-vented Bulbuls, Olive-backed Sunbirds and Common Ioras. Treat the garden gently. Leave the fruit on the trees and keep food away from the wildlife, and never release animals here.

Yishun with children

If the children still have energy after the spring, Yishun has two follow-ups. Yishun Pond sits beside the garden at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, which has butterflies and a spiral tower, and a rooftop that's free to visit.

The Live Turtle Museum at 11 Chencharu Close keeps more than 600 turtles from over 30 species, and feed is sold at the counter. It's walk-in with no timeslot, open daily from 10am to 6pm except on Tuesdays that aren't public holidays, with last entry around 5.40pm. Tickets are S$16 for visitors from primary school age, with lower prices for young children and for Singaporeans and PRs. Take Exit B at Khatib MRT and walk about ten minutes along Yishun Walk, past HomeTeamNS. The way in from Sembawang Road is closed for construction.

Sembawang Park at sunset

For the coast, head to Sembawang Park, 15 hectares at the far northern end of Sembawang Road and open 24 hours. It has the only natural beach in the north that's open to the public, and the view changes with the tide. The 30-metre jetty was started by the British in the early 1940s and finished by the Japanese during the Occupation. Walk out at sunset for the breeze and the ships in the strait, with Johor on the far side, or come early if you'd like the beach to yourself. For a drink afterwards, Nelson Bar at 1028A Sembawang Road says it's been a sailor bar since the 1930s, inside the old British Naval Base. It pours pints and cocktails and opens Tuesday to Sunday from 4pm to midnight.

Next to Beaulieu House stands a sea teak, a heritage tree that may have been growing there since the 1910s. From Sembawang MRT, bus 882 runs to its last stop at the park entrance. Drivers can use Carpark A on Sembawang Road or Carpark B on Tuah Road, and there's no parking fee. Pebble Garden, a small park along Sembawang Road, has a pebbled path for foot reflexology and is open 24 hours, though it suits 15 minutes rather than a visit. The spring takes about 90 minutes and the jetty about 45, so give each its own half of the day: the spring in the cool of the morning, the park as the light goes.

If you'd like a longer jetty, Woodlands Waterfront has a 400-metre one, the northernmost point of mainland Singapore, about 12 minutes on foot from Woodlands North MRT. The wetlands and the war cemetery are out in Kranji, which deserves a morning of its own. Two names to watch: Springleaf Nature Park and Sembawang Hills Food Centre are both in Upper Thomson, well south of the spring, so they belong to a different day.

If it rains, Woodlands Library at Causeway Point is a big, free public library to wait it out in. If the foot bath leaves you wanting a full soak, Yunomori is an indoor Japanese-style bathhouse, a sento, with a café and a tattoo policy worth checking before you go. Otherwise, ride home with warm feet and a pail of spring water between your knees.