Sentosa's Beaches, from Palawan to Siloso

Cross the water from HarbourFront and Sentosa splits in two. Universal Studios, the Oceanarium and Adventure Cove, the paid parks at Resorts World, can eat a whole day and a fair bit of money. The beaches and the boardwalk are free, and so are Fort Siloso and most of the green in between once you're on the island. So the first choice is which day you're having, a park day or a beach day.

We'd pick the beach. Walk in, swim off Palawan while it's cool, wander to Tanjong for the sunset and stay for the fireworks at Siloso. Keep Universal Studios and the Oceanarium off the beach day, and off the same day as each other, because squeezing both into one visit means rushing two expensive tickets. You'll miss the headline rides, but they'll keep.

Across from HarbourFront

From HarbourFront MRT, head up into VivoCity. The boardwalk starts at Lobby F on Level 1 and it's free, a 10 to 15 minute stroll with the harbour on both sides. The Sentosa Express train leaves from Lobby L on Level 3 and is quicker. It charges S$4 for island admission (S$2 concession) and runs from 7am to midnight, so after midnight the boardwalk is the way back. Attraction tickets often bundle island admission, but if you're only going to the beach, walk. The Sentosa Fun Discovery Pass is the island's own shareable token wallet for the smaller attractions, best for a day of SkyHelix, Wings of Time and Madame Tussauds. Universal Studios, the Oceanarium and Adventure Cove sit outside it.

The cable car from Mount Faber is the arrival with a view. A Sky Pass costs S$35 for adults, and the cars run daily from about 8.45am to 10pm, with last boarding at 9.30pm. It's the dearest way across, and worth doing once, on a clear evening. The Cable Car + Luge Combo takes the cable car across at golden hour, then the luge down from Imbiah, and it's slower than the Sentosa Express and much more fun if you have the time.

Palawan and its islet

Palawan Beach has the calmest sand on the island and a suspension bridge out to a tiny islet that claims to be the southernmost point of continental Asia. The claim is a stretch. The water isn't. Take the Sentosa Express to Beach Station, which leaves you by the sand, and come in the morning, before the heat builds and while the beach is still quiet.

With children, Palawan Kidz Zone is free play right by the beach. HydroDash is a floating aqua park just offshore, wet and timed, so book a session, and make sure everyone going in can swim.

When it rains, the Palawan side has two indoor options. KidZania is a small pretend city where children do the jobs, open daily from 10am to 6pm. Tickets for ages 4 to 17 start at S$84, accompanying adults from S$51.10 and toddlers aged 2 to 3 from S$40.60. Adults are spectators. Book a slot, because weekend walk-ins get turned away. HyperDrive, also at Palawan, is an indoor kart track.

Sunset at Tanjong

Tanjong Beach is a 12-minute walk along the sand from Palawan, and quieter still. It's the island's sunset beach, which is why the sunset paddle meets here at 5pm. You get a beginner board and a lesson on the sand, then paddle along the coast and finish with a drink at the beach club around 7.15pm. The club is optional, and the sand in front of it belongs to everyone.

For a morning on the water instead, Kayak Asia's Sentosa Sea Kayak Trail starts and ends at Tanjong Beach. The guided paddle runs from 7.30am to 11.15am all year, along the coast to Fort Siloso and back, and it's built for first-timers, families and pets.

Siloso and Wings of Time

Siloso Beach is the busy one, with beach clubs and kayak rentals along the sand. From Tanjong it's a longer walk along the coast, or a ride on the beach tram.

Ola Beach Club is the Hawaiian-style club that's easy with children. The sand is free, and a beachfront table or lounger comes with a minimum spend. Coastes is the long-running beach bar, more comfortable than fashionable, and the sand in front of it is public too.

Ola also runs the water rides from one counter. You need to swim to take an hour in a kayak out on the lagoon, and a 15-minute banana boat ride usually ends with everyone in the sea, which is the fun of it.

The donut ride is the banana boat's round cousin, an inflatable towed behind a boat for a high-adrenaline 15 minutes. Wind and weather decide whether it runs, so keep a beach afternoon as the backup.

When it runs, Flyboard Singapore straps water-jet boots to your feet and lifts you out of the water, with an instructor running the session. Expect a few splashdowns before you hover.

When it runs, ZoukOut takes over the sand on Siloso for a dance party that lasts all night. Check the festival's page for the next edition before you make plans.

On the Siloso strip at 36 Siloso Beach Walk, the Scentopia Perfume Workshop leads you through a personality quiz and five scent rooms to your own orchid perfume, bottled for you to take home. Book a slot ahead, and pair it with an afternoon on the beach.

On the Siloso side, Headrock VR is free-roam VR and a kids zone in Southside Block B, behind the Siloso interim market. Book a slot, because walk-ups get turned away, and follow the Siloso Road address rather than any old map pin.

Siloso is also the stage for Wings of Time, a 20-minute show at Festival Stage that ends in fireworks over the sea. It runs daily at 7.40pm and 8.40pm, rain or shine, with seats from about S$22. Book one rather than standing on the sand, especially with a pushchair. The 8.40pm show tends to draw fewer young families, and after the 5pm paddle at Tanjong it leaves time for the drink and the trip across. If you're riding the cable car back, last boarding is 9.30pm, not 10pm.

The luge at Imbiah

The luge is the one thing here with no match in town: four tracks down the hill in a gravity cart, then the Skyride chairlift back up. Buy the four-ride combo, because two is never enough, and go in the morning, before the heat. It starts at Imbiah Lookout, the ridge above the beaches.

Sensoryscape is a free 220-metre walk of mist and scent between Beach Station and Imbiah. It's the pleasant way between the luge and the sand without passing through a mall, and it's better after dark, when the lights come on. For shade by day, Sentosa Nature Discovery at Imbiah takes you on a forest walk under the trees.

Also up on the ridge, SkyHelix is the open-air revolving platform that replaced the old tower. It's best at sunset, and with no glass around you, give it a miss if heights bother you. Madame Tussauds is air-conditioned and comes bundled with Images of Singapore LIVE, so it's worth a look if you're already up there, though we wouldn't make a trip for it.

Up near Imbiah, Sentosa 4D AdventureLand has four indoor rides and films with moving seats, good cover for a wet afternoon. Axe Factor Sentosa is an hour of indoor axe throwing at Mess Hall, five people a slot at most, so book ahead.

Mega Adventure runs the zipline and high ropes down towards Siloso, and a morning slot beats the heat. Down on Siloso Beach Walk, AJ Hackett has the bungy.

For a round of golf, Sentosa Golf Club has two championship courses, the Tanjong and the Serapong, on the edge of the sea. Visitor rates are steep, so book well ahead and make the round count.

Along the same road, AltitudeX, the wind tunnel that was iFly until November 2025, is five storeys of instructor-led indoor skydiving that's fine for beginners, with a teaser flight from about S$59. It opens 11am to 9pm on weekdays, with the first flight at noon, and 10am to 9pm on weekends, public holidays and 26 December, with the first flight at 11am. Either way, the last flight is at 8.30pm. We'd pick one thrill and give the rest of the day to the sand.

Fort Siloso's tunnels

Fort Siloso is the island's free history, a coastal fort with its guns and tunnels plus the Surrender Chambers. It's been a National Monument since 2022, and it's good for about two hours in the shade. Take the Sentosa Express to Beach Station, then Sentosa Bus A or the beach shuttle to Siloso Point. The Skywalk lift runs from 9am to 10pm, while the exhibits and the Surrender Chambers open 10am to 6pm, with last entry at 5.30pm. Come on a weekday as the exhibits open and you'll have the tunnels to yourself. At weekends, free day tours leave the Skywalk lobby at 11am and 3pm if you'd like a guide.

Up on Mount Serapong, Fort Serapong is an 1880s battery, once the highest point on Blakang Mati. Information boards along the road explain the guns and their history. Forest and some structures are restricted, so stay on the road.

A day at Universal Studios

When you do give Universal Studios its own day, buy the dated day ticket, which starts at S$76 for adults on non-peak dates. The park usually opens 10am to 8pm. On the Halloween Horror Nights setup days in October and on 1 November it closes at 6pm instead, and at 7pm on some days from late October to December, so check your date before you book. Arrive at opening and ride the headliners first. If you'd rather skip the queues, the USS VIP Experience is a guided day with admission and Express included, and it pays off on a peak day.

Twilight Thrill is the late ticket, with entry from 4pm for S$85 an adult and a S$20 food and drink voucher. The voucher has no minimum spend, except at Starbucks, Oasis Spice Café and the roving carts. On a 6pm day it buys you about two hours, and it's a day-park ticket, so it won't get you into Halloween Horror Nights. First-timers should get the full day. The parades and stage shows come with the day ticket, so there's nothing extra to buy; the USS shows are posted inside the park.

Harry Potter: Visions of Magic sits outside the park, at WEAVE on B1 of 8 Sentosa Gateway. You walk its 10 interactive rooms one way, with no re-entry, in about 45 to 60 minutes. It opens daily from 11am to 10pm with last entry at 8pm, and tickets start at S$49 for adults aged 13 and up and S$39 for children aged 4 to 12. Under-4s go free with a paying adult. Book a slot.

The Oceanarium and Adventure Cove

The Oceanarium is the indoor half-day, and a good plan for a wet afternoon. It usually opens 10am to 8pm, but several days in October and November close early at 4pm or 2pm, and it's shut on 5 December. On a 4pm day, last entry comes before 4pm, so check the date first. The Marine Mammal Habitat viewing panel is closed until further notice.

Next door, Adventure Cove is the wet one, with 13 water attractions including snorkelling over Rainbow Reef. Adults pay from S$34 and children from S$29. It opens 10am to 5pm from Sunday to Friday and 10am to 8pm on Saturdays, and weekday mornings are the quietest. If someone has recommended Wild Wild Wet, that's a different water park, out in Pasir Ris. Universal Studios wants a day to itself.

The Rainbow Reef snorkel is a lagoon of about 20,000 fish, and it comes with the waterpark day ticket, so there's no separate snorkel ticket to buy. Masks are available at the reef, it's easy enough for children, and a weekday morning, when the park opens, is quieter.

Halloween at Resorts World

Halloween Horror Nights 14 takes over Universal Studios on select nights until 1 November, from 7.30pm to 12.30am. There are four haunted houses, two scare zones and three live shows. Tickets start at S$68 on non-peak nights and S$78 on peak ones. It isn't recommended for under-13s, and neither a daytime ticket nor an Attraction Season Pass gets you in. This year's icon is the Karang Guni man, borrowed from karang guni, the rag-and-bone trade that buys old newspapers and junk door to door. The houses include Karang Guni: The Cursed Collection and Singapore's Most Haunted: ON AIR. Book a dated night and keep it apart from a full park day.

The daytime Halloween is gentler and comes with a standard ticket. Trick or Thrills in the day park is sweets rather than scares. Adventure Cove runs Legend Keepers and Pool Party Panic, and the Oceanarium has Into the Glowcean, all until 1 November. The resort's wider Festival of Thrills runs until the same date. If you came for Palawan, the sand is still free and the scares can wait.

Eating near the water

Eat before you cross, or once you're back. Seah Im, under the HarbourFront bus interchange, is a hawker centre, an open-sided hall of small stalls where you order at each counter, and the cable-car queue mostly overlooks it. The HarbourFront mall has plenty more, about 15 minutes back from the island. On Sentosa itself, Tanjong Beach Club will cheerfully take your money for daybeds and drinks, and the beach in front stays free.

For a drink with no sand to shake off afterwards, WooBar at W Sentosa is the hotel bar at Sentosa Cove, and hotel guests have the edge on the pool, so come for the drinks. IYASAKA by Hashida is Chef Hatch Hashida's omakase counter at Raffles Sentosa, where the chef decides the courses. It's a trip out to Sentosa, so make an evening of it, and book ahead.

After 10pm the island empties to staff heading home, a bit of sand and the port lights on the water, and the boardwalk back to VivoCity is almost yours. That's the Sentosa we like best.