Civic District

Singapore keeps its national story here, in a walkable, partly shaded grid of museums and monuments between Fort Canning and the river. We'd start at the National Gallery, which fills the old Supreme Court and City Hall at 1 St Andrew's Road. It opens 10am to 7pm daily, with last admission at 6.30pm, and costs S$20 for visitors, free for Singaporeans and PRs. Art Remembers, included in general admission, runs until 18 October in Singtel Special Exhibition Gallery 1 on Level 3 and in the City Hall Chamber. Lai Foong Moi: Crossings hangs in the DBS Singapore Gallery on Level 2. The UOB Southeast Asia Gallery is closed until late 2027, though National Collection works hang elsewhere. In the basement, Fear No Power: Women Imagining Otherwise is free until 15 November.

Then walk down to the river. The Asian Civilisations Museum at 1 Empress Place opens 10am to 7pm, and until 9pm on Fridays, with last gallery entry 30 minutes before closing. Crosscurrents brings a hundred Mughal, Safavid and Ottoman pieces from the Louvre, starting in the Islamic Art Gallery on Level 2 and carrying on in the Design Gallery on Level 3 until 24 January, free for Singaporeans and PRs. Sacred Caves: Dunhuang, Buddhism, and the Silk Road runs until 7 March. Afterwards, cross Cavenagh Bridge, built in 1869 and still the footpath over to the Fullerton, and follow the water past Elgin Bridge (1929) to Boat Quay. The better tables are one street back from the water, where nobody waves a menu at you.

Fort Canning Park rises behind the museums: 22 hectares, free and open 24 hours. This was Bukit Larangan, the Forbidden Hill, and Raffles planted his experimental garden on it in 1822. Around the park you'll find 15 heritage trees, Fort Gate and the ASEAN Sculpture Garden, plus a spice garden growing more than 180 kinds of herbs and spices, the most varied collection in Singapore. The free Fort Canning Heritage Gallery shows artefacts from the 1300s and is typically open 10am to 6pm. Under the hill sits the Battlebox, the WWII bunker at 2 Cox Terrace. The National Museum at 93 Stamford Road and the Peranakan Museum at 39 Armenian Street are both at the foot of the hill.

Waterloo Street makes a quieter second morning. Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho at 178, five minutes from Exit A of Bras Basah MRT, is usually open 7am to 6.30pm with no midday break, and Sri Krishnan Temple is next door at 152. The Maghain Aboth synagogue at 24/26 opens by appointment through enquiry@jwb.org.sg, and the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd on Victoria Street is free to visit. Finish at the National Library, 100 Victoria Street, open 10am to 9pm daily except public holidays, and until 5pm on the eves of Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year. In the evening, walk to the Esplanade at 1 Esplanade Drive, open 8am to 11.30pm or until 30 minutes after the last show, and pick one satay: Gluttons Bay on the waterfront, or Boon Tat Street at Lau Pa Sat, out of Exit B at Raffles Place MRT.

Where to eat

• Lau Pa Sat, 18 Raffles Quay: a 24-hour Victorian iron market where stall hours vary. Satay Street on Boon Tat Street runs 7pm–3am weekdays, 3pm–3am weekends
• Makansutra Gluttons Bay, 8 Raffles Avenue #01-15: satay facing the bay. Open 4–11pm Monday to Thursday, 4–11.30pm Friday and Saturday, 3–11pm Sunday
• National Kitchen by Violet Oon, National Gallery: lunch without leaving the museum. Odette is in the same building if you booked months ahead
• Chinatown's hawker centres, big halls of small cooked-food stalls south of the river: dinner at hawker prices once you've had enough of the CBD