Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum
Three sauropods for the photo, and a sperm whale found off Jurong Island with the better Singapore story. A rainy-weekend museum for children past the dinosaurs-are-big stage.
- Where: Kent Ridge
- Price: Under S$30
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Arts & Culture
Exhibitions, performances and a closer look at the city’s creative side.
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Map viewTypical spend per person, in Singapore dollars.
Haw Par Villa
Most of the gardens are shut for repairs, but Hell's Museum and the Ten Courts are open on their own ticket, except on Mondays and dated closures. Check your date before you travel.
- Where: Pasir Panjang
- Price: Under S$30
Esplanade
Once mocked as two copulating aardvarks, now the city's easiest night of culture: free sets by the water, proper shows when you plan ahead. Start with the calendar, not the postcard.
- Where: Marina Bay
- Price: Free
ArtScience Museum
There is no fixed ArtScience visit, only whatever is on that month. Choose one show before you choose the day, add teamLab downstairs if the budget stretches, then walk it off along the bay.
- Where: Marina Bay
- Price: S$30–60
Singapore Art Museum at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Contemporary art shown big, in a port warehouse that went from stopgap to home. Worth the bus ride on a wet afternoon; see Maria Taniguchi's Afterimage before 22 November.
- Where: Tanjong Pagar
- Price: Under S$30
Peranakan Museum
Take it in order: the 'What is Peranakan?' question on the ground floor is what makes the third-floor jewellery worth the climb. Small, very pretty and open late on Fridays.
- Where: Civic District
- Price: Under S$30
Asian Civilisations Museum
Start with the Tang shipwreck: 60,000-odd ceramics bound for the Gulf, sunk off Indonesia and now shelved by the Singapore River. Do that room properly and the rest makes sense.
- Where: Civic District
- Price: Under S$30
National Gallery Singapore
Free for Singaporeans and PRs, S$20 for everyone else, open daily 10am to 7pm. The big Southeast Asia wing is shut until late 2027; the two monuments and the Singapore collection are not.
- Where: Civic District
- Price: Under S$30
Fort Siloso
Guns built to face the sea, turned inland in 1942. Sentosa's quietest attraction holds the island's heaviest story, and you enter it through the treetops.
- Where: Sentosa
- Price: Free
Collections
Museums worth your attention
One museum given proper attention beats three at a jog. Regional art, natural history or something smaller: pick the subject you care about, then check what's on.
- 5 picks
Smaller museums
Specialist museums that take an hour rather than a day, and give back more if you arrive with a question and are willing to ask it.
- 3 picks
Small museums, big stories
Three small museums, three ways into Singapore: how it was planned, who came and what the war left. Start with the story you know least about.
- 3 picks