Around here the stadium stands where planes once landed, and the condos stand where boats were once built.
Kallang and Tanjong Rhu make one of the city's best late-afternoon walks: water on one side, stadiums on the other, and the CBD skyline lining up across the basin. It suits sunset walkers, cyclists, otter-spotters and anyone with a concert ticket who needs somewhere to be before the doors open. The finish line is dinner at Old Airport Road Food Centre, which is reason enough to come.
Best forSunset Walks and RidesPre-Concert DinnersAviation HistoryOtter SpottingKayaking
The walk · Late afternoon into dinner, about three to four hours (or cycle it)
From the casuarina cape to the old runway
Tanjong Rhu Pier
Start here from Tanjong Rhu MRT and climb the lookout tower for a clear view of the CBD, the National Stadium and the suspension bridge you are about to cross.
Tanjong Rhu Bridge
Cross the suspended footbridge over the Geylang River towards the stadium. It is lit at night, so save the return crossing for after dark if you can.
The Kallang
Follow the basin past the National Stadium and the Indoor Stadium. Kallang Wave Mall is under enhancement works, so don't count on it for a pit stop.
Kallang Riverside Park
Five hectares across both banks of the river. Find the Kallang Gas Holder, a remnant of the old gasworks, then look for otters near Stadium Link by the allotment garden; they keep their own schedule.
Old Kallang Airport
The conserved terminal and gateposts sit off Stadium Boulevard. It is not open as an attraction, so admire it from outside.
Old Airport Road Food Centre
Finish with dinner on the road named after the runway, a short taxi ride or a Circle Line hop to Dakota. Graze across three or four stalls rather than committing to one.
What reviewers say
The old terminal was once billed as the finest airport in the British Empire, which is quite a claim for a building you can't go inside.
Watch the sunset from Tanjong Rhu Pier's lookout tower rather than from Marina Bay: the same skyline, seen from across the water, and the start of a walk that ends with dinner.
Nam Sing Hokkien Fried Mee has served one dish since 1960. Focus, it turns out, pays.
Come back for National Day: the eastern bank of Kallang Basin is our pick for watching the fireworks.
The Kallang Countdown 2027 Concert with Highlight (Beast), Yung Raja and MIMIFLY: Stadium Roar, 31 Dec, doors 7.30pm, show 8.30pm. Standing tickets S$28 and S$38; app priority sale Mon 16 Nov 2pm, general sale Tue 17 Nov 3pm.
The global girl group play the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 10 February 2027. Presales run from Tuesday 10 November; general sale opens on Ticketmaster at 10am on Friday 13 November. Prices are not yet out.
Axl, Slash and Duff at the National Stadium for one night, Wednesday 25 November. Buy through Ticketmaster only, leave the under-sixes at home and book Thursday morning off.
Three days in early December, finishing inside the National Stadium. Entries closed in September, so for most of us it's a dawn spectator sport: Marina Bay, a kopi and free early MRT.
Four nights at the National Stadium, 17 to 22 December. Buy only through Ticketmaster or Klook, because resold tickets won't be honoured. Not going? Avoid Kallang after 10pm.
Singapore's first civil airport, a conserved 1937 art deco terminal by the National Stadium. A five-minute look from the pavement on a Kallang walk; you can't go inside.
The renamed Sports Hub is best on a day with no big event: a kayak on the basin before the heat, lunch in a mall, the stadium lit up after dark. The water centre shuts on Tuesdays.
A free four-level lookout tower across the Kallang Basin from the CBD and the stadium. Come half an hour before sunset on a clear evening, then walk home over the lit footbridge.
Where: Kallang & Tanjong Rhu
Price: Free
The story of Kallang & Tanjong Rhu
Tanjong Rhu means casuarina cape in Malay, after the trees that once lined the beach. A Portuguese map of 1604 already marks it as 'Tanjon Rû'; the English, less poetically, called it Sandy Point. For well over a century this was a working shore. A harbour master, Captain William Flint, started a boatbuilding and repair business here in 1822, Thornycroft took over the yard in 1926, and it kept going until 1986. Reclamation began in 1992, the shipyards moved out, and condominiums such as Pebble Bay and Camelot By The Water moved in.
Next door, Kallang is where Singapore first took to the air. Kallang Airport was built on reclaimed mangrove swamp by the river and opened in 1937; Amelia Earhart stopped over that year and called it an 'aviation miracle of the East'. By 1950 it was the second-busiest airport in Southeast Asia, but planes kept getting bigger and the runway did not, so it closed in 1955 when Paya Lebar took over. The runway made way for the National Stadium, part of it survives as Stadium Boulevard, and Old Airport Road has kept the name ever since.
Today the precinct is branded The Kallang, with the river and basin as its back garden. Kallang Riverside Park has otters and a gas holder from the old Kallang Gasworks, the Tanjong Rhu footbridge lights up at night, and the old airport's conserved buildings wait, very patiently, for someone to decide what they should become. Come late, walk the water, and save your appetite.
