Gallery afternoons, garden walks, markets and evenings out — ideas for every kind of day.
Typical spend per person, in Singapore dollars.
A family TCM hall on South Bridge Road with herbs in glass jars, in-house physicians who read your pulse and ready-to-boil soup packs for the rest of us. Closed Sundays.
About 10km of roots, hills and narrow paths around Singapore's oldest reservoir, with a swaying treetop bridge in the middle and macaques who know what a gel wrapper means. The city's proper long run.
A social bathhouse three floors up on North Canal Road: a 40-person sauna, two ice baths, neon lighting and alcohol-free socials. The CBD's new after-work round is a round of the circuit.
A proper Japanese onsen on Upper Jurong Road: nude, gender-segregated baths, a sauna and ice pool on each side and a tatami café for noodles after. Worth the trek west.
A Joo Chiat terrace house with more than 5,000 Peranakan pieces and no glass cases, where the owner lives, pours the tea and explains what you’re sitting on. By appointment only.
One collector's 50,000 toys in a purpose-built glass box on Seah Street. Go with someone of a different generation; leave toddlers, who can look but not touch, for another day.
Nine metres under Fort Canning's picnic lawns, the bunker where the decision to give up Singapore was taken. About an hour, free on the basic ticket, and bookings can't be changed once made.
The Ford boardroom on Upper Bukit Timah Road where Singapore was surrendered in 1942, still there and still plain. Come at the weekend for the free volunteer-led tour.
Wooden houses, zinc roofs and named chickens, ringed by HDB blocks off Yio Chu Kang Road: mainland Singapore's last kampong, and people's homes rather than an attraction. Look from the lane, or go in with a guide.
Roughly 100,000 graves under old trees in the middle of the island, Sikh guard statues, flying lemurs and a self-guided trail since 2025. Go on a dry weekday morning, dressed for a light hike.
A 5,000-seat hall above The Star Vista mall, reached by open-air escalators. No house season: follow the promoters, book early, and eat downstairs before the show.
Singapore comedy finally has a room of its own on Queen Street, with shows Tuesday to Saturday. Book Wednesday’s Kumar night if you only go once; treat Tuesday open mic as a lucky dip.
Don't buy everything. Our guide to the conservatory, the viewpoint and the ticket that suit one evening at the Gardens, and what to leave for next time.
A catch-up goes easier with a shared task. Choose pottery or climbing by the kind of concentration you want, and book a proper introduction rather than winging it.
