Joya Onsen Cafe
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.
- Where: Jurong
- Price: S$30–60
Explore
Unusual Singapore
Cemeteries with stories, the last kampong, a museum of hell and the places most people walk past.
Your selection
Map viewTypical spend per person, in Singapore dollars.
The Intan
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.
- Where: Joo Chiat
- Price: S$60 and above
MINT Museum of Toys
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.
- Where: Bugis
- Price: S$30–60
Battlebox
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.
- Where: Civic District
- Price: Free
Former Ford Factory
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.
- Where: Bukit Timah
- Price: Under S$30
Kampong Lorong Buangkok
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.
- Where: Buangkok
- Price: Free
Bukit Brown Cemetery
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.
- Where: Bukit Brown
- Price: Free
The Star Theatre
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.
- Where: one-north
- Price: S$60 and above
The Lemon Stand Comedy Club
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.
- Where: Bugis
- Price: S$30–60
Filmhouse (formerly The Projector)
The Projector's old halls on level 5 of Golden Mile Tower, reopened as Filmhouse by the people who ran them, with better projectors. Still the place for films the multiplexes won't show.
- Where: Beach Road
- Price: Under S$30
Nowhere Baths
A thermal bathhouse on Dempsey Hill that asks you to switch off, not show off: two hot pools, a sauna, a steam room, a cold plunge and a lounge for tea. No phones, quiet voices, small groups.
- Where: Dempsey
- Price: S$30–60
JB Ah Meng
Johor-style zi char on Geylang Road, late: a white pepper crab you eat with your hands and a crisp-edged san lou bee hoon to finish. Bring friends, wet wipes and no plans after.
- Where: Geylang
- Price: S$30–60