Fort Siloso

You arrive by treetop walkway and leave knowing why the guns had to turn round.

Fort Siloso is the quiet half of Sentosa and the half that explains the rest: free, mostly outdoors, and best for history buffs, curious teenagers and anyone who has done the rides and wants to understand the island they're standing on. Come in by the Skywalk, give it a couple of hours, and finish with a swim at Siloso Beach below. The compromises are the terrain, which means stairs and changes in level, and some enclosed tunnels and waxwork displays that may unsettle small children.

Before the island was a resort it was a fortress, and this is what remains: the only preserved coastal fort in Singapore. It was planned in the late 19th century, after the Suez Canal opened in 1869 and Keppel Harbour got busier, and the top of Mount Siloso was blown off to make room for gun platforms. By the 1880s it had 7-inch and 64-pounder guns; the 1890s brought 10-inch guns, and the 1930s added quick-firing guns, searchlights and anti-aircraft machine guns as war with Japan began to look likely.

It all faced the sea, because that’s where the threat was expected to come from. In February 1942, during the Battle of Singapore, the invasion came from the north instead, and the fort’s guns were turned inland to fire on the advancing Japanese. In the chaos, retreating British and local troops were mistakenly fired upon. From 1942 to 1945 the Japanese used the fort as a small prisoner-of-war camp.

From battery to museum

Royal Artillery, Royal Navy and Gurkha detachments manned the fort after the war, and during Konfrontasi in the 1960s Gurkhas guarded it against Indonesian saboteurs. It passed to the Singapore government after the British began withdrawing in 1967, became a military museum in 1974, and in February 2022 was gazetted as Singapore’s 74th national monument.

How to walk it

Start with the Skywalk, an elevated approach 11 storeys above the ground: you take a lift up and walk 181 metres, about five minutes, through the treetops to the fort, with panels introducing its history on the way. It is a gentler way into heavy material than walking straight into a gun emplacement, and because you arrive at the top, most of the visit runs downhill. Sentosa moved the main entrance here in 2017 and added two self-guided routes: the Heritage Trail if your group is more interested in the people, the Gun Trail if it's the hardware.

The command post, displays and tunnels make far more sense once you know the 1942 story. Look for the wall calendar in the Battery Command Post showing 14 February 1942, as the end closed in. Three tunnel systems once stored shells for the guns, one of them with a soundtrack of 1942, and there are trick-eye murals for a lighter photo stop when the teenagers need one.

The Surrender Chambers, which reopened in June 2017 to mark 75 years since the fall of Singapore, recreate both the British surrender to the Japanese and the Japanese surrender at the end of the war. Inside is an immersive show of light, sound and video across six zones, ending with a wall of poppies where visitors can leave a message of peace. Some displays use waxwork figures and sound effects. That suits most older children, but give younger ones a heads-up before the chambers and the enclosed tunnels.

Pause at the sea views between sections; it is the same water the gunners were watching for an enemy who came the other way. Then walk down to Siloso Beach for a change of pace.

Good to know Check Sentosa's official site for current Fort Siloso, Skywalk and Surrender Chambers access and opening times before you travel. Expect an outdoor site with stairs and changes in level. The nearest MRT is HarbourFront, then onward to Sentosa; Sentosa's own buses, cable car and beach trams have served the Skywalk entrance.

Want more history in compact form? Here's our guide to small museums with big stories…

Fort Siloso | Sentosa | Nearest MRT: HarbourFront