Mid-range · 12-hour walk · Singapore
Singapore in a day: gardens to the bay
The botanic gardens before the heat, Little India and Kampong Glam, the national gallery, Chinatown's temple and hawker stalls, and the bay after dark.
Singapore is a city you see in air conditioning between eleven and four, and this route is built around that. The botanic gardens go first, while the morning is still bearable; the middle of the day moves between Little India, Kampong Glam and the national gallery; and the bay goes last, because the Supertrees and the skyline are an evening show. The MRT is quick, clean and cheap — tap in with a contactless card.
The route, stop by stop
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Singapore Botanic Gardens
Singapore's only UNESCO site, open from five in the morning. The National Orchid Garden inside is the one paid part and the reason to come: more than a thousand species and two thousand hybrids.
90 min here Walk here → -
Tekka Centre
Arrive by metro from the previous stop
Little India's hawker centre and wet market, for an early lunch. The biryani and thosai stalls are what you queue for; the textiles upstairs are what the neighbourhood actually shops for.
60 min here Walk here → -
Sultan Mosque
Kampong Glam's golden-domed mosque, finished in 1928. Visitors are welcome outside prayer times, and robes are lent at the door.
30 min here Walk here → -
Haji Lane
A narrow lane of shophouses painted with murals, now independent boutiques and bars. Two minutes from the mosque, and busiest after dark.
30 min here Walk here → -
National Gallery Singapore
The old Supreme Court and City Hall joined under one roof, with the largest public collection of modern Southeast Asian art anywhere. The rooftop garden looks out over the Padang.
90 min here Walk here → -
Buddha Tooth Relic Temple
Built in 2007 in the Tang style to house a relic venerated as the Buddha's tooth, on the fourth floor. The rooftop garden with its prayer wheel is the quiet part.
40 min here Walk here → -
Maxwell Food Centre
Dinner a hundred metres away. The chicken rice stall with the longest queue is the famous one; the second-longest is nearly as good and half the wait.
45 min here Walk here → -
Gardens by the Bay
Arrive by metro from the previous stop
The Cloud Forest dome is the one to pay for: a thirty-five-metre mountain of orchids and ferns with a waterfall inside, kept cool and misted. Be under the Supertrees for Garden Rhapsody, the free light show at quarter to eight and quarter to nine.
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Marina Bay Sands SkyPark
Across the bridge from the Supertrees to the observation deck on the 57th floor. The infinity pool is for hotel guests; the view of the whole bay at night is for anyone with a ticket.
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Merlion Park
Round the bay on the waterfront promenade to the half-lion, half-fish that is the city's mascot, with Marina Bay Sands lit up across the water where you just were.
20 min here Walk here →
More in Singapore
Every walking route in Singapore, or the full Singapore guide for where to stay and what a day costs.