Things to Do in Singapore: Gardens, Heritage Quarters, Hawker Centres and Museums

The best way to organise what to do in Singapore is to balance its futuristic waterfront engineering with its nineteenth-century ethnic quarters, hawker food halls, and rainforest boardwalks. Grouping sights by MRT cluster saves backtracking across the island and keeps you close to air-conditioned shelter when afternoon tropical showers roll in. Read the 3-day Singapore itinerary to see how these clusters fit together day by day.

Walk the Marina Bay waterfront and Gardens by the Bay

Begin with the step-free 3.5-kilometre Marina Bay Waterfront Walk, which links Merlion Park, the stainless-steel Helix Bridge, the Singapore Flyer observation wheel, the lotus-shaped ArtScience Museum, and the 56th-storey observation deck at Marina Bay Sands. Directly behind the hotel towers, the 101-hectare Gardens by the Bay pairs free outdoor waterfront gardens and the 18 vertical gardens of Supertree Grove with two vast cooled glass conservatories: the Mediterranean Flower Dome and the mist-filled Cloud Forest with its 35-metre indoor waterfall.

Compare the three historic ethnic quarters

Sir Stamford Raffles's 1822 town plan assigned distinct quarters to the island's early migrant communities, and all three remain rewarding half-day walks:

• Chinatown: Explore restored shophouses along Pagoda Street, Ann Siang Hill, and Telok Ayer, step inside the 1827 Sri Mariamman Temple and the Tang-style Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, and eat lunch at Maxwell Food Centre.
• Kampong Gelam: Walk palm-lined Bussorah Street toward the golden domes of Sultan Mosque, browse textile and perfume merchants on Arab Street, and photograph the commissioned murals and independent boutiques of Haji Lane.
• Little India: Start at Tekka Centre's wet market and hawker stalls before following Serangoon Road past flower-garland weavers, spice mills, Tan Teng Niah's painted 1900 villa, and Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple.

Eat your way through UNESCO hawker centres and Peranakan streets

Inscribed by UNESCO in 2020 as intangible cultural heritage, Singapore's hawker centres serve Michelin-recognised plates of Hainanese chicken rice, char kway teow, Katong laksa, and charcoal-grilled satay at everyday neighbourhood prices. Pair a food crawl with an afternoon studying pastel Peranakan shophouses along Koon Seng Road in Joo Chiat or the 1930s Streamline Moderne blocks and independent bookshops of Tiong Bahru.

Step inside the Civic District museums

When midday humidity peaks, head indoors in the Civic District along the north bank of the Singapore River. National Gallery Singapore displays over 8,000 Southeast Asian artworks inside the former Supreme Court and City Hall; the Asian Civilisations Museum showcases the ninth-century Tang Shipwreck cargo at Empress Place; and the National Museum of Singapore traces the island's story from fourteenth-century Temasek to independence.

Hike rainforest trails, coastal parks and offshore islands

Almost half of Singapore is covered in greenery. Stroll the 1859 UNESCO-listed Singapore Botanic Gardens and its National Orchid Garden, cross the 36-metre-high Henderson Waves bridge along the Southern Ridges, hike to the suspension bridge at MacRitchie Reservoir, cycle beside the sea at East Coast Park, or ride a wooden bumboat from Changi Point to the mangroves and granite quarries of Pulau Ubin.

Sentosa Island, Haw Par Villa and Jewel Changi Airport

On the southern resort island of Sentosa, balance the family attractions of the Singapore Oceanarium, Universal Studios Singapore, and the sheltered coves of Siloso, Palawan, and Tanjong beaches with the free treetop Skywalk and Second World War coastal guns at Fort Siloso. Back on the mainland, the 1937 hillside folklore park of Haw Par Villa offers over a thousand painted mythological statues, while Jewel Changi Airport pairs a 40-metre indoor waterfall with a four-storey terraced forest valley before your evening flight home from Changi Airport.