One of the things we can brag about our city is how you can find so many green spaces within modern buildings and architecture. There are plenty of parks, nature reserves and trails to explore around the island. But if short strolls through the Botanical Gardens or Fort Canning won't do as a proper exercise, hardcore trekkers can get on the 36-kilometre Coast-to-Coast Trail which will take you from Jurong Lake Gardens in the west to Punggol and Coney Island in the northeast (or vice versa).
End the journey on a secret beach at Coney Island (Photograph: Delfina Utomo)
In the journey, you'll walk through some of the best parks and nature reserves in Singapore like Bukit Batok Nature Park, Macritchie Reservoir, Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park and Sengkang Floating Wetlands. While the actual trail is 36-kilometre long, it also depends if you explore the point of interests around the designated checkpoints. Adding technology to the mix, NParks has created an app for the trail where you can check-in at every checkpoint marker you reach. When you do, you unlock nuggets of information about the places to explore in the area and also the flora and fauna you can find. Think of it as a quest – you earn more points with the more checkpoints you conquer which can be accumulated to exchange for prizes.
Plan your route and list down the spots you would want to see around each marker. By our guestimate, you could take a few hours completing this trail to two days if you want to take time to explore the spots around the checkpoints – after all, that beats just walking on pavements and checking in for the sake of the app!
Stop by Hindhede Quarry for a break (Photograph: Delfina Utomo)
And if you do get curious, you might just spend more time exploring sights like the quarries in Singapore from Bukit Batok to Bukit Timah (a worthy option) or walking through Botanic Gardens and checking out its more rustic extension, the Learning Forest (beats picnicking near the Swan Lake). Even when you reach the final checkpoint at Coney Island, you might take more time to walk through the little island to discover its secret beaches, the mangrove boardwalks and hidden bird hides. Singapore sure has plenty of green secrets you should uncover.