Things to Do

Feel like taking a short break without leaving the island? Let the Time Out Singapore team show you around the best hotels for the job

Working from home not cutting it for you? Try one of these co-working spaces instead

Farms? What farms? The Little Red Dot is as famous for its agriculture industry as Jamaica is for bobsledding. But even though less than 1 percent of our land area is dedicated to farming activities, there’s an impressive variety of farms in Singapore. Whether you are looking for a family-friendly activity on the weekend or a getaway from the hustle and bustle, pick any of these for a breath of fresh air. 

We put our useless trivia skills to the test at these pub quizzes in the city

There’s a lot more diversity than you’d reckon when it comes to museums in Singapore. Besides the usual arts-focused spaces, we’ve rounded up a broad spectrum of other funky collections: toys, optical illusions and more

Take a one-way (MRT) trip to the far east – you’ll find more than chalets and droves of army boys. Hit up Pasir Ris and Changi for a walk through nature as you explore the mangroves or chug down refreshing brews by the seaside. We round up where to hang out and what to do while you're in these two quaint neighbourhoods.

Once a dusty industrial estate, Tai Seng now shines with cafés, shops and even an art gallery. Make a trip down to this neighbourhood for venerable char siew, go crate-digging and shop for vintage furniture. Read our guide to discover the things to do while you're in the 'hood. 

Believe it or not, there's actually more to Coronation than the Botanic Gardens and ginormous mansions. Located within the Bukit Timah neighbourhood, the area is home to a number of restaurants, cafés and shops. Here's a cheat sheet on things to do while you're in the 'hood. 

Goodbye, yellow-bricked HDB flat. Come September, the iconic Rochor Centre – in red, blue and green stripes, too – will be the latest casualty claimed in the name of development. From its ashes will rise the North-South Corridor, a 21.5-kilometre expressway slated for construction in 2017 that will have a dedicated lane for express buses as well as pedestrian and cycling paths. Touché, LTA. Built in 1977, Rochor Centre was originally white with red bricks – it was painted over during upgrading works in the early ’90s – and comprises both residential and commercial properties. Apartments stack atop three storeys of kopitiams, offices and heartland-esque stores that hawk hardware, handphone accessories and traditional confectionary. And in a rare feature in today’s HDB estates, Rochor Centre’s ‘void deck’ can be found on the fourth level, similar to the one in Bras Basah Complex. Before Rochor Centre breathes its last, head over to capture these vibrant blocks on camera. Go late in the afternoon for the best light – and set aside a few minutes to grab a bench on the ground floor to watch residents bustling around. If you’re keen to explore deeper into the estate, make your way to the void deck at Block 4. There, you can view Community Quilts, a photography project by Ivan Tan, Juliana Tan and Samuel He. It’s a series of eight vertical panels, each a superimposition of three to four photographs, depicting various neighbourhoods and everyday scenes of city life.  RIP, Ro

It's one in the morning, and the air hangs with a dank stench. Men clad in rubber boots (and not much else) are hurriedly dragging pomfret, squid, lobster and other types of seafood around a warehouse-like space. At this ungodly hour, Jurong Fishery Port is just starting to get busy. The Port opened in 1969 as a docking base for foreign fishing vessels, as well as a huge wholesale fish market (about 20 basketball courts huge) that houses more than 100 lots for the trawls to be auctioned off. The Port is open all day and night – except Mondays between 2 to 6am – but the action peaks at around 3am. That's when the boats are unloading their catch and throngs of hawkers, chefs and wet market stall owners are buying in bulk. Yes, you can pick up a red snapper or two, some still flapping in their styrofoam boxes, for dinner. But even if you don't intend to, there's plenty of sights and sounds – not to mention smells – to check out, too. Jurong Fishery Port is at Fishery Port Rd.

There’s an old-timey rule in photography – if you can accept rules in photography – that says the best time to roam the streets for photographs is in the ‘Golden Hour’: an hour after sunrise or before sunset. Hefting the iPhone 6 Plus, whose size demands two hands to take a photograph, I went around my neighbourhood in Kembangan, scouting out Singaporeans during this so-called golden hour. After a few days spent revisiting the same areas (MRT station, park connectors, small parks), dawn and dusk seem less like twins and more like funhouse mirrors. Same light, completely different moods. The early morning is crowded yet silent. But an hour to sunset, grown-up feet shuffling home from work are joined by the smaller feet of children – wantonly zooming down park trails on tiny scooters or pounding hard concrete to chase after a football. For the adults (and one particular feline I chanced upon) who’ve had a hard day’s work, they can finally put up their feet up and snooze on a park bench as the sun fades under the horizon.

If there’s one word we Singaporeans love more than ‘discount’, it’s ‘free’. And despite Singapore being among the top in various ‘most expensive city’ lists, there are plenty of free things to do around the island. Now we're adding one more to the list of free things in Singapore: every first Tuesday of the month, Time Out Singapore is distributed free in the evenings at MRT stations around the CBD. We also regularly have giveaways on our contest page where you can win staycations, dining vouchers and more. Here, we list the best free things you can do around the city. 

After spending many a sweaty hour trekking around various parks, here's our list of the best spots to picnic at in Singapore. These places don't require you to travel to the middle of nowhere, they're scenic, they have some shade and decent patches of grass, and most importantly, they're located near the toilets (but not too near). So pack your basket, pick up your mat, and head to these parks for some fun in the sun.

Besides supper and bar-hopping, there’s plenty to do in the wee hours here, from shopping for flowers to practising your dribble. Move aside, New York – we’re a city that doesn’t sleep, too

Lush flora and diverse fauna beckon from Singapore’s offshore islands – we heed the call and check them out