A quarter to eight in the evening, Gardens by the Bay. People are lying all over the paving, phones on their chests, and above them eighteen steel trees start glowing in time to the music. Nobody bought a ticket. Fifteen minutes later they wander down to the bay, where Marina Bay Sands sprays its own show across the water. Free as well.
Singapore has a reputation as an expensive city, and indoors that is true. But outdoors the city gives away a surprising amount. The temples and the mosque in the old neighbourhoods, gardens on the UNESCO list, the beaches of Sentosa, the tallest indoor waterfall in the world: you pay nothing for any of it, and those are exactly the places you will be telling people about when you get home.
Below is everything you can do in Singapore for zero euros, plus one island that costs you a few. What you spend on beds, food and transport is in backpacking Singapore: cost per day.
Garden Rhapsody under the Supertrees
The Supertrees are why you recognise photos of Singapore. Eighteen vertical gardens of steel, 25 to 50 metres tall, covered in ferns and orchids. They are impressive by day, but you come for the evening. At 7.45pm and 8.45pm Garden Rhapsody starts, a fifteen minute light and music show in which the trees light up colour by colour.
The park around the Supertrees is free, and so is the show. You only pay for the two big glass domes and the walkway between the trees. The MRT stops at Gardens by the Bay and Bayfront, both a few minutes’ walk away.
Get there in time and find a spot right in among the trees. Then lie down. Everyone does, and it is by far the best view: straight up, with the canopies above you moving to the music.
Our verdict: the best fifteen minutes in Singapore, and all you have to do is lie down
Spectra and the Marina Bay loop
After the Supertrees, walk through the tunnel to the waterfront for Spectra, the light and water show in front of Marina Bay Sands. It starts at 8pm and 9pm, plus 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Catch the first Garden Rhapsody at 7.45pm and you are at the water in plenty of time for the nine o’clock show. Two shows in one night, and your wallet is still shut.
Got there early? Walk the whole loop around the bay. In about an hour you pass the Merlion, half lion and half fish, spitting water with the skyline behind it, the Helix Bridge and the lotus shaped ArtScience Museum. The three towers of Marina Bay Sands with the ship on top are your backdrop the whole way round. Save the Helix Bridge for after dark, when it looks its best.
Rather see both shows from the water? There is a river cruise that sails past the two of them.
Our verdict: plan this night for your first day, because afterwards you see the whole city differently
Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam
Three neighbourhoods, three religions, and the doors are open. South Bridge Road in Chinatown alone gives you a mosque, a Hindu temple and a Chinese temple, all within five minutes of each other. Duck into the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple under its red lanterns, then the Sri Mariamman with its tower full of colour. None of the temples or the mosque in these neighbourhoods charge entry.
A few stops north it smells of jasmine, curry and incense. In Little India garlands of flowers hang in front of the shops, Bollywood plays out of the speakers and sari fabrics are piled high along Serangoon Road. Pop into the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple. Sunday is when the neighbourhood is at its busiest, and that is exactly the moment to go.
Finish in Kampong Glam, where the golden dome of the Sultan Mosque rises above Arab Street. Your shoes come off, and cover your shoulders and knees: the mosque lends you a robe for that. Then walk into Haji Lane, a narrow alley full of murals that comes alive at night. How to behave in temples and mosques is in Singapore etiquette.
Our verdict: a whole day of culture for zero euros, and the best reason to pack your walking shoes
The Botanic Gardens and the Southern Ridges
Singapore is greener than you expect, and the green is free. The Botanic Gardens have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2015, and you walk in without a ticket. A morning in these gardens is the calmest start to a day you can have here.
Want to get higher? Walk the Southern Ridges. The trail runs through the treetops and over Henderson Waves, a bridge that curls through the green like a wave.
Go to both in the morning. In Singapore it often rains late in the afternoon, in a short, heavy thunderstorm. If you are already indoors by then, in a museum or a hawker centre, it does not bother you at all.
Our verdict: the best morning of your trip when you have had your fill of the skyline
Tiong Bahru and Joo Chiat
Two neighbourhoods where you do not have to do anything but walk. Tiong Bahru is ten minutes from Chinatown: white art deco blocks from the 1930s with rounded balconies, plus bookshops, coffee bars and murals of the old city. Go in the morning, when the locals queue for breakfast at Tiong Bahru Market.
Joo Chiat and Katong out east are the Peranakan neighbourhoods, home to the descendants of Chinese traders and Malay families. Their candy coloured terraces of mint, pink and yellow make the most photogenic streets in the city. And East Coast Park is round the corner, with a cycle path along the sea that runs all the way to Marina Bay.
Sleep in Joo Chiat and you are right in the middle of it. Betel Box pours free coffee and tea all day, and the staff know every food stall on the street.
Our verdict: this is the Singapore behind the skyline, and it is every bit as good
Sentosa without a ticket
Sentosa is Singapore’s playground island, with Universal Studios, an aquarium and a cable car. You do not have to pay for any of it. Take the MRT to HarbourFront, walk through the VivoCity mall and cross over the Sentosa Boardwalk. That puts you on the island without spending a cent.
The beaches at Siloso, Palawan and Tanjong are free, and so are the shuttle buses around the island. At Palawan Beach, walk the suspension bridge to the southernmost point of continental Asia, and stay on Siloso for the sunset.
Our verdict: a beach day fifteen minutes from the centre, and all you need to bring is a towel
The Rain Vortex at Jewel
Even if you are not flying: go to the airport. In Jewel, the glass dome opposite Terminal 1, the Rain Vortex plunges 40 metres, the tallest indoor waterfall in the world. Around it grows a tropical forest five floors high. Looking is free; you only pay for the Canopy Park at the top.
Come in the evening for the light and sound show. Flying out that day? Do it before check-in with your bag in the baggage storage, and wander round empty handed.
Only passing through? Transit passengers with five and a half to 24 hours between flights get a free bus ride past the skyline, the Free Singapore Tour. You still need the SG Arrival Card for it, and that costs nothing either. How to make the most of a layover is in our Singapore stopover guide.
Our verdict: a waterfall, a rainforest and a light show, and you have not even checked in yet
Pulau Ubin for a few euros
This is the only one on the list that costs you anything, and it is worth it. At Changi Point Ferry Terminal, by bus from Tanah Merah, you hop on a bumboat. There is no timetable: it goes when every seat is taken. For S$4, about €3 and cash only, ten minutes on the water takes you to another Singapore.
Over there you find wooden kampong houses, villagers cycling along sandy tracks and wild boar foraging by the road: Singapore as it was decades ago. Rent a bike by the jetty and head for Chek Jawa, with its boardwalk over the wetland and a lookout tower at the end. Go early and you have the trails and the cool of the morning to yourself.
Our verdict: for three euros, the best trip back in time Singapore has to offer
How to make it a free day
Plan the outdoors for the morning
Walks, the Southern Ridges and Pulau Ubin are all for before lunch. When the storm breaks you are indoors, and at a quarter to eight you are standing under the Supertrees again, bone dry.
Refill your bottle at the tap
The tap water is safe to drink all over Singapore. Bring a bottle and refill it wherever you can, and you will not buy water all day.
Use the free wifi
Many public buildings have free wifi through Wireless@SG. Want maps and the MRT route to hand on the go as well? Sort out an eSIM before you leave.
Time it with the festivals
Around Chinese New Year Chinatown is hung with lanterns, and at Deepavali, in October or November, Little India is lit up from end to end. You do not need a ticket for any of it: you just walk through.
How to spread all of this over a few days is in our 4-day Singapore itinerary, and more about the places themselves is in things to do in Singapore.
Can you really do Singapore without spending much?
Yes, and the best of it is even completely free. Two light shows in one night, the temples and the mosque in Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam, the Botanic Gardens, the beaches of Sentosa and the Rain Vortex at Jewel cost you nothing. Pulau Ubin costs you a boat ticket of about €3.
What you do pay for is indoors: the domes at Gardens by the Bay, the rooftops and the attractions on Sentosa. They are a lovely extra, but you do not need them to get to know the city. Pick one at most and run the rest of your days on what Singapore gives away.
Our advice: start your first evening under the Supertrees and then walk on to Spectra. You will know straight away how this city works, and you will not have spent a single euro. All the practical information is on our Singapore page.
