Things to do in Singapore When it Rains

By Adam Fraiel
Published: July 18, 2024
Indian Heritage Centre in Singapore

Rain, rain go away! Come to Singapore another day, preferably when you’re not on vacation. However, if you do find the days a little moist, worry not. There are plenty of places to escape the downpour. We’ve put together a list of activities so you won’t miss a minute of action during your Singapore vacation.

  • Shopping at the mall
  • National Museum of Singapore
  • National Gallery Singapore
  • Asian Civilizations Museum
  • Indian Heritage Center
  • Floral Fantast
  • Tea Chapter Chinese Teahouse
  • Madame Tussauds Singapore
  • Trickeye

Enjoy Some Retail Therapy

It’s raining and you’re feeling a little blue. What better way to cheer yourself up than with a little retail therapy? The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands contains a world-class hotel, casino, shops, restaurants, bars, and other attractions providing entertainment for all the family.

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You’ll find a vast casino, cinemas, theaters showing award-winning productions, over 80 restaurants, close to 300 shopping outlets, indoor river rides, and spectacular waterfalls. And best of all? You’ll be nice and dry.

Explore the Museums of Singapore

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National Museum of Singapore

The nation’s oldest museum, it brings history to life with exciting visual exhibitions and internationally renowned festivals. The National Museum of Singapore embraces technology to share traditional culture, stories, and history through displays, artifacts, plus innovative events.

National Gallery Singapore

A stunning 64,000 square meter building in the heart of the Civic District, see the world’s largest public collection of Singapore and Southeast Asian modern art at the National Gallery Singapore. If you get a little hungry from all the exploring, stop for a bite in one of the MICHELIN-starred restaurants.

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Asian Civilisations Museum

Discover the rich history of Asia, with exhibits dating back to 830 AD. The varied cultures of Asia have an interconnected history, and the Asian Civilisations Museum presents it through artifacts, exhibits, plus a giant shipwreck to explore. You’ll also find a variety of artwork from the various major religions, all of which passed through this vital port town.

Indian Heritage Centre

The Indian Heritage Center offers a chronological timeline of the Indian influence in Singapore. Using galleries, exhibitions, archived footage, and interactive, educational spaces, you’ll learn of the first Indian settlements, through the growth and development of the Little India district to the tourist hotspot it is today.

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The Battlebox

Venture underground and explore this authentic command center 9 meters underground - the same space where Lieutenant-General Percival and his senior officers directed the Battle of Singapore in World War II. After the 30-minute tour you’re free to wander alone, navigating the labyrinth of corridors as you watch footage of the war raging above. An essential experience if you want to truly understand the history of Singapore.

Stop and smell the roses

Floral Fantasy is an indoor section at Gardens by the Bay that will blow your mind and your senses. Thousands of freshly cut, dried, and preserved flowers decorate the ceiling, while flowers, artistic expression, and technology combine to create a sensational sensory experience below.

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Divided into four diverse landscapes, Dance, Float, Waltz, and Drift, you’ll forget all about the rain outside. Dance features a mesmerizing display of swaying plants, Float contains stunning water features, Waltz is home to waterfalls and a frog vivarium, while Drift is an enchanting cave with beautifully lit rock formations.

A Cup of Tea

Wait out the rain with a nice, hot cup of tea. Tea is more than just a drink in Singapore. It’s a part of the long, multicultural history of the country, including China, India, the British Empire, and Japan.

Experience the full spectrum of tea in the country with a trip to a teahouse. Tea Chapter is the largest and oldest Chinese teahouse in Singapore. Fit for royalty, receiving Queen Elizabeth II in 1989, it continues to inspire and educate visitors from around the world about the ceremony and ritual behind making, pouring, and serving the perfect cup.

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Complete your experience with a lovely cup of Indian chai in Little India, or Japanese matcha green teas in The Maccha House Singapore.

Ready for some selfies?

Madame Tussauds Singapore

Pose alongside your favorite Hollywood, Bollywood, TV, and sports stars, like Serena Williams, Taylor Swift, and Johnny Depp. It’s not just selfies though. Madame Tussauds Singapore offers an edutainment aspect too, with the chance to sing and dance alongside famous Bollywood stars, and explore Singapore’s rich culture with the Spirit of Singapore Boat Ride. Definitely an excellent rainy day activity.

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Trickeye @ Southside Singapore

Fill your social feed with mind-bending optical illusions while playing with augmented reality in this virtual world playground. Swim with sharks and dance with mermaids in this interactive augmented reality environment.

Save on Admission to Top Singapore Attractions

Explore the best things to do with a pass for Singapore by Go City®. Select from top attractions with our All-Inclusive and Explorer passes, where you’ll enjoy access to galleries, museums, tours much more.

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Adam Fraiel
Go City Travel Expert

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Water Sports
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Water Sports in Singapore

By Mia Russell Beat the heat of Singapore’s perpetual summer and hit the water! Garden City is renowned for having some of the best museums, restaurants, and shopping in the world, but the city also has some fantastic water sports to enjoy. Encircled by water, the island state has some beautiful beaches like Palawan and Changi. Spending the day relaxing on one of these spectacular beaches is a must. But if you prefer getting active, there is a range of fun water sports to enjoy. Whether it's exploring Singapore’s islands on a kayaking adventure or scuba-diving on the brightly colored reefs, here are some exciting water sports to enjoy in Singapore. 1. Kayaking Kayaking in the calm waters around Singapore’s many islands is a fantastic way to spend a few hours. This fun, family-friendly activity is ideal for all fitness levels and ages, and you don’t need any sailing experience. Experienced guides will teach you the basics and show you some of Singapore’s secret spots along the coast. Venture to Pulau Ubin and explore the magnificent mangrove forest. Keep an eye out for wildlife like otters, mangrove lizards, and long-tailed macaques. Visit one of the island’s floating fish farms (kelongs) and enjoy a delicious seafood lunch of locally-farmed sea bass and mussels. You can even try your hand at kayak fishing and catch your own lunch! Use your pass to enjoy a Nature Kayaking Adventure at Pulau Ubin. Explore the beautiful coastline of Pulau Ubin and Pulau Ketam on this fantastic tour and soak up the spectacular natural scenery. Where: Pulau Ubin 2. Windsurfing Sailing meets surfing in this adrenalin-rushing sport. If you haven’t tried the sport before, take a basic windsurfing course or rent a board to show off your jumping, looping, and spinning skills. The Aloha Sea Sports Centre at East Coast Park offers courses for all skill levels and the Constant Wind Sea Sports Centre at Changi Beach has top-notch equipment to rent. Where: East Coast Park / Changi Beach 3. Stand-up paddleboarding If you prefer a less intense water sport, try stand-up paddling (SUPPING). This easy, relaxing sport involves standing on a longboard and paddling with a double-bladed oar. The whole family can enjoy paddling on calm waters and it's a great upper-body workout. Try stand-up paddling at the Aloha Sea Sports Centre at East Coast Park, the Constant Wind Sea Sports Centre at Changi, and the Ola Beach Club in Sentosa. Where: East Coast Park / Changi Beach / Sentosa 4. Sailing Soak up one-of-a-kind views of the city with the wind in your hair and salt on your lips from the bow of a sailboat. If you’re an experienced sailor, head to Marina Bay, where you can rent a boat from the DBS Marina Bay Sailing Program. Sail around the Central Business District and take in the breathtaking city skyline. Don’t despair if you don’t know how to sail. You can jump on one of the many boat cruises offered at Marina Bay and enjoy the same experience without the hard work! Where: DBS Marina Bay Sailing Program, Marina Bay 5. Wakeboarding Love high-energy, adrenaline-rushing fun? Try wakeboarding to get all of that and more. This invigorating water sport involves surfing on a specifically designed board while being towed by a high-speed craft. The best place to hit the water on a wakeboard is at Singapore Wake Park at East Coast Park. The park features a lagoon with three cable-ski systems for all skill levels from novices to experts. Glide along at gentle speeds and work your way up to mastering obstacles and jump ramps. You’ll find some great package deals offered at the park and there are professional wakeboarders on hand to help you with the basics. Where: Singapore Wake Park 6. Flyboarding Want to experience the thrill of ‘flying’ above water? Head to Sentosa’s Ola Beach Club for a thrilling, heart-pumping hydro-flying experience. Flyboarding involves standing on a board connected by a long hose to a watercraft. Pressurized water is forced through jet nozzles at the bottom of the board to shoot the rider high into the air. You don’t need any experience to try this exhilarating water sport - certified instructors will show you the basics and you’ll be soaring through the air in no time! Where: Ola Beach Club, Sentosa 7. Jet-skiing Another fantastic water sport to enjoy in Singapore is jet skiing. You can rent a jet-ski or book a ride with an instructor at the Puteri Harbour and head out for some wet and wild fun around the city. If you haven’t jet-skied before, a professional instructor will guide you through the basics. Remember to always wear a lifejacket and keep the engine shut-off clip attached to your waist. Where: Puteri Harbour 8. Pedal boating If prefer a gentler pursuit on the water, try pedal boating. Enjoy a tranquil ride on the calm waters of Discovery Lake without even getting wet! Pedal boating is a lovely way to spend some time with family and friends on the water. You can rent pedal boats from the Sports Hub Water Sports Centre near Discovery Lake at the Singapore Discovery Centre. Help keep Discovery Lake clean and join the Waterways Watch Society in picking up litter on the water while paddling around the lake. Where: Sports Hub Water Sports Centre, Discovery Lake at the Singapore Discovery Centre 9. Bodyboarding / Surfing Singapore isn’t known for having big swells and curling barrels, but you can hit waves to bodyboard and surf at the Stingray half-pipe surfing facility at Splash-N-Surf in the Singapore Sports Hub. This specially designed wave house creates artificial waves for all skill levels. Start on the slower 32 km/h waves if you’re a beginner or catch the faster 48 km/h waves and show off your skills. Where: Singapore Sports Hub 10. Dragon boating Try your hand at this incredible 2,000-year Chinese watercraft tradition. Head to the Kallang River with a group of friends and join the Singapore Dragon Boat Association for some paddling fun. Experienced trainers will guide you through an orientation program and some introductory classes before you hit the water with your team. Once you get the hang of it, you can rent dragon boats from the DBA or the Singapore Sports Hub’s Water Sports Centre. Where: Singapore Sports Hub 11. Scuba diving Dive beneath the surface on a scuba-diving adventure and explore the multi-hued corals and rich marine life off Pulau Hantu. A 30-minute boat ride away from the mainland, Pulau Hantu features two islands – Hantu Kecil and Hantu Besar. The islands are surrounded by gin-clear waters teeming with sea life. Keep an eye out for turtles, manta rays, butterflyfish, and parrotfish. If you aren’t a qualified scuba diver yet, take a course with a certified PADI instructor and venture into the magical underwater world. You can also rent diving equipment and underwater cameras. Another way to explore the wonders of the ocean is a snorkeling adventure on Rainbow Reef at the Adventure Cove Waterpark. Use your pass to gain free access to the park and snorkel along the brightly colored Rainbow Reef and see thousands of vibrant fish up close. Where: Pulau Hantu
Cara Merren
Woman looking across the water to the Singapore Flyer
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Singapore for Adults - Activities and Attractions

Singapore is one big amusement park for grown-ups, with hundreds of fun and unusual things to do, from night safaris to Singapore Slings and slurping zingy chili crab with black pepper from hawker stalls. Add world-class galleries and museums, dizzyingly high observation wheels and platforms, gardens bursting with colorful blooms and bone-white beaches so pristine we swear you’d eat your dinner off them if it wasn’t for all that pesky sand. No list of Singapore activities for adults can ever claim to be truly comprehensive and nor does ours. Here, instead, are 10 of our favorite things to do in Singapore for adults, including... Dinner on the Singapore Flyer A Singapore Sling at Raffles Hotel SkyPark views at Marina Bay Sands An authentic tea-tasting experience Sizzling Sentosa island A hike through the treetops The best street food in Singapore Get Snap-Happy in the Gardens by the Bay You’ll recognize the Gardens by the Bay from their much-photographed Supertree Grove: soaring tree-like structures that light up at night and are connected by an elevated walkway. Grab your camera and beat the Instagram influencers at their own game, then mosey on over to the veritable explosion of color and scent that is the Flower Dome, only the biggest greenhouse on the planet. Cooler and more misty inside, the neighboring Cloud Forest conservatory also makes for some atmospheric snaps (assuming your lens doesn’t fog up). Follow the sound of the world’s tallest indoor waterfall through a forest of vines, ferns and aromatic orchids. Sip a Singapore Sling at Raffles Hotel Raffles and its signature gin cocktail are as synonymous with Singapore as skyscrapers and orchids, making this colonial-era 19th-century icon a must-visit on any trip to the Garden City. And it would be remiss while there not to sample their Singapore Sling, a tropical blend of gin, cherry brandy, pineapple, grenadine, lime juice and bitters first concocted by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon here in 1915 and a favorite of visitors to the hotel’s Long Bar – including literary giants like Hemingway, Kipling and Greene – ever since. National Gallery of Singapore Anyone with even a passing appreciation of fine art will find much to admire at Singapore’s National Gallery in the Civic District. Focusing primarily on modern and contemporary artworks from Singapore and southeast Asia, its collection of over 9,000 pieces dates from the late 19th Century to the present day and (a common theme in this supersize city!) is the largest of its kind in the world. Don’t miss Singaporean Choo Keng Kwang’s oil paintings and woodcuts, and Georgette Chen’s evocative series of family portraits. Night safari Operated by the same group that runs the wildly popular Singapore Zoo, the Night Safari is the world’s first park that’s devoted solely to creatures of the night. Expect crepuscular critters and nocturnal beasts galore inside an 86-acre reserve that’s home to over 2,500 animals including Malaysian tapirs, Asian elephants, white African lions and the critically endangered (and ferociously cute) Sunda pangolin. Explore on foot or hop aboard the complimentary tram for an informative audio commentary as you meander through themed zones including fishing cat and wallaby trails. Marina Bay Sands You’ve heard Singapore can be expensive, right? Well, trust us when we say nowhere will zap your bank balance quite as rapidly as the Marina Bay Sands resort. Here, Michelin-star dining, achingly cool (and painfully pricey) cocktail bars, designer boutiques and, yup, even a casino, all vie for your wallet’s attention. Head 56 stories up to the SkyPark observation deck for sweeping views of the Singapore skyline and down to Supertree Grove and the huge hothouses in the Gardens by the Bay below. You’ll have to be a guest to access the quite unbelievable rooftop infinity pool (the world’s largest, natch) that straddles the resort’s three soaring towers. As good an excuse to book a room in this luxury resort as any, if you ask us. Feel Like Royal-Tea If you’re going to go tea-tasting in Singapore, you might as well do it at the city’s most storied tea house, right? Previous guests of Tea Chapter, a lovingly converted three-storey pre-war shophouse, include no less than Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Queen Elizabeth II herself! So you’ll be in fine company as you allow time to slow down while you're schooled in the noble art of tea appreciation. Relax with a cup of delicate Imperial Golden Cassia that’s literally fit for a queen inside this zen haven of elegant Eastern furnishings, ornate Chinese architecture, traditional Chinese classical music and perfect tranquility. Take a Day Trip to Sentosa Take the scenic route aboard the cable car to Sentosa or hop aboard the speedy Sentosa Express to get you there in under five minutes. Back on dry land, you’ll discover this sunny island resort has enough activities and attractions to keep you entertained for days on end. Hit the golden sands at palm-strewn Siloso Beach, where you can swim in the sea, ride an enormous swing and walk the SkyBridge 154 feet above the sunbathers below. Then head over to Imbiah Lookout where amazing views across Sentosa to the Southern Islands are already par for the course. The SkyHelix ride supercharges those vistas by taking you even higher, ascending to a dizzying 260 feet above sea level. Other attractions on the island include Universal Studios Singapore, the vast Luxury Fashion Galleria mall and the S.E.A. Aquarium. Savor the Singapore Foodie Culture Singapore’s hawker centers are the stuff of legend. There are over 100 of these open-air food courts around the city, meaning delicious, cheap, freshly cooked Indian, Malay and Chinese cuisine is at your fingertips. The noise and heady aromas – oh lord, those intoxicating aromas! – can be overwhelming at first. Our tip: look for the longest queues (indicating the most popular stalls) and get in line. A world of zingy coconut noodle soups, chili crab and spicy peanut satay awaits. Try the Old Airport Road Food Centre and Ghim Moh Market for some of the very best. Ride the Singapore Flyer Soaring to a knee-knocking 541 feet, the Singapore Flyer stakes its rightful claim as one of the tallest observation wheels on the planet. Steel your nerves for the 30-minute flight as you board at Marina Bay, with ticket upgrades that include a Singapore Sling, a glass of champagne and even a four-course dinner for two. Don’t worry: you get to stay on for two rotations with the dinner package, so no need to wolf down those profiteroles like your life depends on it! Included with all tickets, of course, are life-affirming views over Singapore and Sentosa island; even, on clear days, as far as Malaysia and Indonesia. Tiptoe Through the Treetops If the hustle and bustle of the city all gets too much, fear not! There are plenty of opportunities to escape into the great outdoors amid the plentiful lush vegetation of this tropical paradise. Pedal yourself silly on the epic Round Island bike route, or hit the Park Connector Network, which links major parks, gardens and nature reserves across the island. For those who prefer to explore on foot, the scenic Southern Ridges Trail is a breathtaking elevated walkway through the treetops of the hills south of the city. Cross Singapore’s highest pedestrian bridge and see if you can spot banded bay cuckoos, red-whiskered bulbuls and myriad other colorful bird species flitting through the canopy. Save on attractions and activities for adults in Singapore Save on admission to Las Vegas attractions with Go City. Check out @GoCity on Instagram and Facebook for the latest top tips and attraction info.
Stuart Bak
Stuart Bak

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