Three friends, one very damp week in
Chinatown · Marina Bay · Pulau Ubin
We arrive on Saturday, 7 August 2027
Monday 9 August 2027
The Padang, Marina Bay
Singapore’s birthday parade has been held on 9 August since 1966, from dusk into the night, with a show, the national pledge and anthem, and fireworks. In 2027 it is at the Padang to mark 60 years of National Service, and tickets are shared by ballot.
Every year on 9 August. Source ↗
Five days: temples, gardens, a national birthday party and one island that still remembers being a village.
Bugis, Singapore
Chinatown first, while it is still early enough to pretend the heat is fine: a Hindu temple and a Buddhist one, a few minutes apart on South Bridge Road.
Singapore’s first and oldest Hindu temple, founded in 1827. A six-tiered gateway tower covered in painted figures rises over the entrance.
A Tang-style Buddhist temple completed in 2007. A relic said to be a tooth of the Buddha is kept on the fourth floor, though its origin is claimed rather than proven.
A UNESCO garden in the morning, before the air turns to soup, then the golden domes of Kampong Glam for the afternoon.
Founded in 1859 and listed by UNESCO in 2015, the gardens are open from 5 a.m. and free to enter, apart from the National Orchid Garden inside.
Completed in 1826 and rebuilt in its present form in 1932, the mosque has golden domes and is open to visitors of other faiths. Kampong Glam, around it, is a quarter of small shops.
It is National Day. We spend the day among the giant metal trees at Gardens by the Bay, then save a spot by the water for the evening, because the party ends with fireworks.
A park by Marina Bay where 18 Supertrees, from 25 to 50 metres tall, are covered in plants. Two large glasshouses, the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest, are the indoor refuge.
The water’s edge of Marina Bay, a short walk from the Padang, where the parade is held in 2027. The parade ends with fireworks, a medley of National Day songs, the pledge and the anthem.
A calm morning on Fort Canning Hill, once called the Forbidden Hill, and an afternoon in Little India that should come with a nap.
A 48-metre hill in the city centre, known to Malays as Bukit Larangan, the Forbidden Hill. It was thought to be the burial place of ancient kings. Raffles later built his house here.
A temple to the goddess Kali in the middle of Little India, built in 1881 by Bengali workers in the South Indian Tamil style.
A bumboat to Pulau Ubin, where Singapore pretends to be a village, then a waterfall indoors, at the airport. It sounds like a joke, but it is a real stop.
An island of about ten square kilometres off the north-east coast, reached by a ten-minute bumboat from Changi Point. It is one of Singapore’s last rural areas, with no public transport.
A complex next to Changi Airport, opened in 2019, built around a 40-metre indoor waterfall, the Rain Vortex. It is linked to Terminals 1, 2 and 3.
Every stop and our base.
What early August is usually like.
Singapore
Typical weather for these dates, not a forecast: the average of 2016–2025, with data from Open-Meteo.com (ERA5). The chance of rain is an estimate.
16 photos from 9 places on our route
The first National Day Parade took place on 9 August 1966, and it is held on that date every year.
On the route: Day 3, Marina BayIn 2027 the parade is at the Padang again, to mark 60 years of National Service. The Padang is smaller than the National Stadium, used in 2026.
Parade tickets have been handed out through an online ballot since 2003. Nobody queues overnight for them.
The parade finishes with fireworks, a medley of National Day songs, the pledge and the national anthem.
Tell us where you’re going. Your draft is free.