Marina Bay promenade
The bay, the three towers and the boat laid across them, seen from the water.
Duration
1 hr – 2 hrs
Best time
An hour before dark
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The promenade loops right round the bay, about three and a half kilometres, and it is the best way to understand Singapore: the bay has been a closed freshwater reservoir behind a barrage since 2008, not an arm of the sea.
From the north shore, in front of the Esplanade theatre, you get the three Marina Bay Sands towers with their boat laid across the top, and the Merlion in the foreground. The sound and light show plays off the hotel front every evening, free, and is watched from the opposite bank.
Getting there
MRT Bayfront station for the south shore, Esplanade or Raffles Place for the north. The full loop is walkable without crossing a road.
Rules on site
The late-afternoon thunderstorm is a daily event for much of the year and clears the promenade in minutes. The Helix bridge is the best viewpoint and the narrowest: it fills up before the show.
Other places in Singapore
- Gardens by the BayFifty-metre steel trees that light up after dark.
- Chinatown and the Buddha Tooth Relic TempleHerbalists, hawker centres and a five-storey Buddhist temple in the middle of it.
- Botanic GardensThe only tropical garden on the World Heritage list, eighty hectares in the middle of the city.
- Sultan Mosque and Kampong GlamThe golden dome of the Malay quarter, and the mural alleys of Haji Lane right behind it.