What We Tell Friends Who Ask Where the Fun Is

A friend lands in Singapore, or a cousin finally has a free evening, and the message arrives: "ok what's actually fun here." Not "what should I see." Fun.

Fun here comes in four moods. The free stuff (light shows over Marina Bay, the world's tallest indoor waterfall at Jewel), the hungry stuff (a hawker supper from three stalls), the wander-around stuff (the river at night), and the adrenaline stuff, which is where the Slingshot at Clarke Quay launches you almost 70 metres up at 160km/h.

Pick a mood, then pick from the list. That's how we answer the question when friends ask us, and we answer it a lot. If they're already near the river, we send them to our guide to what's around Clarke Quay. We run a thrill ride, so we're biased about one mood. We'll flag it when it shows.

Start with the stuff that costs nothing

The free shows here are genuinely good, which surprises people.

Spectra is a light and water show over the bay at Marina Bay Sands. It runs at 8 PM and 9 PM every night, with an extra 10 PM show on Fridays and Saturdays, and lasts about 15 minutes. No ticket. Turn up ten minutes early and stand on the waterfront promenade.

The Rain Vortex at Jewel Changi Airport is a 40-metre waterfall falling through a hole in a glass dome, and Jewel bills it as the world's tallest indoor waterfall. At night it turns into a light and music show, at 8 PM and 9 PM, plus 10 PM from Friday to Sunday. It's a strange, lovely thing to see in an airport mall, and you don't need a flight.

Watching the Slingshot from the Clarke Quay riverside costs nothing either. It's the best people-watching in town: someone always talks a big game in the queue and then goes very quiet in the capsule.

Eat late, eat from three stalls

A hawker supper is the cheapest good night out going. Pick a centre that actually stays up late, like Newton Food Centre or Chomp Chomp in Serangoon Garden, where most stalls fire up from early evening and plenty keep going until around midnight (stall hours vary, so go hungry but go before 11 PM). Claim a table with a packet of tissues (that's how you reserve a seat here, seriously), and order from three stalls instead of one. Share everything. Nobody judges a second round of satay.

Wander the river after dark

Clarke Quay, Boat Quay and Robertson Quay sit along one stretch of the Singapore River, and you can walk the lot in an evening. Clarke Quay is the loud one. Boat Quay has the skyline. Robertson Quay, a little upstream, is where you go when you actually want to talk.

The bumboats that cruise the river leave from jetties along the way, including one at Clarke Quay. Sitting low on the water and looking up at the towers is a good way to rest your legs between drinks.

Fun that makes your heart rate jump

Here's our bias. We think everyone should do one thing on a trip that scares them a little.

The Slingshot is a two-person ride fired almost 70 metres straight up at 160km/h, pulling 3 to 5Gs on launch. It's over in under a minute and the reaction video is the part people send to their group chat. SGD 45 for adults, SGD 35 for under-18s.

The GX-5 Extreme Swing is the slower kind of fear: a freefall from 40 metres into a swing over the river at more than 120km/h. It takes 2 to 5 riders, so it's the better pick for a group. Same prices.

If you can't choose, the Scream Combo covers both for SGD 70 for adults (SGD 60 for under-18s), which is SGD 20 less than two adult tickets.

Slingshot Singapore has maintained a 100% safety record for over 20 years. Skip it if you're pregnant or have a heart, back or neck condition, or you genuinely hate rides. Come and watch instead. We mean that.

The whole list, sorted by mood

And if you have a whole weekend

Everything above is an evening. The outdoor fun (a bike ride round Pulau Ubin, the canopy bridge at MacRitchie, the walk over Henderson Waves) needs an early start before the heat, and a bit of planning around what's open when.

So we wrote that up separately, as a timed plan for a weekend here, with what to book ahead and what to just turn up for.