Chinatown Singapore is a district of restored shophouses, temples and hawker centres just south of the Singapore River. It grew up in the 19th century as the area where Chinese immigrants settled, and today it mixes souvenir stalls and tourist restaurants with traditional medicine halls, clan associations and some of the best cheap food in the city. Walking around Chinatown Singapore is free, and it is easy to spend a whole morning or evening here.
Why visit Chinatown Singapore
The appeal is variety packed into a small area. Within a few streets you will find a large Buddhist temple, the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore, a mosque, and food centres where locals eat every day. The rows of colourful two-storey shophouses, with shops below and homes or offices above, are some of the best preserved in the city.
Chinatown is also the centre of Chinese New Year in Singapore. In the weeks before the festival the streets are decorated with lanterns and a busy festive market takes over the main lanes.
Getting to Chinatown Singapore by MRT
The main station is Chinatown, on the North East Line and the Downtown Line. Follow the signs for Pagoda Street, and you come up right in the middle of the street market, the most convenient starting point for a walk.
Other stations work well for the edges of the district. Maxwell on the Thomson-East Coast Line is close to Maxwell Food Centre and the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, and Outram Park and Telok Ayer are handy for the western and eastern sides. Because the area is compact, you can enter at one station and leave from another.
Is there an entry fee?
No. Chinatown is a public neighbourhood and the streets, markets and temples are free to visit. Temples ask visitors to dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered, and some ask you to remove your shoes. Donations are welcome. A few attractions, such as the Chinatown Heritage Centre on Pagoda Street, charge admission, so check their own websites for current details.
Best time to visit
Mornings are cooler and are the best time to see the temples and the wet market in action. The hawker centres are busiest at lunch, roughly noon to 2pm, when office workers arrive. Evenings are pleasant too, when the lanterns light up and the street restaurants on Smith Street get going.
Two to three hours is enough for a good look around and a meal. If you visit in the run-up to Chinese New Year, expect big crowds but a great atmosphere.
Highlights
Buddha Tooth Relic Temple
A large, richly decorated Buddhist temple on South Bridge Road with several floors of halls and a museum. Visitors are welcome outside prayer times, with modest dress.
Sri Mariamman Temple
Singapore's oldest Hindu temple, with a tall gopuram covered in carved and painted figures. It sits on South Bridge Road, a short walk from Pagoda Street.
Hawker food
Chinatown Complex Food Centre and Maxwell Food Centre are two of the best known hawker centres in Singapore. Look for chicken rice, char kway teow, dumplings and local desserts, and do as the locals do by reserving a seat with a packet of tissues.
Pagoda, Trengganu and Smith streets
The heart of the street market, lined with stalls selling souvenirs, snacks and clothes. Look past the stalls at the restored shophouse facades above.
Ann Siang Hill and Club Street
Quieter, sloping streets on the eastern edge with independent shops, cafes and bars in old shophouses.
Tips for exploring Chinatown Singapore
- Carry some cash. Many hawker stalls now take cards or mobile payment, but not all of them do.
- Return your tray after eating at a hawker centre. Singapore has rules on clearing tables, and locals expect it.
- Prices at souvenir stalls on the main lanes are often fixed, but it does no harm to ask for a small discount if you buy several items.
- Wear comfortable shoes and take water. The streets are flat but you will cover more ground than you expect.
- Be respectful in temples: speak quietly, avoid pointing your camera at people praying and follow any signs about photography.
Nearby on the same stop
- Clarke Quay: the riverside dining area, one stop away on the North East Line.
- Thian Hock Keng Temple: one of Singapore's oldest Chinese temples, on Telok Ayer Street.
- Pinnacle@Duxton: a public housing estate with a skybridge that may be open to visitors for a small fee; check before going.
See the area on our Chinatown Singapore page, or browse more neighbourhoods on the Singapore metro guide.