The best things to do in Singapore this season

If you’re looking to skip the winter’s cold, Singapore is the destination for a warm welcome over the next few months. Daylight here remains long, leaving plenty of room for enjoying everything this island nation brings – both indoors and outside. Art lovers will relish the Singapore Pavilion’s homecoming show from the recently concluded Venice Biennale, while Harry Potter fans will get the chance to venture into the wizarding world. We also highlight the hotly tipped restaurants and bars that have just opened their doors. Fill your days with these sunny Singapore picks this season.

The best exhibitions in Singapore

Amazônia: Photographs by Sebastião Salgado

When: 22 November–2 March 2025
Location: National Museum of Singapore, 93 Stamford Road, Singapore 178897
Price: Tickets start from SGD 16.80 for travellers

Now 80 years old, award-winning photographer Sebastião Salgado remains an ardent advocate for the planet’s forests. His exhibition Amazônia at the National Museum of Singapore spotlights the Amazon region and its threatened ecosystems in the wake of deforestation and climate change. More than 200 photographs, video testimonies from Indigenous leaders, tactile image plates for the visually impaired and projection rooms can be found in this exhibition. Salgado sees photography as “the mirror on society”, and with this blockbuster exhibition he demonstrates the Amazon region’s splendour and scale, in an effort to prompt us to protect the planet’s largest rainforest.

Singapore Art Week

Opening dates: 17 January 2025 – 26 January 2025
Location: Various locations across Singapore
Price: Various

If you’re into art, there’s no better time to visit Singapore than the month of January. The city makes a splash with more than 100 island-wide programmes across museums, galleries and public spaces. One clear highlight is Southeast Asia’s largest art fair ART SG, where blue chip galleries – like Gagosian, White Cube and Thaddaeus Ropac – will be presenting works alongside curated programmes by regional art organisations, such as Thailand’s Bangkok Kunsthalle and Hong Kong’s M Art Foundation. Boutique fair SEA Focus, which celebrates Southeast Asian contemporary art, is worth the visit, too. Come sundown, National Gallery Singapore’s Light to Night festival is known to put on a show with larger-than-life projections and extended museum hours.

Seeing Forest

Opening dates: 15 January–18 May 2025
Location: Level 3, Gallery 3, Singapore Art Museum at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Price: TBC

Didn’t manage to visit the Venice Biennale in 2024? Here’s your chance to experience a slice of it when the Singapore Pavilion’s exhibition Seeing Forest returns for its homecoming show. Over the last seven years, Singaporean artist Robert Zhao has been delving deep into Singapore’s secondary forests (once-developed land that has since been reclaimed by nature), which don’t enjoy governmental protections (unlike primary forests) and are often cleared for development projects. The animals Zhao encounters are the protagonists in these multimedia works, evincing the blurred boundaries between regulated cities and wild forests. His presentation is an invitation for coexistence, urging us that these secondary forests are no less ‘wild’.

Kim Lim: The Space Between. A Retrospective

When: Until 2 Feb 2025
Location: National Gallery Singapore 1 St Andrew’s Road Singapore 178957
Price: 20-25. SGD

There are plenty of reasons to visit the stunning National Gallery Singapore, but this comprehensive survey of Singapore-born British artist Kim Lim’s work steals the show. It’s a groundbreaking exhibition that repositions Lim as a significant figure in 20th-century sculpture and printmaking, with more than 150 works, including maquettes, unreleased photographs and archival materials. Lim, through her four-decade-long practice, developed a minimalist language that demonstrates a subtle defiance towards dominant Euro-American discourses – her oeuvre offering a counterpoint to male-dominated sculptural traditions of the 20th century. While you’re there, don’t leave without taking in the incredible views of the Padang and Marina Bay Sands on Level 6 of the City Hall Wing.

The World of Studio Ghibli

When: Until 2 Feb 2025
Location: ArtScience Museum, 6 Bayfront Ave, Singapore 018974
Price: 34-49 SGD

Director Hayao Miyazaki’s films have captured the imagination of audiences all around the world, and this Studio Ghibli exhibition will do the same. This is not only the renowned Japanese animation studio first official show in Singapore but one of ArtScience Museums’ largest exhibitions yet, with 11 galleries across two levels. The main draw is the 16 larger-than-life theatrical sets across eleven films, where you’ll be able to explore Howl’s castle, venture towards Totoro’s cave and hop on a train with No Face from Spirited Away. There are also box art installations that offer a closer look into the intricate details of the films. While the exhibition has travelled to a few cities in Asia, the Singapore edition has been redeveloped and includes many never-seen-before additions, such as objects from the films being used as props for the first time. The interactive exhibits will transport you into another world – something the ArtScience Museum does to perfection.

Batik Nonyas: Three Generations of Art and Entrepreneurship

When: 11 Oct–31 Aug 2025
Where: Peranakan Museum, 39 Armenian Street, Singapore 179941
Price: 8–12 SGD

This fascinating exhibition follows the story of three Peranakan women from Indonesia who produced intricate batiks (patterned textiles using a wax-resist dyeing technique) in Pekalongan, a famed batik centre on Java’s northern coast. The Peranakans were a cross-cultural ethnic group whose origins began when male Chinese settlers married local women from the Malay Archipelago from as early as the 15th century. Approximately 200 batik textiles and objects, made between the 1890s to 1980s, will be showcased in this multigenerational show, whose motifs and designs illustrate the political, cultural and economic vicissitudes of their time. Nyonya Oeij Kok Sing, for example, was still blazing her path when batik mass production had begun to proliferate, developing her own palette by introducing new motifs and unusual combinations, such as pairing flora with geometrics. Apart from elaborate and vivid textiles, Batik Nonyas will also feature hands-on batik dyeing workshops, performances and tours.

Harry Potter: Visions of Magic

When: From 22 November till TBD
Location: The Forum Level B1, Resorts World Sentosa, 8 Sentosa Gateway, Singapore 098269
Price: Tickets from SGD 39 for children and SGD 49 for adults

After entrancing German and Belgian fans, Harry Potter: Visions of Magic makes its Asia premiere at Resorts World Sentosa. It’s an immersive art experience that will take you through familiar silver screen moments braved by Harry, Ron and Hermoine. Armed with your own wand, you’ll illuminate the invisible while navigating ten different realms, two of which are exclusive to Singapore: The Trap Door (a series of rooms protecting the Philosopher’s Stone) and The Chamber of Secrets (the lair of an ancient basilisk). Don’t miss tasting the butter beer.

Best new restaurants and bars in Singapore

Dirty Sips

Location: 78 Moh Guan Terrace, #01-19, Singapore 162078
Price: Drinks from SGD 18

A few months after opening Dirty Supper, a restaurant famed for whole-animal cooking, Australian chef-owner Peter Smit has rolled out a sister concept, Dirty Sips. Found within the same shop lot, it’s a bar with an edgy cocktail menu that blends savoury elements from the kitchen, like the Dirty Boulevardier, made of duck fat-washed bourbon, bitters and vermouth. What makes this restaurant-bar special is how it shares a 90-year-old coffee shop space with an old-school hawker stand that slings bowls of fishball noodles during the day, perfectly embodying Singapore’s diverse culinary scene.

Asu

Location: 30 Labrador Villa Road, Singapore 119189
Price: Tasting menus start from SGD 168

Set in an old bungalow within Labrador Nature Reserve, Asu is a new restaurant that explores time-honoured Asian techniques and ingredients. Singaporean chef Ace Tan, who has worked at three-Michelin-starred institution Les Amis, distills traditional Chinese medicine philosophies into his cooking, guided by a belief that food can be at once delicious and healing. Dietary therapy has deftly made its way into the menu, such as using yam for bone health or lotus root for spleen support. The interiors are anchored by a curved dining table that wraps around the open kitchen, offering guests a front-row seat to all the action. Begin the evening ambling through the coastal boardwalk at the Labrador Nature Reserve, before closing out your night with a memorable meal at Asu.

Carlitos – Casa De Comidas

Location: 350 Joo Chiat Road, Singapore 427598
Price: Tapas starting from SGD 9

The Joo Chiat neighbourhood continues to flourish with new openings in the last year – something that shows no signs of stopping. Chef Carlos Montobbio of modern Spanish restaurant Esquina and Antonio Miscellaneo of feted pizzeria La Bottega (located just a few doors down) have joined forces to open Carlitos, a neighbourhood tapas bar. Taking inspiration from Montobbio’s favourite tapas bars across Spain, the menu features 30 small plates that dish out big flavours, like patatas bravas with garlic aioli and a spicy tomato sauce, and buttery Spanish octopus with smoked paprika. At Carlitos, it’s all about honouring tradition: the food is hearty and the interiors will transport you to a cosy Catalonian hole-in-the wall, complete with brick walls, decorative tiles and charming trinkets.

Le Clos

Location: 46 Kim Yam Road, #01-18 New Bahru, Singapore 239351
Price: Mains starting from SGD 32

Nestled in the buzzing creative enclave of New Bahru, Le Clos is a new wine house and restaurant that offers more than 800 labels and French comfort food. This is not just your middle-of-the-road bar, as founder Jean-Christophe Cadoret has gone the extra mile to source from small family-owned producers, in particular grower champagnes and French fine wines. The Josper charcoal oven makes all the difference to the dishes, like the Macka’s M4 + OP Rib Black Angus, where the steak is cooked at 300°C to bind all the flavour and moisture, and finished off with a luxuriant Bordelaise sauce. Le Clos houses a deli too: take your pick from a selection of fine cheeses crafted by top French fromagers, charcuterie from iconic producers and homemade ice-creams.

Seasonal things to do in Singapore

Christmas Wonderland

When: 29 Nov–1 Jan 2025
Where: Gardens by the Bay, 18 Marina Gardens Drive, Singapore 018953
Price: Various

The lack of snowfall has never held back festive cheer at Christmas Wonderland, Singapore’s biggest Yuletide event. Set in the futuristic Gardens by the Bay, the can’t-miss attraction is Spalliera, a dazzling 20-metre handcrafted light display made up of 100,000 bulbs. Craftsmen from Italy head to Singapore specially to assemble this piece over 30 days. The expansive fairground is arrayed with further light displays, “snow”, amusement rides, gourmet pop-ups, a Santa Village and more. Hot tip: the (usually free) Garden Rhapsody light and music show at the Supertree Grove is only accessible with a Christmas Wonderland ticket during this time of the year.

Sisters’ Islands Marine Park

Location: Sisters’ Islands
Price: Free

The city’s first marine park reopens after a three-year revamp, with new experiences such as a floating boardwalk, coastal forest trail and lagoon tidal pool. Set off Singapore’s mainland, Sisters’ Islands Marine Park is only a 40-minute ferry ride away from Marina South Pier. This lesser-known calming isle is the perfect breather from Singapore’s main metropolis, where you’ll catch a glimpse of marine life up-close, particularly at the lagoon tidal pool when waters recede. The areas surrounding the marine park are home to blacktip reef sharks, copperband butterflyfish and giant carpet anemone. On the first Sunday of every month, free guided tours are available (sign up here).

Jurong Lake Gardens

Location: Yuan Ching Road

Been to Gardens by the Bay and Singapore Botanic Gardens? Try this lesser-known green space – Singapore’s only national garden situated outside of the city centre. This 90-hectare plot may be located on the western side of Singapore, but it’s worth the journey, especially following the recent reopening of the Japanese and Chinese Gardens after a five-year makeover. Apart from restoring iconic sites like the waterfront Twin Pagoda, there are numerous new attractions including the Water Lily Garden – home to Singapore’s largest collection of these hydrophytes – and the Sunken Garden, which features a cenote-inspired centrepiece. If you’re looking to take a little breather from the city’s thrum, the Jurong Lake Gardens offers an enjoyable respite.