Nature Reserves and Parks in Singapore
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Four Gazetted Reserves and the Best of the Parks
Here is the list of 10 Nature Reserves and Parks in Singapore
1. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
One of the four gazetted nature reserves and the best single piece of primary rainforest left in Singapore, holding a disproportionate share of the country's native plants and animals on 163 hectares. The summit at 163 metres is the highest natural point on the island. It is a genuine forest walk on paved and boardwalk paths, steep in places. Long-tailed macaques are common at the entrance and along the trails: carry no visible food and do not feed them.
2. Singapore Botanic Gardens
Not a nature reserve but a working botanic garden founded in 1859, and the only tropical garden on the UNESCO World Heritage list, inscribed in 2015. The National Orchid Garden inside it is the reason most people come and is the one part that charges. There is also a small patch of surviving rainforest older than the garden itself. It sits at the top of Orchard Road, so it works as a morning before anything else, and entry to the gardens is free.
3. Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
A gazetted reserve of mangrove, mudflat and pond on the northwest coast facing Johor, and the place to go if you want birds. It sits on the East Asian Australasian Flyway, so from September to March migratory shorebirds arrive in numbers and the hides are worth the walk. Estuarine crocodiles are resident and occasionally visible from the boardwalk, which is why you stay on it. It is a long way from the centre and needs a bus from Kranji.
4. Labrador Nature Reserve
The smallest of the four gazetted reserves and the only one on the coast, on a headland above the Keppel Harbour entrance. It holds the last rocky sea cliff on the mainland and a patch of secondary coastal forest, and at low tide the shore platform is exposed. The other half of the interest is military: gun emplacements and tunnels from the harbour defences are on the hill. It links into the Southern Ridges walk, so it pairs with Mount Faber.
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5. Bukit Batok Nature Park
A quiet park on an old quarry site next to Bukit Timah, and much less visited than its neighbour. The quarry filled with water and the cliff face above it is the reason to come, along with a flight of steps up to a memorial to the Allied and Japanese dead of 1942. Secondary forest has grown back over the rest. It is a park rather than a reserve, so it is the easier walk of the pair, and the two connect if you want a longer morning.
6. Pasir Ris Park
A seafront park in the far northeast with something the others do not have: six hectares of protected mangrove with a boardwalk running through it, reached from the middle of a family park. Herons, kingfishers and mudskippers are reliable. The rest of it is beach, cycling paths, a large playground and barbecue pits, which is what most people come for at the weekend. Go on a weekday morning if you want the mangrove to yourself.
7. Chestnut Nature Park
The largest nature park in Singapore at around 81 hectares, opened in stages from 2016 on the northern edge of the Central Catchment. It is the only park on the island with dedicated mountain biking trails, kept separate from the hiking trails, which is the reason most of its visitors come. The northern and southern sections are linked but reached from different car parks, so check which entrance you want before setting off.
8. Dairy Farm Nature Park
A 63-hectare park on the site of Singapore's first dairy farm, which closed in the 1970s, on the edge of the Central Catchment. The Singapore Quarry is the set piece: a flooded granite quarry with a viewing platform, now colonised by waterbirds. Wallace Trail is named for Alfred Russel Wallace, who collected in this area in the 1850s. It connects through to Bukit Timah, and the paths are wide and easy rather than a scramble.
9. Fort Canning Park
The outlier on this list, and worth saying so plainly: this is a historic park in the middle of the city rather than a nature site. The hill was the seat of Malay royalty as Bukit Larangan, the Forbidden Hill, long before the British built the fort here between 1859 and 1861 and put Government House on top. The Battlebox bunker underneath is where the 1942 surrender was decided. The spiral staircase and the tree tunnel are the reason it fills with photographers.
10. East Coast Park
Fifteen kilometres of reclaimed seafront running along the southeast coast, and the largest park in Singapore by area as well as the busiest. It is not a nature site in any real sense: it is a beach, a cycling and skating corridor, seafood centres and campsites, built on land reclaimed from the sea in the 1970s. That is its appeal. Rent a bicycle at one end and ride the length of it, and eat at East Coast Lagoon Food Village.
The confusion is understandable, because the agency that runs all of this is called the National Parks Board, or NParks. What the law actually recognises is a smaller category: four gazetted nature reserves, which are Bukit Timah, the Central Catchment, Labrador and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. Everything else on this page is a park, and several of them are excellent. The distinction matters in practice rather than just on paper, because the reserves carry stricter rules on what you can do in them and hold the primary rainforest and the migratory birds. If you want wildlife rather than a good walk, go to a reserve.
This post was published by Muhammed Salih
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FAQs on Nature Reserves and Parks in Singapore
Does Singapore have any national parks?
No. Singapore has no national parks, and the reason people think otherwise is that the agency responsible for its green spaces is called the National Parks Board, or NParks. What the law recognises is four gazetted nature reserves: Bukit Timah, the Central Catchment, Labrador and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. Everything else is classified as a park.
What is the difference between a nature reserve and a nature park here?
Legal protection and what it is protecting. The four nature reserves are gazetted under the Parks and Trees Act, hold Singapore's remaining primary rainforest and its most important wetland habitat, and carry stricter rules on access and activity. Nature parks are usually secondary forest on former farmland or quarries, and often act as buffers around the reserves.
Where do you actually see wildlife in Singapore?
Sungei Buloh for birds, especially between September and March when migratory shorebirds arrive on the East Asian Australasian Flyway, and it also has resident estuarine crocodiles. Bukit Timah for forest species and long-tailed macaques. Pasir Ris has a genuine mangrove boardwalk with herons and mudskippers. The city parks are for walking rather than wildlife.
Which of these is a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
The Singapore Botanic Gardens, inscribed in 2015, and it is the only tropical botanic garden on the World Heritage list. It is not a nature reserve, though, and it is included here because it is the most significant protected green space in the country. Entry to the gardens is free; the National Orchid Garden inside charges separately.
Which one should you pick if you only have half a day?
Bukit Timah if you want forest, since it is a real rainforest walk and it connects to Dairy Farm and Bukit Batok if you want to keep going. The Botanic Gardens if you want something easy and central. Sungei Buloh only if birds are the point, because it is a long trip out to Kranji and back for anything else.
Do you need to pay to enter?
Almost never. All the nature reserves and parks on this page are free, and so is entry to the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The exceptions are inside: the National Orchid Garden charges, and so does the Battlebox tour at Fort Canning. Parking is charged at most of them, which is the only cost if you drive.
