Nature Scenic Walks In The Southern Ridges Of Singapore Finishing In Sentosa

The people of Singapore are some of the most ingenious urban architects I have ever seen. They have this small piece of land (one of the smallest countries in the world), but they really know how to maximise the usability of each square centimeter of space they have. Only in Singapore you can go on a trail in the great outdoors, while still being in the middle of the city.

Southern Ridges

The Southern Ridges is a 10 km (6.2 miles) stretch of greenery that spans over multiple hills, parks and gardens, connected by futuristic ridges and pathways. This trail connects Kent Ridge Park, Hort Park, Telok Blangah Hill Park, Mount Faber Park, Berlayer Creek Boardwalk, and Labrador Nature Reserve.

Don’t be put off by the long distance of the Souther Ridges. If you don’t feel like walking that much you can choose to explore only part of it. We will let you know what are the best parts, the must-sees of this trail, and you can check those out. As a bonus you will get one of the best panoramic views of the city.

The truth is that we didn’t have time for the entire trail as well. We wanted to spend only the first half of the day on the trail, and then spend the second half of the day on Sentosa. That is why we skipped the Berlayer Creek Boardwalk, and the coastal walk in Labrador Nature Reserve. We also skipped the Canopy Walk in Kent Ridge Park, and we entered the Hort Park only for a bit in order to cross the Alexandra Arch. I am sure that these trails are beautiful and worth the walk, and I hope that one day we’ll check them out.

*The most spectacular parts of this trail, in our opinion, are the *Alexandra Arch* and the Henderson Waves. The Alexandra Arch connects the Hort Park and the Telok Blangah Hill Park, and the Henderson Waves connects the latter to the Mount Faber Park.*

Note: Make sure to take enough water with you because there’s a lot of sun on the trail. Pun on some sunscreen and a hat.

We took a Grab and went to the Hort Park Car Park. From here we found our way up on the broadwalk and we started walking towards the Alexandra Arch and the Telok Blangah Hill Park. From the Alexandra Arch continue your walk on the Earth Trail. The next check point on the trail is the Telok Blangah Hilltop Oasis with stone-paved staircases and gardens.

Continue the trail towards the Henderson Waves, probably the most impressive part of the trail. The Henderson Waves is a structure you should not miss. It connects 2 hilltops, and it passes 36 meters above the Henderson Road. This structure is the tallest pedestrian bridge in Singapore, and it is a truly archtitectural piece of art. As the name suggests, it is a wavy structure, with beautiful undulating curves.

Photos don’t do justice to the Henderson Waves. They are more impressive in reality than in photos. After walking the Henderson Waves you enter Mount Faber Park where you can take the cable car to Sentosa.

Sentosa Island

The views from the cable car were amazing, but we couldn’t enjoy them enough. There was a huge line to get into the cable car, we’ve waited more than an hour. Part of it in the sun, then under a roof that only made things even hotter, and then inside the cable car building. The ride was a terrible experience for us.

The cable car takes you in a huge themed park on the island of Sentosa. We’re not big fans of themed parks, but we do enjoy very good ones. We’ve been at the Universal Studio Hollywood Park in Los Angeles, California, which probably set some high standards for us. The Universal themed park here in Sentosa was just a poor attempt to create something similar. It was a good place to find something to eat for lunch, but then it proved to be a hustle to exit the park and explore the rest of the island.

Once we got out of the themed park we managed to enjoy the rest of our day on the Palawan Beach, and Palawan Island. They say that Palawan Island is the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia, which doesn’t seem to be true if you check on map. There are other parts on the Sentosa Island which are more to the South than the Palawan Island. I guess it’s just a touristy thing, good for a social media photo.

From the Sentosa Island you can take the public transport or a Grab back to the city where you have a lot of things that you can do as night falls.

Itinerary Variations

You can spend your day as described in this posts, but you can also adapt it to your own personal preferences. Here are some of our suggestions:

• Go to Sentosa first thing in the morning, to avoid crowds. Spend as much time as you like, then head to the Southern Ridges for the rest of the day. For us personally, the second half of the day in Sentosa was too much time. Starting in Sentosa would have allowed us to spend more time to the nature walks.
• If you’re a nature lover, spend more time in the Southern Ridges, exploring more parks, and maybe skip the Sentosa Island altogether.
• If you’re into themed parks then allocate more time to Sentosa Island than we did.
• If you like beaches, then there are 2 other beaches on the Sentosa Island that we had on the map to go check out, but we were a bit too lazy to do it, and preferred to lay down on the Palawan Beach. These 2 other beaches are called Siloso Beach and Sentosa Tanjong Beach.

We write to help you create your own Singapore itinerary, and to discover off the beaten path attractions. Checkout out other articles that we have about this spectacular country:

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