Singapore has a reputation, and it's not entirely undeserved. It's a city where a cocktail can set you back $60 Aussie Dollars, a theme park ticket costs more than a domestic flight, and the shopping on Orchard Road is designed by people who very much want your money.

Here's the thing though: some of the best things to do in Singapore are completely, unambiguously free. Not "free with a purchase". Not "free if you queue for four hours". Just free. 

Our Head of Marketing and Technology, Zoe, spent a week there recently and the moments that stuck with us weren't just the ones she paid the most for. 

It's also the answer to the question we searched before any travel to Singapore even got booked: what things to do in Singapore actually cost nothing at all?

The quick list:
 

1. Garden Rhapsody light show at Gardens by the Bay
   2.  Fort Canning Park and the Tree Tunnel
   3.  The Singapore River walk to Merlion Park
   4.  Spectra at Marina Bay Sands
   5.  Haji Lane and Kampong Glam
   6.  Chinatown, Little India and Jewel Changi
    

Let's get cracking!

Free things to do in Singapore 

Gardens by the Bay: the Supertree Grove light show

If you do one free thing in Singapore, make it this.

Garden Rhapsody is a nightly light and sound show at the Supertree Grove, where the towering vertical gardens light up in choreographed colour to a musical soundtrack. It runs at 7.45pm and 8.45pm every night, lasts around 15 minutes, and costs absolutely nothing.

It is absolutely spectacular. You lie back on the walkway or the grass, the trees start pulsing above you, and for a quarter of an hour you completely forget you're standing in one of the most expensive cities on earth. It was our number one highlight of the entire trip, and we paid nothing for it.

A few practical notes:

• Get there 20-30 minutes early. It's popular, and the central lawn area fills up fast. The 8.45pm show is usually a little calmer than the 7.45pm.
• The outdoor gardens and the Supertree Grove itself are free to walk through, day or night. You don't need a ticket to be there.
• The paid bits are optional add-ons: the OCBC Skyway elevated walkway is around S$14, and the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome conservatories are ticketed separately. They're lovely, but the free show is the headline act, not the consolation prize.

Nearest MRT is Bayfront. Show times can shift for special events, so it's worth a quick check on the Gardens by the Bay site the morning of.

Fort Canning Park and the famous Tree Tunnel

A green hill smack in the middle of the city, free to enter, and layered with more history than almost any other patch of ground in Singapore.

The headline attraction these days is the Tree Tunnel — despite the name, it isn't a tunnel of trees you walk through. It's a spiral staircase set into a stone-lined well at 51 Canning Rise, and when you stand at the bottom and look straight up, the opening frames a perfect circle of rain tree canopy against the sky. It's become one of the most photographed spots in the country, and in person it really is beautiful.

The catch is everyone wants the same photo. People start gathering from around 7am, and by mid-morning you can be waiting a fair while for a clear frame. Go early if the shot matters to you. The nearest access is Fort Canning MRT, Exit B, which drops you almost on top of it.

Don't just take the picture and leave, though. That'd be missing the point entirely. The rest of the park is beautiful and almost always quieter — the old Fort Gate with jungle creeping over its walls, the spice and heritage gardens, enormous shady trees, and winding paths that feel a world away from the malls fifteen minutes down the hill. The Malays knew it as Bukit Larangan, the Forbidden Hill, and it's said to hold the graves of the kings of ancient Singapura.

All of that is free. The only ticketed part is the Battlebox, the underground WWII command bunker where the British surrender of Singapore was decided in 1942. Worth the money if you're into history, but entirely skippable if you're not.

Walk the Singapore River to the Merlion

This is the walk that stitches the whole city together, and it costs you nothing but sweat.

Start up around Clarke Quay and follow the river down through Boat Quay, past the old shophouse rows now full of restaurants, under the historic bridges, and out to where the river opens into Marina Bay. You'll pass colonial-era buildings, riverside sculptures and a constant stream of bumboats.

At the end of it, you pop out at Merlion Park and there it is — the half-lion, half-fish spouting water into the bay with the Marina Bay Sands towers directly across the water behind it. It's the single most photographed thing in Singapore for a reason. It's open 24 hours and free to visit.

Go early morning or after sunset. Middle of the day is brutally hot and the park is at its most crowded. Evening is the sweet spot, because of what's next.

Time it right and get a second light show for free

Here's a bit of planning that makes a real difference.

Spectra is a free 15-minute light, laser and water show at the Event Plaza on the Marina Bay Sands waterfront — fountains, lasers and projections set to an orchestral score. It runs at 8pm and 9pm nightly, with an extra 10pm show on some Friday’s and Saturday’s. No ticket, no purchase, no minimum spend. You just stand on the public waterfront and watch.

Which means you can do this: river walk in the late afternoon → Merlion at dusk → Spectra at 8pm → walk across to the Supertree Grove for Garden Rhapsody at 8.45pm.

That's two world-class light shows, an iconic landmark and a beautiful riverside walk in a single evening, for the grand total of zero dollars. It's about a 10–15 minute walk between the two show venues, so you've got time if you leave promptly.

Haji Lane and Kampong Glam

The most photogenic street in Singapore, and wandering it costs nothing at all.

Haji Lane is a narrow laneway of low-rise shophouses in the Kampong Glam district, and every available wall is covered in bold, brilliant street art. Murals run the length of the buildings, the shopfronts are painted in clashing pastels, and the whole thing is barely wide enough for two people to pass. It's a complete change of pace from the glass-and-steel version of Singapore you get around Marina Bay.

The lane itself is lined with independent boutiques, vintage stores, record shops and tiny cafes — but you're under no obligation to go into any of them. Plenty of people just walk it slowly, take photos and move on.

Step around the corner onto Arab Street and Bussorah Street and you'll find the fabric and rug merchants, the Middle Eastern restaurants with shisha out front, and the golden dome of the Sultan Mosque rising at the end of the road. The mosque welcomes visitors outside of prayer times and entry is free — cover your shoulders and knees, and robes are available at the door if you haven't.

Go in the morning if you want the photos, when the light hits the murals and the lane is quiet. Go in the evening if you want the atmosphere, when the bars and cafes fill up and it gets properly buzzy. Most shops don't open until around 11am, so an early visit is all mural, no retail.

One honest warning about your budget: Haji Lane is free to walk, but it is engineered to make you spend. The boutiques are genuinely good, the cafes smell incredible, and it's the single easiest place in Singapore to accidentally part with S$150 in an hour. Cards are accepted almost everywhere along here, but remember the cafes will add the usual service charge and GST on top of the menu price. Decide before you go in whether this is a browsing stop or a shopping stop.

A few more that cost nothing

Rounding out our list of Singapore things to do on a budget, here are a few more spots that won't cost you a dollar:

• Jewel Changi Airport — free to walk into, and home to the enormous indoor waterfall surrounded by forest. Perfect for a long layover. Canopy Park upstairs is the paid part.
• Chinatown and the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple — free entry to the temple (a small donation is customary), and the surrounding streets are free to wander. Cover your knees and shoulders.
• Little India and the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple — colour, noise, incense and the best-value food in the city.

So what do you actually need Singapore Dollars for?

Free activities don't mean a free day. Here's where your money genuinely goes.

• Transport: The MRT is cheap, clean, air-conditioned and goes everywhere. Most single trips land between S$1 and S$2.50. You can tap on with a contactless card or a local transit card.
• Food: This is where you should be spending. Hawker centres will feed you extremely well for S$5–8 a meal, and several stalls hold Michelin recognition. Maxwell, Tiong Bahru, Lau Pa Sat and Newton are the ones to know. Critically, many hawker stalls are still cash-first, so don't land with card only.
• Water: You'll drink more than you expect. Singapore's tap water is safe, so carry a refillable bottle and save yourself the S$3-a-pop convenience store tax.

Three money tips before you fly

• Learn the "++" rule. When you see a price written as S$25++, that's before a 10% service charge and 9% GST are added — and they compound. Your S$25 is really S$29.98. It applies at restaurants, bars, hotels and spas across the country. Budget off the menu price and you'll be about 20% short by the end of the trip. This is exactly why the free stuff is such good value.
• Always pay in Singapore Dollars, never Australian. If a card terminal offers to charge you in AUD instead of SGD, decline. That's dynamic currency conversion, and the exchange rate baked into it is almost always worse than the one you'd get otherwise. Choose the local currency every time.
• Sort your currency before you go. Airport exchange desks price for people who've run out of choices. Lock your rate in early — as cash, or loaded onto a Currency Pass so the rate is set the day you buy rather than the day you tap. Keep an eye on the AUD to SGD rate in the lead-up; the Aussie Dollar has had a decent run against the Singapore dollar over the past year, and a few cents makes a real difference across a whole trip.

Singapore absolutely can be an expensive city. But it's also a city where one of the best thing we did all week was lie on a walkway watching enormous mechanical trees light up to music, and it didn't cost us a cent.

Planning travel to Singapore? Order your Singapore Dollars online 24/7, or drop into your local Travel Money Oz store and talk to someone who does this all day.