I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of Gardens by the Bay in Singapore before, especially if you’ve flown on Singapore Airlines or transited through Singapore. After seeing the Supertree grove numerous times on the airplane safety videos, I finally got to see the Supertrees in real life!

I hope this guide helps you decide what to see at Gardens by the Bay, and how to make the best use of your time during your visit.

What is Gardens by the Bay?

Gardens by the Bay is built on reclaimed land not far from the Marina Bay Sands shopping centre and hotel. There are a few different attractions which make up the gardens:

Supertree Grove which has the Sky Observatory and the OCBC Skyway
Cloud Forest
Flower Dome
Floral Fantasy
Outdoor gardens with a variety of themes (Serene Garden, Supertree Grove, Sun Pavillion, Heritage Gardens, World of Plants, Dragonfly and Kingfisher Lakes)
Jurassic Nest food court
Satay by the Bay food court

Each of these attractions have different opening hours, some are free and some are paid. Visit the Gardens by The Bay website for the latest opening hours and entry fees.

View of Gardens by the Bay from the top of the Marina Bay Sands building

How to get there?

Walking

It’s a short walk from Marina Bay sands either via walking through the Marina Bay Sands hotel (I recommend this as the walkway goes over the top of the hotel lobby – it’s a cool building to see inside), or via an outdoor route along the waterfront.

MRT (underground train)

Depends where you’re leaving from and where you want to start from within the Gardens by the Bay Complex. Enter your chosen start and end points into Google maps and follow the MRT directions.

I started from the Merloin statue and Google Maps told me it would require 2 metro changes to get to the bayfront south gardens station. It was then a short walk to the main entrance.

Otherwise take the Downtown Line (Blue) or the Circle Line (Orange) to Bayfront MRT Station and follow the signs to the Gardens by the Bay.

Bus

Numerous bus services stop near the gardens, including routes 400, 97E, and 106.

Taxi

The most expensive option and I don’t recommend this as Singapore’s public transport system is very frequent, cheap (I used the bus and metro all day and was only charged $6 SGD) and easy to use.

View of the Supertree Grove from the bridge heading to the Marina Bay Sands building

When is it open?

The opening hours of each attraction varies. Visit the Gardens by The Bay website for the latest opening hours.

Attractions at Gardens by the Bay are occasionally closed for maintenance – check the official Gardens by the Bay website for planned closures.

The light show at the Supertree Grove is usually at 7:45pm and 8:45pm daily. Sometimes there are special events. There was a light show mimicking the northern lights (aurora borealis) between 8pm and 8:30pm when I visited (on a Monday).

aurora borealis light show

How much time do you need to visit?

Depends how much you want to see. If you want to see all of the attractions at Gardens by the Bay, set aside 3/4 of a day. If you only want to see half the attractions, set aside half a day.

I arrived at the Supertree Grove at 2pm, visited the OCBC Skyway (there was no queue) and left the Supertree Grove just after 3pm.

I walked to Cloud Forest (the attractions are close together), bought a ticket and entered Cloud Forest at 3:30pm. I finished at Cloud Forest around 4:45pm.

I then went to Shake Shack, wandered around the Marina Bay Sands shopping centre and the grounds of Gardens by the Bay. I had dinner at the Jurassic Nest Food Hall, then returned to the Supertree Grove at 7:15pm ready for the 7:45pm light show. There was another light show mimicking the Northern Lights straight after so I stayed to see this and left at about 8:15pm.

Gardens by the Bay is compact. It only takes about 15 minutes to walk from one end to the other so you could easily plan your route around the Gardens by the Bay to include a visit to all of them.

When it the best time to visit?

I liked seeing the Supertree grove in both daytime and nighttime however it’s definitely much more impressive when it is lit up at night.

As for what time of year, I’d say anytime of year.

As for what day of the week, I visited on a Monday and it felt quiet. I’m sure weekends are far busier.

Where to eat

For a snack and something sweet, I highly recommend getting a shake from Shake Shack (their shakes are as good as a Five Guys shake).

The Jurassic Nest Food Hall is right next to the Supertree Grove. I tried Hawker Chan and I’m not sure how it earned a Michelin Star as it was an extremely mediocre meal and I don’t recommend it. I wished I’d had dinner at Satay by the Bay instead.

Other options are restaurants near Cloud Forest and Flower Dome (expensive).

If you have the time, take a walk over to the Marina Bay Sands food court. There are plenty of options there and the food looked much better.

How much does it cost?

Depends what you want to see.

Online I could only see an option to purchase a Cloud Forest ticket in combination with the Flower Dome ($59 SGD for both). The Flower Dome looks nice but after researching online what is there, I felt it could be overrated, overpriced and crowded with instagrammers posing with the flowers – so it wasn’t a ‘must do’ thing for me. However other people I know that have visited have said they enjoyed it.

When I arrived on the day there was the option to purchase only Cloud Forest for $24 SGD so that’s what I did.

The Supertree Observatory – $14 SGD
OCBC Skyway at the Supertree Grove – $14 SGD
Cloud Forest and Flower Dome – $59 SGD
Cloud Forest – $24 SGD
Floral Fantasy – $20 SGD

Prices are current at the time of my visit in 2024. Visit the official Gardens by the Bay website for current rates.

Toilets are free.

There was a free water refill station at the toilets near the Jurassic Nest Food Hall / Supertree Grove.

Do I need to buy tickets in advance?

Depends when you go. I visited on a Monday (the Monday immediately following Singapore’s national day celebrations on the Friday). I thought it would be packed and I would be queuing for at least 30 minutes, but I wasn’t sure what time I would be getting there so didn’t want to prebook a ticket. Since it’s open until 9pm, I wasn’t too worried if I had to wait in a queue for a while. When I arrived at the ticket counter it said the queue time was 30 – 40 minutes however I queued for less than 10 minutes. There was no queue to go to Cloud Forest, I just walked straight in. I didn’t visit the Flower Dome but I also didn’t see any queue for this.

The Supertree Grove is free to access and wander around the base of the trees, you do have to pay if you want to go up on the raised walkway. It wasn’t very busy during the day (at 2:30 – 3pm) however it was increasingly busy at night in the lead up to the show, definitely get there 30 min + to secure a good spot.

Where is the best view of the Supertree Grove light show?

I’ve marked the map below with pink dots where I think the best places are. I sat on the ground near the pink dot that is amongst the green dots on the map below.

For photos taken further back, try the ‘Supertree Grove Viewpoint’ that is already marked on Google maps.

I had scoped it out earlier in the day and decided that this spot would be best. This location on the mirror image side of the Supertree (the biggest tree in the middle) would probably work well too. You essentially need a spot where you can see the main Supertree, a few others and preferably some of the Skyway and the Marina Bay Sands building in the background.

Another angle is the grass patch in front of the Jurassic Nest Food Hall. Unfortunately this was blocked off for maintenance / refurbishment during my visit.

There are also some good angles from the bridges on Dragonfly Lake.

The Sky Observatory vs. the OCBC Skyway

The Sky Observatory is at the top of the biggest Supertree in the Grove. There is a cafe, open rooftop deck and balcony where you can walk around the perimeter to take in the view. The tree is equivalent to a 16 storey building (by comparison the Marina Bay Sands viewpoint is 57 storey’s). From the top of the Supertree there are views of the Marina Bay Sands building, the port and Gardens by the Bay. Based on photos I saw online, you can’t see much of the Singapore skyline (best view of that is from the top of Marina Bay Sands), so I decided to skip the Sky Observatory. The Gardens by the Bay website recommends 45 minutes for a visit to the Sky Observatory.

The OCBC Skyway is a 128m long suspended walkway between some of the Supertrees that is 22 meters above the ground. If you don’t like heights, this is not for you. The walkway did move a bit if there were plenty of people on it but it wasn’t that scary.

There were workers with battons waving people along if they lingered for too long on the Skyway and there are signs requesting you spend no more than 15 minutes at the top.

The view at the top is ok. You can look down on some of the Supertrees, see the Marina Bay Sands building, the ferris wheel and some of the surrounding Gardens by the Bay. I visited during daytime but I think it would be better if you did this at night when the trees are lit up.

Cloud Forest

A visit to Cloud Forest includes wandering along raised walkways and bridges inside a cool glass dome building. There are plenty of plants from various countries around the world, as well as what is apparently the world’s largest indoor waterfall at 35m high. I’m not super interested in nature things but I am very interested in architecture and buildings so if you are too, I recommend going inside and visiting the Cloud Forest.

There are ‘misting’ sessions throughout the day at 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm and 8pm daily. I happened to time the one at 4pm. It was a bit underwhelming so I wouldn’t worry about trying to time your visit to coincide with the misting.

The building is climate controlled so despite all the glass it was nice and cool inside on a hot day.

There are various statues scattered around the building, some ‘immersive’ installations and digital displays.

There are also glimpses of the Singapore skyline including the ferris wheel and Marina Bay Sands building as you walk through the Cloud Forest.

The Gardens by the Bay website recommends up to 2.5 hours to visit the Cloud Forest but I spent about 1.5 hours in Cloud Forest and don’t think it requires anymore time than that.

Flower Dome and Floral Fantasy

Both of these attractions felt overpriced to me. I had limited time in Singapore and these weren’t on my priority list so I didn’t visit.

Outdoor Gardens

There were a few gardens on the grounds (all are free) with a variety of themes (Serene Garden, Supertree Grove, Sun Pavillion, Heritage Gardens, World of Plants, Dragonfly and Kingfisher Lakes). They’re quite small but a good way to kill some time before the Supertree Grove light show.

Plan the best holiday with my travel itinerary template!