Chinatown Travel Guide

Singapore’s Chinatown is one of the city’s most atmospheric districts, and what I like about it best is that, despite its name, it is not all Chinese but has influences of Malay and Indian, which is what makes Singapore unique – many races and flavors in one compact area.

Indeed, Chinatown offers an appealing blend of value-for-money shopping, restored architecture and lively entertainment.

These days, ethnic Chinese far outnumber any other demographic living in Singapore. In reality, the entire city could be classified as a ‘Chinatown’, but this is a new development. About 150 years ago, each ethnic group was partitioned off into its own neighborhood, and Chinatown is where the Chinese immigrants lived.

Today, Chinatown is marked by rows of restored shophouses, many of which now house medicinal herb shops, teahouses and boutique hotels. It’s a great place for a walking tour, especially if you’re looking for a cheap retail alternative to Orchard Road.

A Day In The Life
Singapore’s Chinatown district is compact enough to see the major sites on foot in one day. The main sites are temples, shophouses and markets. I like the markets and shops because they represent some of Singapore’s dying trades – from cobblers to watch repair men.

Pagoda Street is a convenient place to start, and if your hotel is outside of the district, you can ride in on the MRT’s Northeast Line. Exit at Chinatown station and start by perusing the merchant stalls on Pagoda Street.

Walk toward South Bridge Road and you’ll come upon the three most important religious sites in the neighborhood. Not only will you find the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, but you’ll also be in reach of Jamae Mosque and Sri Mariamman Hindu temple. All of these are active places of worship, so an air or reverence is in order.
 
In the afternoon, you may want to duck indoors to escape the heat, especially if you’re visiting between February and May. Museums and indoor shopping centers are perfect for this.

Best Of The Rest
As long as you aren’t pressed for time, there are plenty of other sites to see in Chinatown. Al-Abrar Mosque is worth a look, especially for the odd angles it pulls off in order to face Mecca while conforming to the city grid. It joins Nagore Durgha Shrine in serving the Indian Muslim population.

The Chinatown Heritage Centre is crucial if you have time, but it shouldn’t take the place of an in-person walking tour. It’s close to the MRT station, so if you know you’ll be in the area for more than a day, you might consider starting your tour here.

Be sure to allow plenty of time for simply wandering through the streets and markets. Along the way, you’ll discover traditional Chinese medicine halls, quirky souvenir shops and some outstanding street food. In the evening, the night market is the place to be.

Hidden Gems
Lai Chun Yuen is an interesting building that just doesn’t get the kind of attention it deserves. It was built in the late 19th century to host Chinese opera performances, which were wildly popular in Singapore in the decades before movies came with a soundtrack.

As support for opera waned, this opera house briefly tried to make its living as a cinema instead. The hang-up came with the Japanese invasion during WWII, at which point daily life in Singapore ground to a halt.

It’s still an attractive building, especially after recent renovation projects. Nostalgic Cantonese operas are still staged here on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Accommodation
Chinatown is a good place to be based while you’re visiting Singapore, partly because there’s such a lively street culture. There’s always something on within a few steps of your hotel lobby.

Many of the hotels in Chinatown are in the Tanjong Pagar Conservation Area. This part of town is famous for its 19th-century shophouses, and many have been converted into atmospheric boutique hotels. These are back in the side streets, away from the commotion of the market areas.

Each of these boutique hotels is unique, and there’s something to be gained by checking out the scene to see what’s available before settling on a room. Don’t take that as a rule, though, especially if you’re visiting at a busy time like Chinese New Year (January or February). During high-traffic periods, you’ll want to book as early as possible just to be sure.

Names such as New Majestic and Hotel 1929 on the Bukit Pasoh side and Scarlett Hotel (Maxwell) have added color to the scene.

Chinatown At Night
The nightlife in Chinatown has been diversifying lately, and there are more trendy pubs and dance clubs than ever before. There’s something here for everyone, but Chinatown is best known for its progressive gay scene. Local dance clubs are sleek and fashionable, with great DJs and a strong following.
     
One of the better-known gay hangouts is The Backstage Bar at 13A Trenggannu Street (corner of Temple and Trenggannu) which is a cozy place to sit on the upper balcony and watch the hustle and bustle of the shops at street level. And you don’t have to be gay to be backstage, by the way.

There are plenty of more mundane options, too. Smith Street is a popular pedestrian area after dark, and it’s strung with pubs and bars that get most of their business from walk-up customers. These places are perfect for breaking up a shopping tour, or for avoiding the scene altogether while your traveling companions shop.    

Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper ‘Chinatown’ if there weren’t more karaoke bars than you care to count. These mainly target locals and Asian tourists, but they’re not bad if you’re in the mood for people-watching or if you feel like singing a cover of ‘Hotel California’. 

Retail Therapy
This is where Chinatown really starts to stand out. It’s been home to a merchant-based culture since the mid-19th century when the first Chinese junks pulled into the harbor.
 
The end-all to shopping in Chinatown is Yue Hwa. It’s a one-stop emporium that spans five floors and deals in everything imaginable. This is one of the cheapest places to pick up gifts and souvenirs in Singapore.

The street stalls on Smith Street and Pagoda Street play an integral role in a tour of Chinatown, and this market area is open from 11:00 to 23:00. The other major shopping outlet in the area is the Singapore Handicraft Centre (Chinatown Point). This is the best place in the city to buy batik, jade carvings, calligraphy and hand-cut chops (used for stamping an official seal). '

Transport
Getting there & away - Most tourists arrive in Singapore via Changi International Airport, which is one of the busiest hubs in Southeast Asia. Of the three terminal buildings, Terminals 2 and 3 are directly on the MRT network. To use the MRT from Terminal 1, you’ll have to take a shuttle bus, but that’s rarely an issue. Getting to Chinatown requires a line change at Tenah Merah station.
 
Getting around -The Chinatown MRT station is the slickest way in and out of the district. It’s planted in the commercial heart of the neighborhood along Pagoda Street, making this an especially popular area to book a hotel room in Chinatown.

The MRT keeps a tight schedule. All it takes is 45 minutes (or 14 stops) to get from the airport to Chinatown. The routes and signage are all in English, so the MRT is convenient for any transport across Singapore. While riding, you might remind yourself that this is why chewing gum is illegal in Singapore. Misplaced wads of gum used to stop MRT doors from closing, which wreaked havoc on the timetables. Local planners figured it was easier to outlaw gum altogether.

In the compact streets of Chinatown, it’s feasible to walk anywhere. Taxis and city buses are on hand, but you’re mostly likely to use these when heading outside of Chinatown.

Yeoh Siew Hoon is editor, commentator and leading media voice for Asia Pacific’s travel industry. She is the Editor-at-Large for SHY Ventures – a company that she founded, that is driven by the mantra: “Content, Communication, Connection”. Siew Hoon has nearly 30 years of experience in writing and penning her thoughts, speaking at conferences and facilitating workshops. Learn more about Siew Hoon and her work at www.webintravel.com. Derek Kirk, a coffee grower in Chiang Mai, Thailand and regular visitor to Singapore, also contributed to this article.