Five years after the SingapoRediscovers vouchers took us all to Sentosa for free, the SG Culture Pass launches in time for Singapore’s 60th birthday. This time, all Singaporeans get S$100 in credits to spend on the opera, a river cruise, a heritage walk, or anything you wish.
What’s the SG Culture Pass?
Beginning from 1 September 2025, all Singaporean citizens and Permanent Residents aged 18 and above will receive S$100 in redeemable credits, to be spent on arts and culture events islandwide. Several Singapore-based tour agencies, concert organisers (like the Esplanade) and theater productions accept these credits. If you’re eligible, you should have received a text message from the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth: log in with your Singpass account on the Culture Pass website to check your credits.
This year’s Culture Pass launches just in time for the Singapore Night Festival and any lingering SG60 festivities. Join cultural workshops, go to the theater, and catch a cybergoth rave at Singapore’s last operational World War II bunker: the possibilities are endless. All participating events can be found on this page, but we’ve picked out the best ones, for ease of reference, right here. We’ve also sorted them into groups, so you know exactly what you’re getting into.
For more to do this weekend, check out our constantly-updated list.
Attractions, Tours, Historical Sites
Singapore River Cruise by WaterB
WaterB hosts some of Singapore’s most popular river cruises, which take you along the Singapore River: past the historic centres, vibrant quays, and with views of Singapore’s now-iconic skyline. The WaterB boat kiosks are now an iconic part of Singapore tourism, with presences in Clarke Quay, Boat Quay, and around the Esplanade.
WaterB’s commitment to sustainable tourism means that all boats are eco-friendly and minimally disruptive, which preserve the river’s cleanliness and charm. Available tours include attraction-specific tours, themed tours, and a Marina Bay Light Show Cruise: various tours take place from 2pm to 9pm daily, with departures approximately every 30 minutes. A special cruise package even comes with a snack set.
For S$218 (you’ll have to top up a little on the cost), you can enjoy a Dinner Set Light Show River Cruise, which happens from 7:30pm to 8:30pm daily. This tour, which includes dinner onboard, will take you through the Quays and past Marina Bay Sands, where you’ll have an unobstructed view of the Marina Bay Sands light show.
Visit WaterB’s website for more information.
Image credit: Condé Nast Traveler
Photowalk: Haw Par Villa
Tour one of Singapore’s most beloved and bizarre attractions with Photowalk: Haw Par Villa, an immersive photography journey through Haw Par Villa. The park, formerly known as Tiger Balm Gardens, was built in 1937 by the Aw brothers, owners of the now-famous Tiger Balm brand. Home to over 1000 statues and 150 dioramas depicting scenes from Chinese folklore, Haw Par Villa is also home to the gory Ten Courts of Hell, a famous gallery of dioramas representing the afterlife.
This hands-on photography workshop is organised by visual arts studio Objectifs, and is suitable for both beginner and experienced photographers. You’ll be guided by an experienced photographer in flash photography techniques for both day and low-light conditions, and be able to review photos in group settings. Do note that you’ll have to bring your own smartphone or camera.
Haw Par Villa is a fascinating, lesser-known attraction, and is perfect for travel photographers, fans of cultural heritage, or for anyone who’d be interested in taking a day trip into Hell. (Separate tickets to Hell’s Museum are also available with Culture Pass credits.)
Visit Haw Par Villa’s website for more information: get tickets on Sistic.
Battlebox
Located on the grounds of Fort Canning Hill, Battlebox is Singapore’s only operational World War II-era bunker. Built in 1936 and completed in 1939, it was a crucial site for the defending Allied forces in Singapore against the invading Japanese army, used in the final days of the Malayan campaign in 1941-1942. Today, it’s a valued historical site that offers audio and video-enhanced experiences, tours, puzzle hunts, and (more sobering) a peek into one of the most challenging periods of Singapore’s history.
Battlebox’s advisory team is led by several luminaries among Singapore historians: they include independent historian Tan Teng Teng, who headed restorations of the site and has worked for decades on research at Fort Canning Hill; and Prof. Kwa Chong Guan, former director of the old National Museum. When visiting, you may choose a “Basic Experience” or “Enhanced Experience”: the “Enhanced Experience” includes a 40-minute audio tour, access to two projection rooms, and a pair of souvenir anaglyph glasses.
All ticket sales are online: visit Battlebox’s website for more information and bookings.
Tracing Stamford Canal: Hidden But Not Forgotten
Do you know there’s a hidden canal in central Singapore? Stamford Canal, a freshwater rivulet that predates the British arrival in Singapore, was featured prominently in early town plans: it was said that the canal would overflow in periods of high tide. The canal, which has since been covered, stretches from Orchard, through the grounds of the Singapore Management University (SMU) to present-day Raffles City, and has heavily influenced urban planning in Singapore’s city center.
The Urbanist Singapore, a popular heritage walk organiser on Tiktok and Instagram, now organises a special edition of the popular Tracing Stamford Canal tour: this one and a half-hour tour takes you through Dhoby Ghaut, Bras Basah, and other sites built above the Stamford Canal. Curator and tour guide Yong, whose passion for urban heritage led him to found The Urbanist, is leading the charge in immersive heritage walks around Singapore.
Book your tickets on Sistic.
Music, Theater and Performances
Iphigénie en Tauride, 17th century painting, from the Musée des beaux-arts de Brest
Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride by The Opera People
This bold new retelling of Gluck’s 18th-century opera is brought to you by The Opera People, a Singapore-based company founded in 2018. Iphigénie en Tauride was first performed amidst neoclassical artistic movements of its day, and its timelessness and high tension have made it ripe for adaptations and reinventions over the centuries.
The opera is based on the play Iphigenia in Tauris by Euripedes (circa 480 – 406 BC), and dramatises the lives of the family of Agamemnon after the Trojan War. Iphigénie en Tauride is a high-tension story of faith, loyalty, and revenge: this time produced and headlined by The Opera People’s cast of Singaporean voices and visionaries.
Iphigénie en Tauride will show twice at the Wild Rice Ngee Ann Kongsi Theatre: once on 10 October (7:30pm) and once on 12 October (5pm).
Book your tickets on Sistic.
Image from AGAM Theatre Lab’s staging of Re Somma, 2021.
Esplanade Presents – Kalaa Utsavam 2025: Mission Malligapoo
AGAM Theatre Lab, a new Singaporean Tamil theater company, introduces a hilarious new take on the Japanese Occupation of 1942 with Mission Malligapoo. Directed by award-winning duo Ganesh Karthik, also behind the sold-out “bioplay” Re Somma, Mission Malligapoo begins as slapstick and soon becomes a darkly humorous journey of self-discovery.
This play joins 60 Connections – At Home and Afar, a year-long celebration of Singapore stories and international collaborations, in celebration of Singapore’s 60th. Both outrageously funny and heartbreakingly intense, Mission Malligapoo celebrates and satirises the “everyday heroes” who attempt to change the course of history.
Mission Malligapoo shows twice at the Singtel Waterfront Theatre at Esplanade: once on 21 November (7:30pm) and once on 22 November (7:30pm). Each play is two hours long with a twenty-minute intermission.
Book your tickets on the Esplanade’s website.
Image credit: China National Peking Opera
The Legend of the White Snake – A Harmony of Four Operas by Nam Hwa Opera
You may remember the Lunar New Year showcase at Gardens by the Bay early this year: if you’re still longing for romance, Nam Hwa Opera brings The Legend of the White Snake alive in no less than four distinct opera styles. The four styles are Peking opera, Wu opera, Yue opera and Teochew opera, each with their own vocal style, techniques, and vibrant cultural expression.
The Legend of the White Snake is a timeless folk tale of love, magic and devotion: one of the Four Great Folktales of ancient China, it depicts a forbidden romance between snake spirit Bai Suzhen and human Xu Xian. The story dates back to the Tang Dynasty (618–907), but the most popular version dates to the Qing Dynasty: countless adaptations and retellings have made this fairytale as ubiquitous as Cinderella.
This production celebrates the various styles of traditional opera and brings them closer than they’ve ever been: a conversation between cultures. Working with famous companies like the Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe and Teochew Opera Troupe of Guangdong Province, The Legend of the White Snake reveals the fluidity and versatility of traditional opera, as changeable as Bai Suzhen herself.
The Legend of the White Snake – A Harmony of Four Operas will be staged at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Center from 5-7 September.
Book your tickets on Sistic.
Image credit: Jack Yam, Esplanade: Theatres on the Bay
Esplanade Presents – Yusof: Portrait of a President by Teater Ekamatra
Undoubtedly the crown jewel of the Esplanade’s productions this year, Yusof: Portrait of a President was first commissioned for Pesta Raya, the Esplanade’s Malay Festival of Arts, back in 2015. The play returns this year as part of 60 Connections – At Home and Afar, giving audiences a peek into the life of Singapore’s first President.
Set in Singapore’s growing years of independence, Yusof begins with Yusof bin Ishak’s watershed speech at the National Day Mass Rally, and follows with his years at the revolutionary newspaper Utusan Melayu: a voice of the Malay community and a champion of the press. Through the years of merger, separation and independence, the play explores bin Ishak’s life amid changing currents of nationalism, unity and ethnicity. Yusof, written by Zizi Azah, leads with veteran actor Sani Hussin as bin Ishak and a celebrated and diverse cast from Teater Ekamatra.
Yusof: Portrait of a President runs from 17 October to 19 October at the Singtel Waterfront Theatre at Esplanade.
Book your tickets on Sistic.
Image credit: Blacklight Tribe on Instagram
BUNKER BY NIGHT 2025
We return to Battlebox, Singapore’s only operational World War II- era bunker, for BUNKER BY NIGHT 2025: an experimental evening of music, memory and ritual. Part of the ongoing Singapore Night Festival, this collaboration with SATheCollective, a multi-disciplinary performing arts company, runs for just two consecutive nights. (Do note that this event is restricted to participants 18 and over.)
Day one, titled “Descent”, is led by underground music community Blacklight Tribe, which will turn the Battlebox into a high-energy, bass-charged musical space. Blacklight is known for hosting its Blacklight Raves, cybergoth music events with a heavy electronic sound, featuring local alternative creators and DJs. Day two, titled “Emergence”, is a “wireless headphone experience” hosted by several Singapore-based artistic collectives: Gelap, Natalie Alexandra Tse & Marla Bendini, Very Shy Gurl Collective, and the Singapore Butoh Collective.
Come down for a night of intense, atmospheric, hypnotic music. PSA: the Battlebox does not have a bathroom, so you’ll have to make the trek to Fort Canning Centre!
Book your tickets on Sistic.
SSO Concerts for Children: Young Spacefarer’s Guide to the Orchestra
The Singapore Symphony Orchestra has done much to introduce classical music to kids, including the SSO Concerts for Children series. The Young Spacefarer’s Guide to the Orchestra is a one-hour program that draws on material from Benjamin Britten’s timeless Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, creating a relaxed environment for musically curious children.
Featuring Luna the Young Spacefarer, an astronaut who journeys across the cosmos in search of friendship and a way back home, the Young Spacefarer’s Guide to the Orchestra is a whimsical experience that invites kids to explore orchestral instruments through storytelling. Curious aliens, breathtaking new worlds, and an action-packed story bring kids closer to the music and immerses them in creativity. Featured composers include Dvořák, Strauss, Debussy, and even John Williams’ Imperial March.
The Young Spacefarer’s Guide to the Orchestra plays just twice on 6 September 2025: once at 11am, and once at 2pm.
Book your tickets on the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s website.
Workshops and Experiences
Image credit: Klook
Beading a Nyonya Story: A Journey into Kasut Manek
The Singapore Peranakan Mansion Museum invites you to tea, and to experience the celebrated art of Nyonya beading, in a new exclusive workshop. Beaded slippers are a symbol of patience, skill, and the Nyonya’s eye for beauty: make your own kasut manek, discover traditional costuming of the Peranakan Chinese community, and try some kueh in this four-hour heritage deep dive.
The workshop is led by Master Beader Angeline Kong, who has three decades of experience in Nyonya craft and has been featured by the Singapore Heritage Festival. It includes a talk on the origins and heritage of the Peranakan Chinese in Singapore, the importance of beading in Nyonya culture and an introduction to the various beaded motifs, and opportunities to experience the iconic sarong kebaya.
Most importantly, there’ll be a hands-on beading session (all materials provided) that’ll have you creating your own beaded slippers with traditional glass beads. You’ll get to take home your works and works in progress: as a beautiful example of traditional craft, but also because beaded sandals are really in this year.
Book this experience on Klook.
Image credit: Klook
Perfumed By Smoke: An Incense Appreciation Journey
This workshop explores the history and legacy of incense in perfumery: watch live demonstrations of incense burning and perfume-making and learn to create intentional scents with myrrh, frankincense, oud, and buhoor. Perfumer Johari Kazura leads with personal stories about how incense shaped the Kampong Gelam community in the 1970s and 80s.
Organised by independent perfumer Sifr Aromatics in Kampong Gelam, which honours traditional perfumery in modern compositions, Perfumed by Smoke celebrates a note that has shaped Arabic-style perfumery for generations. You’ll get to interact with raw incense materials in their natural form, the history of Arabic perfume in Singapore, and the scents themselves as you try your hand at making them. The workshop is available till February next year: each session is 45 minutes long.
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