The red line shows direction of the self-guided tour. The numbered hotspots denote places of interest along the route. You may point your cursor on the hotspots and click to open a new page with information describing these interesting sights.
Directions
Title: AE Singapore Civic District Self-Guided Tour
Venue: Civic District, Singapore
Starting Point: Raffles City
End Point: Raffles Landing Site
Mode of transportation: by walking
Duration: 3 hours
The AE Singapore Civic District Self-Guided Tour is a do-it-yourself walking tour around the downtown area of Singapore. The area covered are where most of the original colonial architecture as well as Singapore's government offices are located. The sights can be covered on a leisurely pace in about 3 hours. Only directional information in provided below. For details about each sight, click on the links where the sights are mentioned. Feel free to print out this tour and its accompanying information for your own personal, non-commercial use. Contact AsiaExplorers at contactus@asiaexplorers.com if you wish to adopt this guide for publication.
To make it easy for you to follow this tour, it starts at Raffles City, where you can reach by taking the MRT and alighting at the City Hall MRT Interchange. Follow the accompanying map to visit all the sights described on this self-guided tour.
1. Raffles City
We begin our tour at Raffles City. From the front entrance of Raffles City, you can see the next sight, St Andrew's Cathedral. Cross Stamford Road to the cathedral.
2. St Andrew's Cathedral
Admire the St Andrew's Cathedral as you walk along Stamford Road in front of Raffles City. At the junction where Stamford Road meets St Andrew's Road and Beach Road, proceed in the direction of the white pencil-thin monument. That's the Civilian War Memorial.
3. Civilian War Memorial
The Civilian War Memorial is located on War Memorial Park. The locals call it the "chopsticks monument" and I suppose you can see why.
4. Tan Kim Seng Fountain
From the War Memorial Park, use the underpass to cross Stamford Road, then cross Connaught Drive to the Tan Kim Seng Fountain at Esplanade Park.
5. Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay
Use the underpass to cross Esplanade Drive to go to the Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay. When you're done visiting it, return to Esplanade Park.
6. Padang
Cross Esplanade Park and walk towards Connaught Drive. Across the road is the Padang. From here you can get good views of many prominent colonial landmarks such as the St Andrew's Cathedral, which you passed earlier, and the Singapore City Hall and Old Supreme Court Building, both of which you will visit more closely later. b
7. Cenotaph
Located beside the road at Connaught Drive is another monument, the Cenotaph, with numbers engraves on its steps representing the years of World War I and II.
8. Queen Elizabeth Walk
The seaside promenade at Esplanade Park is Queen Elizabeth Walk. Look for a pagoda-like structure in the park. That's the Lim Bo Seng Memorial. b
9. Lim Bo Seng Memorial
Located somewhere between the Tan Kim Seng Fountain and Anderson Bridge is local hero Lim Bo Seng's Memorial.
10. City Hall
Walk along Connaught Drive as it connect to St Andrew's Road. Along the way, you pass the Singapore Cricket Club on your right. Eventually you arrive in front of the Singapore City Hall.
11. Old Supreme Court
After visiting the City Hall, make a u-turn and walk back along St Andrew's Road. Along the way, you will glimpse the New Supreme Court building, a rather monstrously designed structure which thankfully, is hidden behind the City Hall and the Old Supreme Court.
12. Victoria Theatre & Concert Hall
Where St Andrew's Road meets High Street, you pass by the Old Parliament Building. We don't stop here, but continue along the road, to the handsome Victoria Theatre & Concert Hall. You can recognise it by the dark-coloured statue of Stamford Raffles standing in front of it.
13. Dalhousie Obelisk
From the Victoria Theatre, walk in the direction of Anderson Bridge and you will come across another white monument. That's the Dalhousie Obelisk.
14. Anderson Bridge
From the Dalhousie Obelisk, proceed to the bank of the Singapore River where it maes a gentle curve before emptying into Marina Bay. Here you can see the lovely Anderson Bridge.
15. Cavenagh Bridge
Located within a stone's throw of Anderson Bridge is Cavenagh Bridge. Which is which? Anderson Bridge carries vehicles; Cavenagh Bridge used to carry vehicles, but today is used only for pedestrians.
16. Empress Place
The place where you're standing on as you look at Anderson Bridge and Cavenagh Bridge is Empress Place. The imposing building at Empress Place, which today houses a wing of the Asian Civilisations Museum, is the Empress Place Building.
17. Singapore River
From the Empress Place Building, walk along the curve of the Singapore River, admire the skyscrapers of the Central Business District, as well as the shophouses along Boat Quay.
18. Raffles Landing Site
As you negotiated the bend of the Singapore River, you eventually arrived at the second statue of Stamford Raffles. This one is pure white, and it marks Raffles Landing Site.
End of tour
Your walking tour ends here. To leave this place by MRT, retrace your steps to Cavenagh Bridge, cross it, and walk to the Raffles Place MRT Interchange. To reach it, walk along the bank of the Singapore River, passing Maybank, Bank of China and Standard Chartered. Then walk along Bonham Street, between Standard Chartered and UOB PLaza. From here look for the underpass to the MRT.
Enjoy Singapore!
About the Author: AsiaExplorers is researched and written by Timothy Tye. We take reasonable care to check and verify the accuracy of the content. However, we disclaim any responsibility for any inconvenience, mishap, injury or death resulting from following the advice provided directly or indirectly by AsiaExplorers and the comments on its pages. All the photographs in AsiaExplorers are available for publication. Please contact AsiaExplorers at the following email address for your enquiries:
