Categories > Guides and Tips
The Best Museums in Singapore I Love to Get Lost In
- National Gallery Singapore
- National Museum of Singapore
- ArtScience Museum
- Asian Civilisations Museum
- The Gem Museum
- The Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum
- Peranakan Museum
- Museum of Ice Cream
- Red Dot Design Museum
- Children’s Museum Singapore (formerly the Singapore Philatelic Museum)
- Singapore Musical Box Museum
- Vintage Camera Museum
- Trickeye Museum
- MINT Museum of Toys
- The Battlebox
I dreamt of becoming a famous artist when I was 5 years old, but I didn’t really pick up art (or anything artistic, for that matter) as a serious hobby until one fateful day during my university days.
I was assigned to write a paper on one of Singapore’s major museums. After researching, visiting, and delving into art, history, and museums, I quickly found myself immersed in a rabbit hole.
Museum hopping has since become a favourite pastime of mine, and I’m always willing to share with other enthusiasts (like you) my list of the best museums in Singapore. I made sure to include the major museums, plus a few interesting ones!
National Gallery Singapore
Address: St. Andrew’s Road (Google Maps)
Contact Details: +65 6271 7000
Operating Hours: Monday to Sunday, 10:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Admissions Fee: Starting at $20, free for locals
The National Gallery Singapore houses the world’s largest collection of Southeast Asian art, with pieces dating back to the 19th century. It features two permanent galleries: The UOB Southeast Asia Gallery and the DBS Singapore Gallery.
Two permanent exhibitions are Beyond Declarations and Dreams and Siapa Nama Kamu?, both showcasing important artworks from Southeast Asian and Singaporean artists during important art movements from the 19th century and beyond.
Aside from those two exhibitions, there are also international collections from Latin America and Europe occasionally being showcased at the National Gallery Singapore. You can stay tuned with what’s currently being exhibited by checking this page.
| Tip: The National Gallery Singapore is housed within two national monuments: the former Supreme Court Building and the City Hall. That said, I recommend booking a free behind-the-scenes tour of the buildings via this page to get an exclusive look at the beautifully preserved courtrooms, halls, and more. |
National Museum of Singapore
Address: 93 Stamford Rd (Google Maps)
Contact Details: +65 6332 3659
Operating Hours: Monday to Sunday, 10:00 pm to 6:30 pm
Admissions Fee: Starting at $15, free for locals
If there’s one museum I highly recommend visiting if you’re in Singapore for the first time, it’s the National Museum of Singapore. It’s the island’s largest and oldest museum, housing the country’s most valuable artefacts spanning over 130 years.
The museum’s permanent exhibitions include “Singapore, Very Old Tree” and “Story of the Forest.” “Singapore, Very Old Tree” features Robert Zhao’s photographs, showcasing Singapore’s transformation from a trading port to a globalised nation.
“Story of the Forests” showcases a digital presentation of 69 drawings from the William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings. The exhibition brings these drawings to life in 3D, depicting scenes from Singapore’s forests in the 19th century.
| Tips: Guided tours are available in multiple languages, including English, Mandarin, Japanese, French, and Korean. These guided tours are only available at specific hours of the day and should be booked in advance because slots are limited to a maximum of 15 people. You can check out the tour schedules here. The National Museum of Singapore is undergoing renovations in some areas, so the fees are discounted to account for any exhibitions that are closed due to construction or inconvenience. |
ArtScience Museum
Address: 6 Bayfront Ave (Google Maps)
Contact Details: +65 6688 8888
Operating Hours: Monday to Sunday, 10:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Admissions Fee: Starting at $30 for foreigners and $25 for locals
My baby cousin’s favourite museum in Singapore is the ArtScience Museum, and it’s not hard to see why. The museum houses 21 galleries showcasing an array of art installations, digital presentations, and holograms of famous artworks around the world.
A few examples are works by Leonardo da Vinci, Frida Kahlo, and more. Since 2011, the ArtScience Museum has also hosted visiting exhibitions of famous film sets like Titanic and Harry Potter.
The most popular among the exhibitions, however, is Future World, the museum’s permanent exhibition. The exhibit was made in partnership with teamLab, a world-renowned art collective that focuses on blending art, technology, and science.
| Tips: Some exhibits in the permanent display “Future World: Where Art Meets Science” require a minimum height of 1.20 metres for full enjoyment. Interactive displays at the ArtScience Museum involve activities like walking, jumping, or stepping around holographic floor displays. It’s recommended to wear comfortable shoes and avoid heels for these exhibitions. |
Asian Civilisations Museum
Address: 1 Empress Pl (Google Maps)
Contact Details: +65 6332 7798
Operating Hours: Monday to Sunday, 10:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Admissions Fee: Starting at $30 for foreigners and $25 for locals
The Asian Civilisations Museum is a national gallery dedicated to pan-Asian culture and civilisations. It’s one of the island’s four major museums, making it a must-visit for any tourist looking to explore the best museums in Singapore.
The museum features Asian decorative art, textiles, sculptures, and artefacts from Asia and beyond. A notable exhibit is “Textile Masters to the World: The Global Desire for Indian Cloth” focused on Indian textile production.
I visited the Asian Civilisations Museum several times as a student and always enjoyed learning about Singapore’s cultural landscape. In my free time after work, I try to visit the museum and tag along with a coworker who hasn’t been here before!
| Tips: The Asian Civilisations Museum offers daily guided tours in English. Tours in other languages, including Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French, and German, are available on specific dates. These tours begin at 11:00 am. For details on the schedule for your preferred language, visit this page. In case you feel parched, there’s a cafe and bistro called Prive ACM located next to the Singapore River. I recommend capping off your visit with dinner here! |
The Gem Museum
Address: 9 Perak Rd (Google Maps)
Contact Details: +65 6734 3172
Operating Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm, Saturday, 11:00 am to 3:00 pm
Admissions Fee: Free for locals and foreigners
Did you know that Cleopatra’s favourite gemstone was the peridot? This was one of the fun facts I learned from my visit to the Gem Museum, a free museum in partnership with the National Heritage Board that’s completely dedicated to gemology.
I learned about the four stages of gem mining, from formation to cutting, and saw various raw gemstones. The extensive collection taught me a lot, despite my limited prior knowledge of gemology (especially when I got to the part about the fun facts).
The Highlights of my visit included interacting with displayed gems and meeting Mr. Tay Kunming, co-founder and expert gemologist. I spent about 3 hours just absorbing as much info as I could during my visit to the Gem Museum, and it was worth every minute!
| Tips: If you’re bringing a car with you, the nearest car park to the Gem Museum is at Tekka Place Car Park, just a short walk away from the museum. Parking is free for the first 30 minutes, but I recommend coming a little before the museum opens at 12:00 pm (they tend to fill up by noon). The top level of the Gem Museum displays gemstones and minerals made for bespoke jewellery. You can purchase gemstones there or order custom jewellery straight from the museum. I recommend doing so if you’re looking for a precious souvenir! |
The Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum
Address: 2 Conservatory Dr, National University of Singapore (Google Maps)
Contact Details: +65 6601 3333
Operating Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, Saturday to Sunday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Admissions Fee: Starting at $27 for adult tourists and $18 for locals
Before I visited the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, I thought that I could only see a real dinosaur skeleton outside of Singapore. It actually makes me quite proud that this university museum in Singapore houses three massive ones at 80% completion!
As the name suggests, the LKC Natural History Museum is wholly dedicated to showcasing Southeast Asian biodiversity. It’s not as big as the Smithsonian, but the collection of over 2,000 species is pretty impressive!
I highly recommend going through each of the exhibitions showcasing some of Singapore’s rarest natural specimens like the Changi tree, the leatherback turtle, the Sunda pangolin, Neptune’s cup sponge, and the Singapore sperm whale.
| Tips: The Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum hosts Quiet Hour on select dates of the year, providing a calmer museum environment for visitors with special needs. This is the museum’s way of being more inclusive and accessible to all kinds of visitors, so if you or you know someone who will benefit from this kind of experience, learn more about Quiet Hour dates here. Don’t throw away or misplace your ticket as soon as you enter the museum! You’ll need it to exit the museum and to show the staff members during random checks during your visit. If you can’t show them a ticket, you’ll need to pay for another one at full price! |
Peranakan Museum
Address: 39 Armenian St, Old Tai Nan School (Google Maps)
Contact Details: +65 6332 7591
Operating Hours: Monday to Thursday, 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, Friday, 10:00 am to 9:00 pm, Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 am to 7:00 pm
Admissions Fee: Starting at $16 for adult tourists, and $6 for locals
The Peranakan Museum is one of the most tastefully designed buildings I’ve seen in Singapore. The structure itself is a beautifully preserved Straits Settlements building that used to be the Tao Nan School back in 1912.
The museum underwent renovation work for over four years, and I was glad to visit it after it opened its doors again in 2023. Just like its facade, the museum’s interiors and exhibits are tastefully designed and decorated with ornate Peranakan pieces.
All three levels of the museum showcase Peranakan artefacts like traditional textiles, jewellery, garments, decor, ceramics (called Nyonyaware), and furniture. Each level is a visual feast of colour, paired with insightful information about Peranakan heritage.
| Tips: Public guided tours are available for visitors, but you can only book a slot on the day of your visit. You can’t pre-book and reserve slots for tours, so I highly recommend coming in as soon as the museum opens to secure slots. Tours will only be given for groups with a maximum of 15 participants! Running low on power? There are free charging stations in the Peranakan Museum in case you need to power up your devices. Plus, you can rent lockers as well if you don’t want to bring your belongings around with you inside. |
Museum of Ice Cream
Address: 100 Loewen Rd (Google Maps)
Operating Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, Thursday to Sunday, 10:00 am to 9:00 pm
Admissions Fee: Starting at $36 per person
Beyond its history and heritage, Singapore has its fair share of unique museums. One of the best examples I can recommend is the Museum of Ice Cream, a museum completely dedicated to, you guessed it, ice cream.
This pink-clad museum is a feast for the senses, and I had a lot of fun interacting with the giant dessert-themed slides and rooms, and tasting all sorts of ice cream flavours. The museum is perfect for Instagram-savvy people, so bring your best cameras here!
The highlights for me here were the sprinkle pit (a ball pit filled with large sprinkles), the slides, a large pink bounce house, dessert-themed rooms, and the parlour that serves unlimited ice cream in cones of all shapes and forms.
| Tips: Don’t be late for your scheduled visit to the Museum of Ice Cream. The staff grants a 10-minute grace period, and if you miss it, your ticket will be voided. The Museum of Ice Cream is completely cashless, so top up your digital wallets for your visit! |
Red Dot Design Museum
Address: 11 Marina Blvd (Google Maps)
Contact Details: +65 6514 0111
Operating Hours: Monday to Friday, 11:00 am to 7:00 pm, Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 am to 7:00 pm
Admissions Fee: Starting at $12 per person, locals can pay as they wish
The Red Dot Design Museum in Singapore houses the world’s largest collection of contemporary art and design in the world. It is known for showcasing winning entries to the Red Dot Product Design Awards, a prestigious competition for designers.
While I’m not the biggest fan of contemporary art, the Red Dot Design Museum still holds a special place in my heart because of the hundreds of design works created by talented artists around the world.
The exhibits here are fascinating and fun to explore, often leaving me marvelling or guessing their uses. Interactive digital displays let you engage with the pieces, and you can even design your own avatar!
| Tips: For every entrance ticket you buy at the Red Dot Design Museum, you’ll get a $5 voucher which you can use to purchase food at the museum cafe. Moreover, the Red Dot Design Museum shop sells all sorts of quirky items (much like the pieces you’ll find in the exhibits) that you can take home as souvenirs. Many people actually consider the shop as one of the exhibits to visit because of all the uniquely designed items you can find there! |
Children’s Museum Singapore (formerly the Singapore Philatelic Museum)
Address: 23-B Coleman St (Google Maps)
Contact Details: +65 6337 3888
Operating Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00 am to 10:45 am, 11:00 am to 12:45 pm, 2:00 pm to 3:45 pm, 4:00 pm to 5:45 pm
Admissions Fee: Starting at $16.35 per person, free for locals
Looking for a museum in Singapore that your kids will surely love? Take them to the Children’s Museum, a museum dedicated to children 12 years old and below.
Before the museum became what it is today, it was the Singapore Philatelic Museum, a museum dedicated to the postal history and stamps of Singapore. Much of the museum is still the same despite the changes, which I’m really happy about.
The Children’s Museum Singapore showcases exhibitions of daily Singaporean life and history, giving your kids visual and interactive ways to learn about the past. The exhibits actually turn the museum’s interior into a tiny version of Singapore!
| Tips: Entry to the Children’s Museum Singapore is limited per time slot. You can purchase up to 4 tickets per transaction. You can book slots as early as 30 days prior to your scheduled visit date, and I highly recommend booking in advance to secure slots (they run out pretty quickly!). Note that the museum is designed for children, so adults are only allowed to enter if they are accompanying children. |
Singapore Musical Box Museum
– From stb_sg
Address: 168 Telok Ayer St (Google Maps)
Contact Details: +65 6337 3888
Operating Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00 am to 10:45 am, 11:00 am to 12:45 pm, 2:00 pm to 3:45 pm, 4:00 pm to 5:45 pm
Admissions Fee: Starting at $12 per person
As the name suggests, the Singapore Musical Box Museum houses an impressive collection of 40 antique musical boxes dating over 120 years old. It’s the first of its kind in Singapore and is hidden within the compounds of Thian Hock Keng Temple.
One of the most charming things about this museum is that it’s very niche and not as well-known among tourists as I expected. I nonetheless enjoyed every bit of my visit here, especially because of the helpful and friendly tour guide.
The most interesting piece I saw there was the Singanam, a musical box dating over 100 years old and is believed to be the first musical box collaboration between Singapore and Great Britain. As I said, very niche stuff!
| Tip: The Singapore Musical Box Museum doesn’t accept walk-ins. It’s a private museum, so they only allow visitors who have pre-booked tickets in advance. Each group will be toured by a guide (usually one of the researchers) for about 45 minutes. Do note that a guided tour already comes with your ticket, and you can’t request to roam freely inside the museum. The antiques are only allowed to be viewed under the supervision of the tour guide or on duty. Despite closing at 5:00 pm, the museum’s last call for admission is at 3:00 pm! |
Vintage Camera Museum
Address: 8C Jalan Kledek (Google Maps)
Contact Details: +65 6291 2278
Operating Hours: Monday to Sunday, 11:00 am to 7:00 pm
Admissions Fee: Starting at $20 for adult tourists, $15 for locals
Another niche museum I highly recommend checking out is the Vintage Camera Museum located in Kampong Glam. This small camera-shaped museum houses over 1,000 different kinds of cameras used over the years, in all shapes and sizes.
Probably two of the most interesting things in the collection are the replicas of the world’s largest and smallest cameras: the Mammoth camera and the 11-gram camera. There’s also an authentic replica of the world’s first photograph ever taken!
You’ll find a wide range of antique cameras on display here, but what really caught my eye was the collection of quirky camera types. There were pistol cameras, spy cameras, cameras hidden in walking sticks, and even a pigeon camera.
| Tips: The door to the Vintage Camera Museum is locked, and one way to enter it is to contact the phone number on the door or on the website to inform the owner that you’ve arrived for your scheduled visit. It’s a private museum, so you’ll have to book your tickets in advance to get in! Tours are not required or needed (since there are infographics displayed around the museum), but sometimes the owner is present and free to give you a tour around the place and talk about some of the pieces on display. |
Trickeye Museum
Address: 80 Siloso Road, Southside, Blk B, #01-04 (Google Maps)
Contact Details: +65 6592 0607
Operating Hours: Monday to Sunday, 11:00 am to 7:00 pm
Admissions Fee: Starting at $30 per person
Got a penchant for optical illusions? If yes, then a visit to the Trickeye Museum in Sentosa Island is a must (especially enjoy museums or attractions like the Museum of Ice Cream).
Trickeye Museum showcases multiple coloured backgrounds and statues that you can pose, interact with, and take pictures with. The result is a photo album of you either under the sea, being taken by King Kong, or riding a hot air balloon with Van Gogh.
Just like the Museum of Ice Cream, the Trickeye Museum is made for people who love taking photos and social media. You can spend as long as you want inside until you run out of backgrounds and statues to pose with!
| Tip: There is a room/gallery inside the Trickeye Museum that’s dedicated to Augmented Reality (AR) backgrounds. You’ll need to first download the app and access the camera to enjoy the AR experience. Some people experience lag or bugs with the app, so I recommend downloading and preparing the app before your visit to avoid inconvenience. |
MINT Museum of Toys
Address: 26 Seah St (Google Maps)
Contact Details: +656 339 0660
Operating Hours: Monday to Sunday, 9:30 am to 6:30 pm
Admissions Fee: Starting at $30 per person
My brother’s favourite museum in Singapore is the MINT Museum of Toys because of its extensive collection of over 50,000 limited edition and antique toys from all over the world. He’s a pretty avid toy collector, so visiting this museum is a pastime of his.
I’ve gone to the museum multiple times with him and have also enjoyed using the AR guided tour option to watch some toys come to life. The experience enabled me to view the collection and watch some of the displays come to life on my screen.
Of course, I can’t ignore some anecdotes about toys from my brother (he always insists on acting as a tour guide for me), but I recommend that you join in on a guided tour (which already comes with your entrance ticket, by the way) if you’re not in a hurry!
| Tips: While guided tours around the MINT Museum of Toys are already included in the entrance ticket price, I recommend booking your slots at least a week ahead of your planned visit date. Guided tours last for only about 15 minutes and are designed for groups of no more than 6 people! If you’re visiting with friends, I recommend getting the Happy Hour in the Museum tickets to get 2 hours of playing board games, a tour of the museum’s galleries, and free movie screenings while you sip on free-flowing wine. |
The Battlebox
Address: 51 Canning Rise (Google Maps)
Operating Hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 9:30 am to 12:30 pm, 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Admissions Fee: Free admission, but tours start at $5 (donation basis)
If you’re a World War II history buff, then a visit to The Battlebox at Fort Canning is a must! The museum is housed inside an underground bunker dating back to World War II, which was once the headquarters of the Allied forces during the invasion of Japan.
You’ll find the bunker arranged with life-sized statues of soldiers, military officers, and World War II items as if they’ve been stuck in time. Particularly, you’ll feel like eavesdropping on the Allied forces making decisions to win the war.
Highlights include Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival making the call to surrender Singapore to the Japanese, Allied officers mapping out attacks and defences on a map, and military offices in the bunker.
| Tip: Tours around the Battlebox are only available at select hours of the day, so check out this page to learn more about tour schedules and see which ones are still available. |
