The best times to visit Singapore

Singaporeans have been known to describe the seasons as hot, hotter and hottest, but you could also go with wet, wetter and wettest, or as the Singapore government’s Meteorological Service Singapore puts it, the “climate is characterised by two monsoon seasons separated by inter-monsoonal period”. So, pretty wet then.

There are no real discernible seasons in the tropical city-state, with the weather constantly warm and humid. Sometimes the only way to notice the seasons is to watch the changing fashions in the windows of the shops along Orchard Road.

Palawan Beach is a great spot for a family day out.

There is, however, a nominal wet season that runs from September to February and a dry season that lasts from March to August, with April seeing the peak of the heat.

But the good news is that Singapore is packed full of exciting festivals, events and everyday fun that has precisely zero reliance on what the weather is doing that day. Get out into it, monsoon or no monsoon.

THE WET SEASON: SEPTEMBER TO FEBRUARY

The monsoonal weather makes for a damper few months but the weather is still very warm. Singapore and its locals really don't do much different during this period but you can skew your trip with a few more indoor activities.

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If the heavens have opened up you might never know it on a shopping trip to Orchard Road, almost the entire retail strip of mega-malls and local designers is connected via a network of underground walkways so you never have to worry about the rain, hail or shine. To encourage your retail therapy, this is the time for the Great Singapore Sale, a countrywide shopping fest with some seriously good prices and plenty of related events. The sale is not just a few bucks off, this is a national event encouraged to bring in tourists so well worth a look.

It might be time to catch a live show at “the durian”, The Esplanade – Theatres by the Bay or head to the National Gallery Singapore, with modern Asian art and a rooftop bar, Smoke and Mirrors, for when the weather clears.

One of the cheapest things to do on rainy day in Singapore is the movies with prices at the Shaw Theatres Lido very low by Aussie standards, but take a jacket as the air conditioning can be verging on polar ice cap.

Key events

Singapore's Chinatown lit up for Chinese New Year.

Falling around January or February, Chinese New Year is a great time to visit Singapore with the pounding of drums seeming to come from every street as troupes of lion dancers perform at workplaces and condos all over the city. Chinatown in particular is full of fun and fireworks as well as hundreds of lanterns strung over the busy streets.

The Indian community gets its colourful party around September with Deepavali, the festival of light. This Hindu festival sees the streets of Little India host a procession of silver chariots as well as street parties and plenty of great food.

September/October sees the Formula One roar into town and huge banks of seating go up around the Marina Bay Street Circuit. Concerts, events and after parties abound at this time and it can be a great time to visit, but hotel prices in particular go through the roof.

Halloween is surprisingly popular in the Lion City with local community centres running haunted houses that are made for families but can be really quite scary, Universal Studios puts on a very adult series of "horror nights" and the US expat area of Holland Village goes all out with decorations and trick or treating.

For Christmas make your way up to Orchard Road for some seriously OTT decorations or see real snow at Snow City.

THE SLIGHTLY DRIER SEASON: MARCH TO AUGUST

Palawan Beach at Sentosa, Singapore

If you're really are worried about the rain, this can be considered the best time to visit Singapore with February to April being the months that have the least amount of rain and the lowest humidity but like any ideal time things can be a bit busier during this period, particularly over Christmas and New Year.

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This could be a good time to head to Sentosa Island for some sun, sea and sand. Palawan Beach is a great spot for a family day out including a rope bridge to the "southernmost point of Continental Asia" where the water is warm, the bay is flat and the drinks on the colourful sun lounges are ice cold at FOC Sentosa beach club. The W Hotel at Sentosa is also well-known for its pool parties that have made a comeback post COVID. Resorts World Sentosa is a family activity hub that offers Skywalks, an adventure waterpark and the iFly indoor skydiving.

The good weather season can be a great time to explore Singapore Zoo, possibly the greatest zoos in the world for its semi-free range approach and the integration of the exhibits into the tropical rainforest. The signature experience is a bright-and-early breakfast with the orang-utans, who are called down to feast with the breakfast guests who can then take a photo with them.

Take a walk around Gardens By the Bay, the highly coiffed gardens that include a huge indoor waterfall and the aerial walkways of the Cloud Forest and the even more vertiginous walkways connecting the Supertree Obsvervatories. And being Singapore, good food is not very far away with Satay by the Bay a food centre that specialises in barbecued goodies.

Key events

A man conducts Hungry Ghost Festival prayers in Singapore's Chinatown.

August sees the arrival of the Hungry Ghost Festival, a Chinese celebration to honour departed relative, kind of like and Asian Day of the Dead. Tradition suggests that dead relatives can roam around during this time and if they are not properly honoured with offerings they might get up to no good. The most popular offering is "hell money" which is burned in metal bins but visit a temple to get the full experience. The Lian Shan Shuang Lin Monastery in Toa Payoh is the best for a local take on the festival.

Also in August flags will start appearing all over the city from shopfronts to condo balconies in readiness for Singapore National Day, the celebration of Singaporean independence. If you are visiting at this time head down to the huge parade by the bay and a choreographed show as well as the customary military plane flyover.

Hari Raya Puasa is the party that marks the end of Ramadan generally around May or June and is full of colour and feasting around the Sultan Mosque in the Arab Quarter. This region of multicultural Singapore is a great place to visit any time of the year with kebabs, coffee, Turkish lamps and textiles.

Singapore can feel like it is a constant festival of food but the actual Singapore Food Festival takes place around August and steps things up another notch, just like you will need to do to your belt.