Heading to Singapore in 7 days and know nothing about the area. Will be staying on Sentosa Island while there on business. Anyone familiar with the area and can pass along some running routes, or if there is some open water swimming? Hotel has a 33m lap pool, but given the fact that I have been in a pool all winter, OW would be nice.
Thanks,
Tom
Hi, let me welcome you to Singapore in advanced. How coincidental, I’m currently working on Sentosa island right now. Sentosa island is a great, somewhat hilly place to run, there are nice routes around the island, and some biathlons and OWS are held in Sentosa. You will not get much OWS conditions in the bay areas, but it is a nice clam 300-400m swim along the coast line in the bays. The island is not suitable for biking, you may want to take that along the West Coast Highway across the bridge connecting Sentosa to the mainland. Roads on Sentosa are much too narrow and crowded for any reasonable and effective training.
Be prepared to get exposed to unforgiving sunshine all day long, but I think you will appreciate it coming from Winter.
If you’re able to get some form of private transport, there are plenty of running routes all over the mainland, including East Coast Park, which is a 15-20km running route along the south-east coastline of Singapore. In fact, 70% of neighbourhoods in Singapore are all interconnected via “park connectors” which are basically tarmac running paths.
No lakes or suitable bodies of water for open water swimming tho, you may want to stick to the pools. Plenty of swimming complexes around Singapore with gyms and Olympic pools.
Feel free to PM me if you need more info with regards to training in Singapore.
I go there frequently for work - best place to run is East Coast Park as mentioned. You’ll probably drive right past it when you go from the airport to the hotel (on the water side). There are also a bunch of bars/restaraunts around there that are popular touristy spots. There is open water along Sentosa at the beach. You probably should be able to swim out there just beyond the beach. It’s always been pretty calm water and I remember there being plenty of room - the small bay is pretty protected. There is really no open roon to run at Sentosa and the sun beats down on you. There is a huge hill from the beach to the top of Sentosa if you want to get hill work in though. Have a great time - Singapore is awesome.
As said Sentosa is not a good place to cycle during the day. If you have some lights it is a not a bad place at 5AM before the traffic starts. I always cycle in the early mornings when I am jet lagged from the trip from the US.
Two running options from the Marina area, which is not far from Sentosa:
Nice running near the reservoir. Also, go to changi village (near airport) and take a boat ride (about $1.00 USD) to Palu Ubin. Nice island with tons of running on paths thru nature. Pretty good mtb’ing too. You may even run into swarms of monkeys and wild pigs. Cool! Oh yeah … Near the pier on the island there’s a little place that serves the best chili crab…that and a nice cold tiger beer.
I’m going back in November and can wait!
Thanks all for the tips! I will only be there for a week and will most likely have to deal with what the hotel has for bikes, but definitely look forward to running in some new areas. The hotel has a decent pool which is outdoors so may just stick with that side of things. Looking forward to some of the routes mentioned for the run though. Thanks ST!
I live in singapore.
if you like running along the beach, sentosa’s not bad. from tanjung beach to fort siloso and back is around 5km. OWS in sentosa is quite nice too. East coast park is sort of… meh for me.
Marina bay park and kallang park are decent, nearer to your hotel area. but it’s mainly city and if you like running on concrete and tarmac thats for you.
but IMO the BEST running routes are the trail running routes along the reservoir’s in the center of the island - Macritchie, pierce, seletar. you’ll basically be running in a tropical rainforest beside a lake. the army even uses these areas for training occasionally. if you’re the adventurous sort you can look for the fabled ‘woodcutters trail’- local trail runners and MTBers knpow of it- it’s a 20km forested trail connecting all the central reservoirs. the trails are generally well marked and in good condition. Do be careful if you do choose to explore though, even though singapore is tiny some people have gotten lost.
as recommended, don’t bike in the day in singapore. especially anywhere near rush hour. if you do bike, you could try changi coastal road, which is a 8km stretch of flat tarmac with next to no cars and traffic lights. super good for time trial training.
X2 on MacRitchie reservior. I was in S’pore back in 2008 and got in a ~20km run there. It was really beautiful scenery. You may encounter some monkeys, but when I saw them they just scampered back into the forest. Be sure to bring some fluids with you on the run, since I don’t remember seeing any water fountains.
Here’s a couple of pics from the run:
make sure you drink plenty of water. I underestimate the heat and humidity in Singapore before and had to be putted on Iv