Saris, Sultans & Shophouses: Chinatown and Kampong Glam Tour

Singapore’s dynamic ethnic neighbourhoods with enduring traditions showcase a vibrant past but also thrive on reinvention. Discover history, heritage, art and architecture as your guide walks you through narrow lanes where your senses of sight, sound and smell will be awakened.

This tour takes you to two very different old quarters of Singapore: Chinatown and Kampong Glam. These two neighbourhoods were conceived in Raffles’ 1822 Master Town Plan, created to help the immigrants from different communities to settle and thrive in a new land.

Chinatown. The Chinese were allocated the area south of the Singapore River on Raffles’ Town Plan, settling and building shophouses and godowns. We will traverse three of Chinatown’s four districts, including the landing site of the first immigrants, who gave thanks for safely arriving by building what is now Singapore’s oldest Chinese Temple.

Kampong Glam. It was envisioned as a Malay enclave divided into three sections in Raffles’ Town Plan: one for the Sultan, one for the Arab traders, and one for the Bugis settlers. Today, Kampong Glam retains much of its traditional flavour. But, the area has also grown to become one of Singapore’s most bohemian and hippest areas bursting at the seams with cafes, bars, and clubs sitting alongside the golden Sultan mosque and adjacent heritage centre.