I was shocked when I started researching attractions in Singapore by the staggering amount of things to do in Sentosa Island.  So many, in fact, that we dedicated 3.5 days of our 5 days in Singapore just to exploring the attractions in Sentosa Island – and we still didn’t see them all.  Nevertheless, we did get around a big slice of the island and visited the attractions that are best for young kids. Get ready for a massive post as the list of things to do in Sentosa Island is l o n g!

Sentosa is an island resort located off the coast of Singapore.  It is easily reached from Singapore (more details below) and is visited by about 5 million people a year. It has grown a lot since I last visited in 2005.  I was surprised by how much! It is a modern, top class resort facility and just full of fun attractions for the whole family. Here is a list of what we did on our holiday as well as lots of information to make your stay on Sentosa Island a success!

You can also read our complete guide to Singapore – which includes 43 things to do with kids!

Things to do in Sentosa Island

Resorts World Sentosa

Resorts World Sentosa is an integrated resort (so called because it is a casino “integrated” with a holiday resort)  located on Sentosa Island. It takes up a big slice of the island and is the first attraction you will find when arriving from mainland Singapore. It is home to a casino, many hotels, restaurants, food courts, shops, Trick Eye Museum and some of the biggest attractions on Sentosa Island – Universal Studios, Adventure Cove Waterpark, S.E.A. Aquarium and Dolphin Island – where you can meet dolphins.

It is a lively area full of people and things to do and eat. We had an awesome lunch at the Taiwanese dumpling chain, Din Tai Fung. They truly do serve the best dumplings in the world! There are also shows, concerts and free light shows in the evenings.

S.E.A Aquarium

This is the largest aquarium in the world and it could also be the best! It is an amazing aquarium full of marine life displayed attractively. There are over 100,000 marine animals of over 800 different species. It makes for an amazing spectacle.

My favourite part is the tunnels that started and finished our journey through the aquarium. S loved looking at the fish that were under our feet – they had one tank under a floor made of glass. The touch pool was also a great hit. There are just so many massive displays.

The other big hit for us was all the activities around the place for children. S made a fin for herself and did a jigsaw and there were many informative displays where we could do things like touch sharks jaws.  This was a great way to break up the aquarium for S (currently 4) and ensured she was kept entertained and engaged. At each activity, S got a stamp on the sheet she was given on entry, and at the end she was given a prize.

The S.E.A. Aquarium is just awesome and definitely an attraction to prioritise on your Sentosa Island visit.

I recommend buying discounted tickets beforehand from Klook. This saves time and money – currently the tickets are 25% off! Click here to see the latest prices.

Adventure Cove Waterpark

Adventure Cove Waterpark is a great looking water park with water slides, wave pool, kid water play areas, a water based obstacle course, snorkeling with fish over a reef and a river to tube around. There is also Dolphin Island Marine Life Park within its boundaries where you can wade with sting rays or play with dolphins (both at an extra charge and with a minimum height requirement of 122cm and 115cm respectively).

On entry, there is the opportunity to hop straight in a tube to ride around Adventure River which takes you around the park visiting many themed zones.  It started by taking us through caves which I though was a great way to feel like we had entered another world.  It also goes through an underwater tunnel at one point full of fish. However for me the best part was the Rainbow Reef where I got to snorkel with many colourful fish.  I also would have liked to try the Splashworks obstacle course.

Adventure Cove Waterpark is lots of fun, and I think it would be perfect for families with older kids.  For us, it was fun but also a bit disappointing after the huge success of Universal Studios the day before.  S was too short for most of the water slides and Splashworks.  She was too small to fit in the tubes properly for Adventure River, so this didn’t work for us either.  There is a big tree house for kids to play on and a toddler pool, but generally I’d recommend this park for kids who meet the 122cm size requirement.

I recommend buying tickets beforehand from Klook. This saves time and money – currently you save 40% off by booking from them! Click here to see the latest prices.

Universal Studios Singapore

Universal Studios Singapore would have to be our top thing to do in Sentosa Island. We loved this place – so much so that I wrote a whole post about it! It is a fabulous attraction especially with kids. Both S and I loved it.  There are lots of different themed areas, attractions, shows, eateries – plenty to keep you busy for a day or more.

Read more in our review of Universal Studios or click here to see discounted ticket prices.

Butterfly Park and Insect Kingdom

The Butterfly Park and Insect Kingdom consists of three different areas – a butterfly aviary, a bird aviary and a museum like part with lots of bugs and creepy crawlies.  It is a simple but nice attraction. S loved having a butterfly crawl all over her and looking at the big attractive birds.

Tiger Sky Tower

The Tiger Sky Tower is Singapore’s highest obervatory tower rising 131 metres above sea level. There are great views over Singapore and all the way to Malaysia and Indonesia if you are extra lucky! I must confess that we didn’t do this ourselves. We wanted to, but it was shut for maintenance when we visited. You can find discounted tickets here.

Sentosa Merlion

The Sentosa Merlion is a 37 metre tall structure (see top photo) that is said to guard the prosperity of Singapore. At this attraction you can collect prosperity coins, ring a prosperity bell and look out over Singapore from the merlion’s mouth.

Skyline Luge Sentosa

This chairlift and luge ride was one of our favourite things to do in Sentosa Island. The experience has two parts – a luge ride from Imbiah Lookout down to the beach and a chairlift ride back to the top. You can do them in either order.

The luge is basically a cart with brakes and steering that you can ride down one of two paths. If you are travelling with young kids, they can ride with you – we went on it together and it worked well. Helmets are provided as well as instruction and brake checks. The chair lift back to the top is pleasant and a nice way to get views of both sides of Sentosa Island.

The Skyline Luge Sentosa was great fun. I recommend buying a ticket where you can ride multiple times. The staff were all wearing t shirts about how one time is not enough and I would have to agree. You can find discounted tickets here.

Sentosa 4D Adventureland

At Sentosa 4D Adventureland you will find a 4D movie, a 4D roller coaster and a 4D interactive shooting game.  This is one of the attractions I visited on Sentosa Island back in 2005. I clearly remember going on the roller coaster and a young kid totally losing it and me thinking that I would never take a kid on there. Fast forward 9 years and I did take a young kid on there despite my better judgement. It was a mistake! S begged me and since we had an attraction left on our pass, I decided we would do it. S was terrified, so maybe think twice before taking young kids on here!

Click here to see the latest discounted prices of this attraction.

Port of Lost Wonder

The Port of Lost Wonder is a fabulous attraction and a must visit one for families with young kids. It is basically an outdoor, wet play centre and S just loved it.

There is a big boat with little water slides, ladders, stairs, ropes and a wading area. There is water everywhere. There are also lots of tables and chairs, grassy areas, a restaurant, activities and an inside toddler play area.  This place is just fantastic.

Beaches

There are three beaches on Sentosa Island: Palawan, Siloso and Tanjong. Each beach is marketed to different groups – Palawan is for families, Siloso for action and Tanjong for couples wanting romance.

The beaches are not the most spectacular you will ever see, but they are clean, nice and pleasant and a nice place to hang out for awhile.

Southern Most Point of Continental Asia

I’m not really sure why this island is considered the Southern Most Point of Continental Asia but apparently it is! You can walk over to it from Sentosa across a swinging suspension bridge that S loved. Here there are a couple of lookout towers.

Fort Siloso

Fort Siloso is home to Singapore’s largest collection of World War II memorabilia. There are many displays and information about Singapore’s part in World War II including the Japanese occupation, life for prisoners of war and the Japanese surrender.

Singapore Cable Car

The Singapore cable car takes you from Mt Faber or Harbour Front on Singapore across to Sentosa Island. It is quick, easy and has fabulous views and you should really take it at least once. Click here for cheaper tickets.

KidZania Singapore

KidZania Singapore has recently opened on Sentosa Island and if you are travelling with kids, you will want to check this out! We have not been to Singapore’s KidZania yet but we have been to three in other countries and they are our kids’ absolute favourite things to do so it is definitely worth considering this Sentosa Island attraction. You can read more about KidZania in our Bangkok KidZania review.

Click here to buy tickets for 10% off.

Other attractions

There are many more attractions in addition to the ones described above. You can also learn to surf at the Wave House Sentosa, take the MegaZip zipline over the jungle to Siloso beach as well as do other aerial adventure activities, try the MegaBounce trampoline, fly with some indoor skydiving at iFly, ride a bike, go on a nature walk and have bird and animal encounters. There is also a second aquarium at Underwater World.

While you are at Fort Siloso you can also do combat laser shooting, try your luck at an indoor maze while playing laser tag, have a tunnel battle against mechanical soldiers and some other combat related activities. If all this just sounds too busy, relax with a drink at Mambo Beach Club.

See what I mean about an amazing amount of attractions on Sentosa Island?

How long?

As you can probably guess if you have read this far is that you really can spend as long as you want. There is just so many things to do in Sentosa Island. In 3.5 days, we basically did the majority of the attractions highlighted above. Many of the attractions and activities are quite short so you can fit a fair bit in a day. I think you could spend a week getting to everything though and even then you would have to rush!

Click here to download a FREE 40 page guide to Singapore with kids!

With a day, I would either go to Universal Studios or S.E.A. Aquarium plus the things that sound the most attractive to you of the rest. With two days, I would think about a pass with Universal Studios and the day pass to do 16 other attractions. More ideal would be three days – 1 day at Universal Studios, 1 day at S.E.A Aquarium and Adventure Cove Waterpark and 1 day doing your pick of the rest.

Budget

As you can probably guess by the long list of attractions listed here, a trip to Sentosa Island can get expensive. There are some free things to do in Sentosa Island, such as nature walks, beaches, the Southern Most Point of Continental Asia and the light shows at Resorts World Sentosa, but the majority of attractions come at a cost. You also have to pay to enter Sentosa Island (although at the moment it is free on weekends if you walk across).

My biggest tip is to plan beforehand what attractions you think you might want to visit and then check out what pass options are available. We bought a choice play pass which allowed us four attractions over a day plus Fort Siloso and included choices from most of the attractions on Sentosa Island except those at Resorts World Sentosa. There are also many other attraction passes. With older kids, I would definitely consider a day pass where you can visit up to 16 attractions over a day starting at SGD$70 which is great value.

It is also worth putting some thought into how to best use your pass. With our pass, we went on the Skyline Luge Sentosa.  S rode with me on this, so instead of using her pass, I just paid the $3 at the attraction for her to go on as an additional rider. I then used her pass at Port of Lost Wonder (adults do not pay for this).  There are also cheaper passes if you only want to go on attractions in the evening.

I also recommend checking out Klook. They have many discounted tickets available for attractions in Sentosa Island and Singapore which save a lot of money.

Getting to Sentosa Island

There are three main options to get to Sentosa Island apart from driving over in a car or taxi. These are to take the cable car, the monorail or walk over. We did all three at different times.

The cable car is by far the nicest way. However, it is expensive – SGD$47 for the two of us. It is worth doing once and a cost effective way to take the cable car is with one of the passes mentioned above. You can also buy discounted tickets for the cable car here which will help reduce this cost.

The monorail is easy at only SGD$4 per person – it was this price for S too.  It is also easy to walk over. It is only about 600 metres and it is undercover with travelators most of the way. We did this quite a few times. It costs SGD$1 to enter this way each, although it is currently free on weekends and public holidays.

Whichever way you enter Sentosa Island, you can take the monorail back.

Getting around Sentosa Island

Once you are on Sentosa Island, the buses, monorail and beach “trams” are included in your entry price so you can catch them around as much as you like. This was very easy to do.

Best Accommodation on Sentosa Island

We loved staying at the Hotel Fort Canning which is only a few train stops from Sentosa Island. There are also accommodation choices on Sentosa Island itself which will make it extra easy to visit all these attractions. Here are some of the top ones:

• Hard Rock Hotel – an excellent 5 star hotel with infinity pool, kids pool, baby sitting services and more. Click here for the latest prices.
• Resorts World Sentosa Festive World – another 5 star hotel just a short walk from all the attractions at Resorts World Sentosa. Fabulous rooms (including special family options) and facilities. Click here for the latest prices.
• W Singapore Sentosa Cove – a beautiful hotel with a huge pool, great rooms and a free shuttle service. Click here for the latest prices
• Capella Sentosa –  a luxury hotel which provides personal assistants to make sure your stay in a success! Rooms range from hotel style up to three bedroom suites. Click here for the latest prices.

You can also find more fabulous hotels in our list of the top 10 best hotels in Singapore with kids.

Sentosa with kids?

S loved our time on Sentosa Island. How could she not? This place is just made for kids. The biggest hits were Universal Studios, S.E.A. Aquarium, Port of Lost Wonder, the cable car and the luge ride.

My verdict?

I also loved Sentosa Island. I have heard it called a big adults’ playground and it is. There are an amazing amount of things to do and everything is so neat, clean and orderly that it is very easy to do a lot of different things in a short time period. Any holiday to Singapore should include at least a day in Sentosa Island, preferably longer.

My favourite things to do in Sentosa Island was Universal Studios, the luge ride, S.E.A. Aquarium and Adventure Cove Waterpark (especially the snorkeling). I also loved how great the Port of Lost Wonder is for little ones. I would love to try the Wave House and the MegaZip next time.

Read more about our time in Singapore, all about our thoughts on family travel in Singapore and our complete guide to Singapore with kids – it includes everything above as well as so many other things to do in Singapore!

Have you been to Sentosa Island? What is your favourite thing to do?

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Tags:  Singapore Travel Blog