At a Glance
Compared to this destination's peak season February is the driest month of the Singaporean year (roughly 113mm across 11 wet days, against December’s 290mm across 19) and in 2027 it owns Chinese New Year: Sat 6 Feb, with Sun 7 Feb as Day 2 and Mon 8 Feb gazetted as a holiday in lieu. That makes it a peak month, driven by regional travel rather than Western: hotel rates over the festive fortnight sit near their annual high, so book two to three months ahead. Crucially, a great deal of the city CLOSES on Days 1 and 2, including many hawker stalls and independent restaurants; Little India and Kampong Glam stay fully open. River Hongbao has moved to Gardens by the Bay. Chingay 2027 dates were unannounced at the time of writing. There is no Singapore Airshow in odd-numbered years. Fares rose 27 Dec 2025 (adult card S$1.28–2.57).
Singapore in February — Travel Guide
By Harry Nara · Last updated
Singapore in February offers some of the best conditions of the year, ideal for Chinese New Year, festivals & clear skies. Expect temperatures of 24–32°C, around 11 days of rain, and high crowds across the city. Daily budgets typically land around $70–1,500+ for mid-range travellers. Book accommodation two to three months ahead — the most popular rooms sell out fast during peak visiting windows.
Contents14 sections
#Weather in Singapore in February
Singapore in February averages 24–32°C (75–90°F) with around 11 days of rain, and crowds are high.
February is the driest month of the Singaporean year, and by a wide margin.
It averages roughly 113mm of rain across 11 wet days, against daytime highs of 31–32°C and overnight lows of 24–25°C, at humidity in the 75–85% band.
Put that next to December, which delivers around 290mm across 19 wet days, and the gap is the whole point of the month. The Northeast Monsoon has entered its dry phase: the rain belt has drifted south towards Java, the grey monsoon surges that flatten January are largely finished, and Singapore gets the clearest, sunniest skies it gets all year. Rain still arrives, because it always does, but in February it tends to be a short afternoon burst rather than a day-long write-off.
The trade is heat. February is drier than January but it is not cooler, and without the cloud cover the sun is fierce one degree off the equator. The UV index routinely hits the extreme band by late morning.
#Getting Around
Changi Airport (SIN) connects to City Hall on the East-West MRT in around 30 minutes, entirely under cover.
Taxis and Grab to Marina Bay run S$25–45.
Fares rose on 27 December 2025. Adult card fares now run from S$1.28 for a short hop to roughly S$2.57 for a long cross-island journey, per the Public Transport Council's 2025 fare review. Use an EZ-Link card, or tap a contactless Visa or Mastercard through SimplyGo, which charges the same fares with nothing to buy. Any guide still quoting a flat "S$1 to S$3" is out of date.
Two February notes: Chinatown MRT is the most congested station in the city through the festive fortnight, and Outram Park one stop away is a calmer way in; and on Chinese New Year's Eve the MRT runs extended late-night service to move the countdown crowds.
#What to Do in Singapore in February
Chinese New Year: Saturday 6 February 2027
In 2027 Chinese New Year falls on Saturday 6 February, ushering in the Year of the Goat, and it lands squarely inside the month. That is not always true: it fell on 17 February in 2026 and on 29 January in 2025, which is exactly why so much published Singapore advice is vague about it. For a February 2027 trip it is not vague at all. The festival is the month.
Day 1 is Saturday 6 February and Day 2 is Sunday 7 February. Because Day 2 falls on a Sunday, the Ministry of Manpower has gazetted Monday 8 February 2027 as a public holiday in lieu, giving Singapore a three-day weekend.
The reunion dinner on Chinese New Year's Eve, Friday 5 February 2027, is the emotional centre of it, and the restaurants that take outside bookings are reserved months rather than weeks ahead. The ritual you will actually get to join is lo hei, the communal tossing of yusheng, a raw-fish and shredded-vegetable salad: everyone stands, shouts auspicious phrases, and flings the salad as high as they can with their chopsticks, on the logic that the higher the toss, the greater the fortune. Restaurants serve it throughout the fifteen-day period, so you do not need an invitation to a family home.
The Chinatown light-up, the bazaar and the countdown
Chinatown is the set-piece, and it runs far longer than the holiday itself.
The Street Light-Up switches on around three weeks before the new year and stays lit for weeks afterwards: in 2026 it ran from 30 January to 18 March, illuminated nightly from 7pm to midnight, with a themed centrepiece sculpture at the Eu Tong Sen Street entrance. On Chinese New Year's Eve the lights are traditionally left burning through to 6am on Day 1.
Underneath them, the Festive Street Bazaar fills Pagoda, Trengganu and Sago Streets, with a further fair at People's Park Square: lanterns overhead, waxed meats hanging in rows, pineapple tarts by the tin, and the queue outside Lim Chee Guan on New Bridge Road for bak kwa, the barbecued pork jerky Singaporeans will genuinely wait two hours for.
The Countdown Party at Kreta Ayer Square runs from around 10pm on Chinese New Year's Eve, so in 2027 that is the night of Friday 5 February.
The International Lion Dance Competition at the Kreta Ayer People's Theatre is the other fixture worth timing a visit around.
River Hongbao, and it is not where the old guides say it is
River Hongbao has moved, and a remarkable number of guides have not noticed. For years it was staged on The Float @ Marina Bay, which has since closed and is being redeveloped into NS Square.
The festival now runs at Gardens by the Bay, and if you turn up at the old bayfront site you will find a construction hoarding.
It is a nine or ten night festival of enormous illuminated lantern installations, free to enter, staged across Supertree Grove, The Meadow, Dragonfly Lake and The Colonnade.
The 2026 edition ran from 15 to 24 February and marked the festival's 40th anniversary, with fourteen lantern sets, the returning God of Fortune figure, nightly performances, a carnival midway, and fireworks at The Meadow for the first time since 2020. Dates for 2027 are published at riverhongbao.sg.
Chingay: the largest street parade in Asia
Chingay is the closing act of the festive season: thousands of costumed performers, elaborate floats, lion and dragon dance troupes, stilt-walkers and a pyrotechnic finale at the F1 Pit Building on Republic Boulevard. It has run since 1973, when it was created to fill the gap left by a ban on firecrackers.
It follows Chinese New Year rather than coinciding with it.
The 2026 edition ran on 27 and 28 February, from 8pm to 9.30pm, under the theme "Wish", with more than 3,000 performers.
The 2027 dates had not been announced at the time of writing and appear on the official Chingay site when confirmed, so check before you build a trip around it. Grandstand tickets go through SISTIC and the good ones sell out; the free public viewing areas along the route work perfectly well.
The driest-month dividend: the outdoor month
Every other Singapore guide tells you to plan around the rain. February is the month you do not have to, and that changes what the city is for.
The Southern Ridges is the walk to do: a ten-kilometre ridgeline from Mount Faber to Kent Ridge, crossing Henderson Waves, the undulating timber bridge that is the most photographed piece of infrastructure in Singapore. It is free, and in February it is a pleasure rather than a survival exercise.
Pulau Ubin is the other one. A bumboat from Changi Point Ferry Terminal costs a few dollars and takes ten minutes, and lands you on an island that looks like Singapore did in the 1960s: kampong houses, rented bicycles, flooded granite quarries, and the Chek Jawa wetlands. There is no MRT, no mall and very little shade, which is precisely why it is a February proposition and not an April one.
Add the Rail Corridor, the MacRitchie TreeTop Walk, East Coast Park, and, for once, Sentosa's southern beaches, a waste of a day in the monsoon and genuinely worth it now. All of it is a morning proposition: in February it is heat exhaustion, not rain, that ends a day.
Valentine's Day: Sunday 14 February 2027
In 2027 Valentine's Day falls on Sunday 14 February, the weekend immediately after Chinese New Year. That collision matters: the restaurant industry goes from reunion dinners straight into Valentine's set menus, and the good tables are gone from both ends.
Odette, Burnt Ends, Candlenut, Zén and the Marina Bay Sands restaurants book out four to six weeks ahead, and hotel staycation packages spike in the same window.
The free alternative beats most of the paid ones: walk Henderson Waves at sunset, when the bridge faces west across the harbour and the light through the timber ribs is extraordinary for about twenty minutes.
What February is genuinely bad for
An honest guide should say what a month costs you.
February is expensive and busy, for reasons that are regional rather than Western: Chinese New Year moves an enormous volume of travellers out of Malaysia, Indonesia, China and the wider region, and a good share of them come here. Hotel rates over the festive fortnight are among the highest of the year, and whatever stays open over the holiday is packed.
The shutdown then takes away some of what you came for. It is a superb month to visit. It is not a relaxed one.
#Food & Dining
February is the biggest month in the Singaporean food calendar, and the most complicated to navigate.
The festive food is everywhere from mid-January: bak kwa sold by weight, pineapple tarts, kueh bangkit coconut cookies, and yusheng tossed high with chopsticks throughout the fifteen-day period. Then, on Days 1 and 2, a great deal of it shuts.
What stays open, reliably: hotel restaurants and buffets, mall food courts, the big chains, and, most usefully, the whole of Little India and Kampong Glam. Tekka Centre, the banana-leaf houses on Race Course Road and the Malay stalls around Bussorah Street carry on exactly as normal. Plan the holiday days around them.
Once the city reopens, the year-round backbone is as strong as ever: chicken rice at Tian Tian in Maxwell Food Centre (S$5–7), laksa at 328 Katong, bak chor mee at the Michelin-starred Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle, chilli crab at Jumbo or Long Beach (S$60–90 a head), and satay on Boon Tat Street outside Lau Pa Sat from about 7pm.
At the top end, Odette, Zén, Burnt Ends and Candlenut are the names, and February is the hardest month of the year to get into any of them.
#Nightlife
Singapore's bar scene is world class and, crucially in a month this hot, almost entirely indoors and air-conditioned.
Atlas in Bencoolen, with its art-deco gin tower, remains the most photographed bar in the country.
Manhattan at the Conrad Centennial is a fixture of the World's 50 Best Bars, Jigger & Pony a perennial regional number one, 28 HongKong Street the original speakeasy, and Native on Telok Ayer the most inventive.
For height, CÉ LA VI and LAVO sit on the Marina Bay Sands rooftop, and February's clear skies make the view the best it gets all year.
Note that 1-Altitude at One Raffles Place is closed for redevelopment, despite its persistence on rooftop-bar lists.
One caution: many bars and clubs close on Days 1 and 2 of Chinese New Year, or run heavily reduced hours. Check before you cross town.
#Shopping
Chinatown turns over almost entirely to festive goods from mid-January: lanterns, red packets, waxed meats, tarts and new clothes, because tradition holds you should see in the new year in something you have never worn. It is the most enjoyable shopping in Singapore and most of it costs very little.
The post-festival clearances land in the second half of February, once the fifteen-day period is over.
Note that the old centralised Great Singapore Sale ended after 2022; the discounting now lives at Black Friday, the post-Christmas clearance, and these post-new-year markdowns.
Orchard Road's malls (ION Orchard, Paragon, Ngee Ann City, Takashimaya) anchor the luxury end, all connected underground and fiercely air-conditioned.
Bugis Street Market is the cheap and chaotic end, Haji Lane has the independents, and Mustafa Centre in Little India is open around the clock, including on the days Chinatown is shut.
Tourists can reclaim the 9% GST on purchases above S$100 at Changi.
#Culture & Etiquette
- Wear red or gold during Chinese New Year, and avoid black and white, which are the colours of mourning.
- If you are invited to a home, bring mandarin oranges, always in pairs. Never give clocks, sharp objects or anything in sets of four.
- Ang bao (red packets) flow from married adults to unmarried people and children. You are not expected to give them, and you may well be given one: receive it with both hands, and do not open it in front of the giver.
- Temples are open and welcoming. Remove shoes at the entrance and cover shoulders and knees.
- Singlish is affectionate, not broken English. Enjoy it; do not imitate it.
- The MRT eating and drinking ban is enforced (up to S$500), as is littering (from S$300).
- No tipping. A 10% service charge and 9% GST are added automatically.
- Vaping penalties rose to as much as S$10,000 on 1 May 2026, and devices are routinely detected at Changi.
- Drug laws are extreme. Trafficking carries a mandatory death penalty.
#Essential Local Phrases
Singapore has four official languages plus Singlish (a localised English-Malay-Hokkien-Tamil blend). You'll get by in plain English everywhere, but a handful of local words will help you read menus, order at hawker stalls, and understand what people are saying.
| What you want to say | What you'll hear in Singapore |
|---|---|
| Yes / OK | Can lah (Singlish) |
| No / Cannot do | Cannot (Singlish) |
| Delicious | Shiok (Singlish) |
| To eat / Let's eat | Makan (Malay, universally used) |
| Iced coffee at a hawker stall | Kopi peng (Hokkien) |
| Spicy | Pedas (Malay) |
| Bill, please (at a restaurant) | Mai dan (Mandarin) |
| Thank you | Terima kasih (Malay) / Xie xie (Mandarin) |
| Sentence emphasis | Lah (added at the end) |
| Happy New Year (at CNY) | Gong xi fa cai (Mandarin) |
| Prosper! (shouted while tossing yusheng) | Huat ah! (Hokkien) |
#Packing List
- Light, breathable cotton or linen. February is the driest month, not a cool one, and synthetics are miserable at 85% humidity.
- Serious sun protection. This is the sunniest month and the one when visitors actually burn: high-factor sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat for the Southern Ridges or Pulau Ubin.
- A compact umbrella anyway. Eleven wet days is not zero.
- Comfortable walking shoes. February is the month you will genuinely walk.
- Red or gold clothing if you are here over Chinese New Year, and nothing black or white for festive occasions.
- Modest clothing covering shoulders and knees for temple visits.
- One smart-casual outfit for a rooftop bar, plus a light layer for interiors. Singaporean air conditioning is genuinely cold.
- Insect repellent, a Type G adapter (the same three-pin plug as the UK), and a refillable water bottle. Tap water is safe and excellent, and you will drink a lot of it.
#Backup Plans (Rainy Days)
February needs two backup plans, and the more important one is not about the weather.
For the rain, which still arrives on roughly eleven days: Marina Square, Suntec City, ION Orchard and VivoCity all have restaurants, cinemas and direct MRT access, reachable without stepping outside.
The Cloud Forest and Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay are climate-controlled, and the Flower Dome typically rotates to a Chinese New Year floral display through the festive period.
Jewel Changi Airport, with its HSBC Rain Vortex, is worth half a day even if you are not flying.
For the Chinese New Year shutdown, which is the one that will actually catch you out: the museum circuit stays open and is the strongest option in the city.
The National Gallery Singapore, the ArtScience Museum, the Asian Civilisations Museum and the Peranakan Museum, whose collection is the perfect primer for the culture you are watching outside, are all a short covered walk from City Hall MRT.
Little India and Kampong Glam are open throughout, as are the Mandai parks, Universal Studios and Sentosa, though all will be busy.
#Budget & Costs
February is one of the most expensive months of the Singaporean year, and the reason is regional: Chinese New Year moves a very large volume of travellers around Asia, and hotel rates over the festive fortnight sit near their annual peak.
Book two to three months ahead for the new year window, not the three or four weeks the older guides suggest.
- Budget: hostel dorm S$30–55/night, hawker meals, MRT everywhere.
Around S$70–110/day.
- Mid-range: 3-star or good 4-star hotel S$180–300/night.
Around S$140–220/day.
- Comfortable: 4-star or 5-star hotel, restaurant meals, paid attractions.
Around S$280–450/day.
- Luxury: Marina Bay Sands, Raffles or the Fullerton.
S$700–1,500+/day, with sharp spikes across the new year weekend.
Reference costs: hawker meal S$5–10.
Casual restaurant S$15–30.
MRT single ride S$1.28–2.57 (card fare).
Taxi from Changi to downtown S$25–45.
Universal Studios S$83.
Gardens by the Bay conservatories S$32.
Bumboat to Pulau Ubin S$4 each way.
The value windows are the first days of the month and the final week of February, once the fifteen-day period has closed and the clearances have started. If you want the driest weather without the Chinese New Year premium, take the last week.
#Safety & Health
Singapore is one of the safest cities in the world; violent crime is rare and pickpocketing uncommon. February's risks are environmental and legal rather than criminal.
Heat and UV are the real hazard this month, and they catch people out precisely because the weather is so good. The UV index reaches the extreme band before noon, and visitors who would never attempt a midday hike at home cheerfully set off along the Southern Ridges at one o'clock. Heat exhaustion is the most common thing that goes wrong on a February trip. Walk early, drink constantly, and take the middle of the day indoors.
Lightning remains a genuine hazard even in the dry month; Singapore records one of the highest strike densities on earth, and outdoor attractions suspend operations during warnings.
Dengue is a year-round concern and the mosquito bites in daylight, so use repellent and check the NEA dengue cluster map if you are staying outside the centre.
Crowd density is worth taking seriously at Chingay, at the Chinatown countdown and along the River Hongbao lantern routes: the free viewing areas fill long before the announced start time.
Vaping penalties rose to as much as S$10,000 on 1 May 2026, and etomidate-laced pods are now handled under drug law, with possession carrying the possibility of a long custodial sentence and caning. These rules apply to tourists exactly as they apply to residents.
Drug laws are among the harshest anywhere; trafficking carries a mandatory death penalty. Never carry anything for anyone.
Tap water is safe and excellent. Healthcare is world class and expensive, so travel insurance is strongly recommended.
Emergency numbers: 999 (police), 995 (ambulance and fire).
#What's Changed for 2026/27 Travellers
- Chinese New Year 2027 falls on Saturday 6 February, with Day 2 on Sunday 7 February and Monday 8 February gazetted as a public holiday in lieu. February owns the festival in 2027, which is not true every year: in 2026 it fell on 17 February.
- River Hongbao has moved to Gardens by the Bay, and is no longer at The Float @ Marina Bay, which is closed and being redeveloped into NS Square. The 2026 edition, its 40th, ran 15 to 24 February with fireworks at The Meadow for the first time since 2020.
- Chingay 2027 dates had not been announced at the time of writing. The 2026 parade ran 27 and 28 February at the F1 Pit Building.
- There is no Singapore Airshow in February 2027. It is biennial and runs in even-numbered years; the 2026 edition ran 3 to 8 February, and the next is in 2028.
- Public transport fares rose on 27 December 2025. Adult card fares now run S$1.28 to about S$2.57.
- Vape penalties rose on 1 May 2026 to as much as S$10,000, with Kpods handled under drug law.
- The Great Singapore Sale no longer exists in its centralised form; it ended after 2022.
- 1-Altitude is closed for redevelopment, despite its persistence on rooftop-bar lists.
#About This Guide
Research for this guide combined traveller reports from r/singapore and Tripadvisor's Singapore forum with primary and near-primary sources: the Ministry of Manpower for the 2027 public holidays, including the Chinese New Year dates of 6 and 7 February and the Monday 8 February holiday in lieu; Gardens by the Bay and River Hongbao for the festival's move to the Gardens, the 40th-anniversary programme and the 2026 dates; the official Chingay site for the 2026 parade dates, venue and theme, and for the fact that the 2027 dates remain unannounced; the Singapore Airshow for the biennial, even-year schedule; the Public Transport Council for the 27 December 2025 fare adjustment; the Health Sciences Authority for the vaping penalties that rose on 1 May 2026; and the Meteorological Service Singapore for the Northeast Monsoon dry phase and the climate normals. Climate figures use MSS/NEA 1991-2020 normals.
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Frequently Asked Questions
When is Chinese New Year in Singapore in 2027?
Chinese New Year 2027 falls on Saturday 6 February, ushering in the Year of the Goat. Day 2 is Sunday 7 February, and because it lands on a Sunday the Ministry of Manpower has gazetted Monday 8 February as a public holiday in lieu, giving Singapore a three-day weekend. The reunion dinner, the emotional centre of the festival, is on Chinese New Year Eve: Friday 5 February 2027. Note that the date moves with the lunar calendar and is not always in February at all: it fell on 17 February in 2026 and on 29 January in 2025, which is why so much published advice about it is vague.
Does Singapore shut down during Chinese New Year?
Partly, yes, and it is the single most important thing to know about a February trip. On Days 1 and 2 a great deal of the city closes: independent hawker stalls, family-run restaurants, small shops and much of Chinatown itself shut for two days, and some stay closed for a week. Hawker centres can run at a third of their usual stalls. What stays reliably open is Little India and Kampong Glam, which are not Chinese-majority districts and carry on entirely as normal, plus hotel restaurants, mall food courts, the museums, Gardens by the Bay, Sentosa, the Mandai parks and Universal Studios. Plan the two holiday days around those.
Is February the best month to visit Singapore?
For weather, comfortably yes. February is the driest month of the year, averaging around 113mm of rain across 11 wet days against December's 290mm across 19 days, and it delivers the clearest, sunniest skies Singapore gets. It is the one month when the outdoor half of the city, the Southern Ridges, Pulau Ubin, the Rail Corridor and even the Sentosa beaches, is reliably open to you. The trade-off is cost and crowds: Chinese New Year makes it a peak month for regional travel, and hotel rates over the festive fortnight sit near their annual high. If you want the weather without the premium, take the last week of February.
What else is on in Singapore in February?
River Hongbao, the free festival of giant illuminated lanterns, which has moved to Gardens by the Bay and is no longer at The Float at Marina Bay, now closed and being redeveloped into NS Square. Its 2026 edition, the 40th, ran 15 to 24 February with fireworks at The Meadow for the first time since 2020. Chingay, the largest street parade in Asia, follows the new year at the F1 Pit Building; the 2026 parade ran on 27 and 28 February, and the 2027 dates had not been announced at the time of writing, so confirm on chingay.gov.sg. Valentine's Day falls on Sunday 14 February 2027 and the good restaurants book out four to six weeks ahead. And note there is no Singapore Airshow in 2027: it is biennial and runs in even-numbered years only.
What’s the weather like in Singapore in February?
Singapore in February typically sees temperatures of 24–32°C with around 11 days of rain across the period. Pack light, breathable layers and strong sun protection — days get genuinely hot.
How much does it cost to visit Singapore in February?
Budget-conscious travellers can expect daily costs of $70–1,500+, covering accommodation, food, and local transport. Prices climb during peak weeks — book early to lock in the lower end of this range.