1-Altitude Rooftop Bar: Best view of Singapore

From where can you have the best view of Singapore? Of course from the highest point in Singapore. One of the highest 3 rooftops of Singapore has the best Singapore rooftop. I am talking about 1-Altitude, the alfresco bar on the top of UOB Building which is around 282 meters above sea level with 360 degrees fantastic view of Singapore and beyond. This is the highest a building can get in Singapore due to the proximity of every point in the island to the Changi Airport. So there is currently no higher point than these and even the observation deck on the Marina Bay Sands is down 80 meters.

I have first been to 1-Altitude accidentally. My company had an event 2 stories below at 282 and City Golf on Level 61 and I wanted to go up and check the view.  Normally there is an entrance fee with 1 free drink after 6 pm.  But the entrance is free for the customers of Stellar Fine dining restaurant and 282 Lifestyle. So I had a chance to discover this great place. From then whenever a friend came to visit Singapore, this has been the destination for me to take them to show Singapore from above. I prefer to go at the opening hour, 06:00 PM and stay there until it gets crowded at around 22:00. So I have a chance to enjoy the stellar view with sunlight as well as city lights of the night.

The place is at UOB Building which is just next to the exits of Raffles Place MRT Station. If you want to go there make sure that it is not rainy because the rooftop is closed in rainy days and thunder storms for safety reason. Their web site has a weather forecast on the top left corner you can check it before going there. They also do not allow slippers and shorts. But we have been there with jeans and t-shirts and it was perfectly fine (although a little less smart casual than the major audience). As I have said if you go late at 22:00+ and weekend expect a long queue. I think you can bypass the queue if you are a customer of Stellar or 282. They also let you to take kids up (they did not charge anything for 2 years old son of one of my friends) but be sure to go early if you have kid since it gets very crowded later.

A fast rising lift will take you up to 62nd floor and from there another lift will take you one story more. The drinks are OK, I usually go for beer so I cannot comment on the usual stuff. And honestly up to now, I have not drank anything other than the complementary first drink so I am not sure about the prices. But CNNGo recently chose this place as the best rooftop bar of Singapore and they advise “Chocolate Sidecar (cognac, lemon juice and creme de cacao)” which is sold for S$16. This is a very reasonable price since they charge nearly same on the ground in Clarke Quay.

The real deal of this rooftop bar is the view of course. The UOB Building has a triangle shaped cross-section so the roof offers a better view than a normal rectangular building. As you can see from the below image, it is at a higher point than the Marina Bay Sands Sky Park. Actually since I have discovered 1-Altitude, I have not brought any visitor to the Marina Bay Sands Observation Deck. 1-Altitude has a better view, it is a bar so it offers better entertainment and music, and with the entrance fee of 25 SGD (30 SGD after 21:00) you have a free drink which is not available in the Sands SkyPark. 

1-Altitude (at the top of Raffles One Skyscraper)

As i have said, the rooftop gallery has triangular shape. Compared to common rectangular shape it offers greater angle of view from one of the highest rooftop through all directions. If you are coming for the view, come at the opening hour of 6 AM to have both daylight and night light experience of Singapore.

See also Top 5 best rooftop views in Singapore.

Marina Bay Sands SkyPark - 360 degree view of Singapore

Marina Bay Sands SkyPark offers the third best panoramic view of Singapore cityscape ( see Top 5 best rooftop views in Singapore ) and paying a visit to this man-made marvel was a top item in my to do list once I arrived back to Singapore. Today, about 2 weeks after my arrival and just several days after visiting the skybridge of Pinnacle@Duxton I had a chance to visit the Sands Singapore Skypark (See the link to how to get to marina bay sands).

Sands Skypark sits on the top of the three 55-storey Marina Bay Sands Hotel towers and offers a 360 degree view of the Singapore city from 200 meters hight. The Skypark is 340 meters long, longer than the Eiffel Tower laid on one side. It is 1.2 hectares.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel Towers from Marina Square.
Sands Skypark connects their roofs

I had walked there from Bugis Junction but it is only 10 minutes walk away from Promenade MRT Station on the Circle Line. The enrtance fee is 20 Singapore Dollars per adult and 17 SGD per senior. A fast climbing lift from the entrance takes you up to the skybridge in less then 15 seconds.

The Sands SkyPark Public Observation Deck, is open to the public from 10 am-10 pm on Mondays to Thursdays and 10am-11pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Sun Aura on Sands SkyPark Observation Deck

Sands SkyPark Entrance

The view from Sands Skypark is just fantastic but is also a little depressive as well if you live in Singapore. You can easily see the west, east, north and south ends of Singapore and once more realize how tiny is the island. Unlike Pinnacle@Duxton skybridge, whose east view is blocked by Singapore CBD, there is virtually nothing blocking the observation on the Sands Skypark. But I must admit, the Pinnacle@Duxton provides a better bird's eye view of central Singapore so pay a visit to there even if you have been on the Sands Skypark.

There is a nice SkyBar on the deck but the best seats with the view are almost always occupied and the bar was very crowded when I was there so I did not give a try to a very expensive beer.

Singapore Flyer, Kallang River from Sands SkyPark

Singapore East Coast from Sands SkyePark

Marina Bay Sands Infinity Pool
(Singapore CBD on the right hand side)

Singapore Central Business District from Sands SkyPark

Sands SkyPark Observation Deck (Restaurant on the right hand side)

Marina Bay Sand SkyPark Observation Deck

20 SGD ticket provides you one time access to the marina bay sands observation deck and a view of Infinity Pool but the access to the pool is restricted to the Marina Bay Sands hotel guests (and their guests). It is not allowed to use tripod on the skypark and opening up an umbrella is also not allowed. The observation deck is also closed when the whether is bad.

Gardens by the Bay, three distinctive waterfront gardens – Bay South, Bay East and Bay Central spanning a total of 101 hectares, are still under construction. When they are completed, they will be in the heart of Singapore’s new downtown Marina Bay, encircling the Marina Reservoir like a green necklace.

Gardens by Bay waterfront gardens under construction

Related Articles: Top 5 best rooftop views in Singapore and Pinnacle@Duxton skybridge

Pinnacle@Duxton Skybridge

In central Singapore, it is hard to miss the tall and large residential buildings called The Pinnacle@Duxton. Although named like a condo, these large apartment complex are actually public housing buildings. They are built on the same site of the first 2 ten storey HDB's of Singapore. The area is called the Duxton Plain.

What makes Pinnacle@Duxton interesting for me (and probably for you) is that it provides one of the best bird-eye view of Singapore from its 50th storey skybridge. There are actually 2 skybridges on these buildings,  but the one on the 26th storey is only open to the residents. Nevermind, 50th storey offers a much superior view than 26th floor bridge. This is also a cheaper option to Singapore Flyer, Marina Bay Sands sky park and 1-Altitude.

Pinnacle@Duxton

The 50th storey skybridge on Pinnacle@Duxton is open to the public from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily. They let only 200 people to access to the skybridge per day and be sure to check the daily quota left from its web site before heading to the skybridge. Also note that they do not allow you to enter the skybridge during rain.

You need to pay 5 SGD per person per access to the skybridge but they only accept a card compliant with the Singapore Standard of Contactless ePurse Application (CEPAS), for example, EZ-Link card!

We have been to this skybridge yesterday and enjoyed the great bird-eye view of Singapore city center. Getting there is quite easy. We have took East-West MRT line and left at Tanjong Pagar MRT Station. Outram MRT station is also just fine. From there, we took a 15 minutes walk to the The Pinnacle@Duxton.

Unfortunatelly, getting up was not straightforward. The web page does not exactly describe where is the starting point. Since this is an HDB there is no security. We have directly headed to the 50th floor only to find out that we should actually first visit the management office in Block 1G Level 1. Here we have used our EZ-Link Card to pay 5 Singapore Dollars (Net FlashPay card is not supported). It is important to bring your EZ-Link Card since here they register your card so you can open the door automatically on the 50th floor to enter the skybridge. So even if they wanted to, they cannot accept cash.

After the payment we have taken the lift A (B also goes to 50th floor) and climbed up to 50th storey and we were greeted with a great skybridge experience.

Singapore Central Business District from Pinnacle@Duxton

The Port of Singapore with Sentosa island in the background

50th Storey Skybridge on Pinnacle@Duxton

Below photo shows 3 tallest building in Singapore. From left to right, United Overseas Bank Plaza One, Overseas Union Bank Centre and Republic Plaza. These buildings are all 280 meters high which is the maximum height a structure can have in Singapore. This restriction is due to the proximity to Changi Airport (See Interesting Facts About Singapore).

Tallest Buildings in Singapore CDB (The middle one has a rooftop bar named 1-Altitude which
has the best bird-eye view of Singapore.

Central Business District blocks the view to the East of the island but the deck provides a great view to the south and west. It is a good place to have jogging or running also.

Being there reminded me how small Singapore is. All the prime area can fit in a photo frame and you can see even Bukit Timah is not that far. Sentosa from tip to tip is under your feet. There is no time limit for a visit once you are  on the skyebridge, you can stay there until 10 PM. I suggest you go to there around 4-5 PM so you can stay longer to see the sunset and Singapore skyline in the night.

Finally, below is a video I have taken from this skybridge towards Singapore CDB and Chinatown.

Singapore CDB from Pinnacle at Duxton

Related articles: Top 5 best rooftop views in Singapore and Marina Bay Sands Skypark - 360 degree view of Singapore