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Best Places to Visit & Things To Do in North-Eastern Islands, Singapore [Updated-2026]

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November 24, 2025

Best Places to Visit & Things To Do in North-Eastern Islands, Singapore [Updated-2026]

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Introduction: Singapore’s Final Frontier

When you picture Singapore, your mind likely conjures images of a futuristic city-state, a “Garden City” of manicured parks and soaring skyscrapers. But what if you were told that just a short bumboat ride away lies a different Singapore entirely? A Singapore of deserted beaches, forgotten histories, and mangrove-choked coastlines where the only skyline is a jungle canopy and the only traffic is a troop of long-tailed macaques.

This is the world of Singapore’s North-Eastern Islands.

While Pulau Ubin often steals the spotlight, it is merely the gateway to a scattered constellation of over a dozen smaller islands, each with its own unique story and character. This is Singapore’s final frontier—a realm of strict access, pristine ecosystems, and a palpable sense of discovery. This guide is not a typical list of tourist attractions; it is an invitation to explore the map, to understand the lore, and to learn how to witness the last vestiges of a wilder, older Singapore.

Chapter 1: The Gateway – Pulau Ubin’s Untamed Backyard

To understand the North-Eastern Islands, one must first start with their famous neighbour, Pulau Ubin. While Ubin itself is a well-documented adventure, its true magic lies in its role as a viewing platform for the forbidden archipelago.

1. The View from Chek Jawa Wetlands

The eastern tip of Ubin, home to the magnificent Chek Jawa Wetlands, offers the most accessible glimpses of the North-Eastern Islands.

What to Do: Walk the Chek Jawa boardwalks and climb the Jejawi Tower. From this vantage point, you can look out across the Serangoon Harbour and see the silhouettes of islands like Pulau Sekudu (“Frog Island”) and Pulau Pawai.
Descriptive Detail: Standing on the tower, you’re treated to a breathtaking panorama. The vibrant, living tapestry of Chek Jawa’s coastal ecosystem stretches before you, and beyond it, the open sea. The distant islands appear as mysterious, green-clad mounds rising from the water. On a clear day, you can see the rugged shoreline of Pulau Sekudu, a sentinel standing guard between Ubin and the open ocean. The sense of space and wilderness is profound, a stark contrast to the mainland just a few kilometers away.

Chapter 2: The Sentinels of the Sea – Key Islands of the North-East

These islands are largely off-limits to the public, serving vital national functions. Their stories are as important as their landscapes.

1. Pulau Tekong: The Island of Transformation

As Singapore’s largest offshore island, Pulau Tekong is shrouded in a veil of secrecy and significance. It is the primary Basic Military Training (BMT) centre for the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), a place where boys become soldiers.

The Experience from Afar: For the vast majority, a visit is impossible. The “experience” is one of observation and understanding. From the Changi Point Ferry Terminal or certain coastal points in Changi, you can see its densely forested, hilly profile.
Descriptive Detail: Pulau Tekong is a place of legend and lore for Singaporeans. It represents a rite of passage. Seeing its silhouette on the horizon evokes a shared national experience—the grueling training, the camaraderie, the transformation under the hot sun. The island itself is a vital green lung, reportedly home to thriving populations of wildlife, including the critically endangered Sunda Pangolin, which finds refuge away from human development. It is a place of dual identity: a crucible for national service and an accidental nature reserve.

2. Pulau Ubin’s Immediate Neighbours: Pulau Sekudu & Pulau Ketam

These smaller islands sit in the shadow of Ubin, each with its own unique charm and ecology.

Pulau Sekudu (Frog Island): Legend says a frog, an elephant, and a pig challenged each other to swim from Ubin to this island; the frog won, and the island is its petrified form. Scientifically, it’s a small, rocky island with a rich intertidal zone. While landing is generally not permitted, it is a prominent feature from Chek Jawa.
Pulau Ketam (Crab Island): This island is home to a stunning, and now abandoned, kelong (traditional offshore fishing platform). The skeletal structure, slowly being reclaimed by the sea, is one of the most hauntingly beautiful and photogenic sights in Singapore’s waters.
Descriptive Detail: Seeing Pulau Ketam’s kelong from a boat is a poignant experience. The wooden stilts stand like the bones of a great sea creature, a ghostly reminder of a vanishing way of life. The silence is broken only by the waves and the cry of seabirds that now claim it as their perch. It is a powerful symbol of the tension between tradition and progress.

Chapter 3: The Southern Outliers – A Different Vantage Point

The “North-Eastern” grouping can also include islands visible from the eastern coastline, each with a distinct purpose.

1. Pulau Sajahat & Pulau Sajahat Kecil: The Diver’s Sanctuary

Located south of Tekong, these two small islands are part of a designated live-firing area. Their primary allure is for the scuba diving community.

What to Do: Licensed dive operators can run trips to the waters around these islands. The reefs here are among the healthiest in Singapore, benefiting from the restricted access that has limited human impact.
Descriptive Detail: Diving here is like exploring a secret garden. The visibility is often better than other parts of Singapore, revealing a surprising diversity of marine life: colourful nudibranchs, schools of batfish, and hard corals fighting their own quiet battle for survival. The knowledge that you’re diving in a restricted zone adds a thrilling edge to the serene, underwater world.

2. The Sisters’ Islands: A Marine Park Gateway

While technically south of the main north-eastern cluster, The Sisters’ Islands are a crucial part of the region’s marine narrative and serve as a model for what conservation can achieve.

What to Do: The islands are the centerpiece of the Sisters’ Islands Marine Park. Public ferries run to Big Sister’s Island on weekends, where you can enjoy its lagoons and beaches. The Marine Park Public Gallery on St. John’s Island provides educational context.
Descriptive Detail: A trip to The Sisters’ Islands offers a vision of the future. It’s a managed, protected space where marine life is actively conserved. The clear, calm waters of the lagoon are a safe haven for beginners to snorkel and encounter corals and fish. It stands in hopeful contrast to the abandoned kelongs and restricted zones, showing a path forward for Singapore’s marine environment.

Chapter 4: The Living System – Ecology and Importance

The true “thing to do” regarding the North-Eastern Islands is to understand their critical ecological and strategic roles.

A Vital Marine Highway: The waters around these islands, particularly the Johor Strait and Serangoon Harbour, are crucial shipping lanes.
A Biodiversity Hotspot: The restricted access has created de facto sanctuaries. The mangroves, seagrass meadows, and coral reefs support creatures like sea horses, otters, and dolphins.
Coastal Defense & National Service: The islands form a strategic buffer for the mainland and are integral to the nation’s defense training.

How to “Experience” the North-Eastern Islands

Since you can’t simply visit most of them, here’s your action plan:

The Ubin Vista: Make a trip to Pulau Ubin. Cycle to Chek Jawa and use the Jejawi Tower as your observation deck. This is the single best way to see the islands in their natural context.
The Changi Perspective: Walk the Changi Point Coastal Walk. From here, you get a clear, dramatic view of Pulau Tekong and can watch the SAF boats ferrying recruits.
Take a Kayaking Tour: Licensed operators run kayaking tours from Ubin that skirt the coastlines of some of the smaller, accessible islands, offering a water-level perspective of their rugged shores and mangroves.
Go Diving: Book a dive trip with a reputable company that has permits to explore the reefs around islands like Pulau Sajahat.
Visit the Sisters’ Islands Marine Park: This is your chance to actually set foot on a protected offshore island and see Singapore’s marine conservation efforts firsthand.

Crucial Note: Respect all restricted zone notices. Trespassing into live-firing areas or onto Pulau Tekong is extremely dangerous and illegal.

Conclusion: The Islands of the Imagination

The North-Eastern Islands of Singapore are, for most, islands of the imagination. They are places we see from a distance, whose stories we piece together from maps, legends, and fleeting glimpses. Yet, this is what makes them so compelling.

They represent a Singapore that is not entirely tamed, not fully mapped for public consumption. They hold the nation’s secrets, its raw natural beauty, and its unwavering commitment to security. To seek them out, to learn their names and their purposes, is to engage in a deeper, more thoughtful form of exploration.

So, take the bumboat to Ubin. Climb the tower at Chek Jawa. Look out at the green dots on the horizon and know that you are looking at the other Singapore—a Singapore of wildness, memory, and quiet, steadfast purpose. In a city that often feels fully known, these islands are a beautiful, necessary mystery.

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Best Places to Visit & Things To Do in North-Eastern Islands, Singapore [Updated-2026]

Introduction: Singapore’s Final Frontier

Chapter 1: The Gateway – Pulau Ubin’s Untamed Backyard

1. The View from Chek Jawa Wetlands

Chapter 2: The Sentinels of the Sea – Key Islands of the North-East

1. Pulau Tekong: The Island of Transformation

2. Pulau Ubin’s Immediate Neighbours: Pulau Sekudu & Pulau Ketam

Chapter 3: The Southern Outliers – A Different Vantage Point

1. Pulau Sajahat & Pulau Sajahat Kecil: The Diver’s Sanctuary

2. The Sisters’ Islands: A Marine Park Gateway

Chapter 4: The Living System – Ecology and Importance

How to “Experience” the North-Eastern Islands

Conclusion: The Islands of the Imagination

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