The Cider Pit
Home to an expansive range of English ale and cider, this casual bar is run by a British owner passionate about his brew. The music tends to linger a few decades behind the times. There's also a menu of typical pub grub.
64 Best Bars in Singapore
Singapore’s late-night options have expanded in recent years to include more highbrow lounges with million-dollar views, mixologists shaking up the trendiest ingredients, and bars tapping into some of the beers from all over. After work, professionals and expats typically congregate at watering holes on Club Street and pubs in Boat Quay, as well as at some of the cocktail bars that have been popping up around Chinatown and Haji Lane.
Nightclubs featuring electronic dance music have a massive following here, and that's been true since the opening of Zouk, back in 1996. Additional clubs can be found around Clarke Quay and throughout the CBD.
First-time visitors should be prepared for the exorbitantly expensive prices that clubs charge. Beer guzzlers on a budget are best off sipping on a few at the hawker centers, one of the only places to find reasonable rates.
Be aware that although the once-bawdy Bugis Street has been sanitized, a seedy underworld still exists elsewhere in town. Red-light districts, which are mostly found in parts of Geylang, have buildings that really are lit by red lanterns. Soliciting for prostitution is illegal, but the deed itself isn't; it's actually tolerated, monitored, and contained, with most prostitutes registered and subject to regular medical checks. If karaoke is what you seek, keep in mind that it is common for "KTV" lounges to be a cover for prostitution.
CM-PB
Set amid the tropical trees that fill Dempsey Hill, this rustic bungalow bar (the acronym used for its name stands for Contemporary Melting-Pot and Bar) is a great place to spend an evening with good food, great drinks, and plenty of live music. A selection of tapas inspired by the flavors of Asia counterbalances a wide array of beer, ciders, cocktails, and alcohol-free mocktails, and a comprehensive brunch menu is offered until late afternoon on the weekends.
The Drunken Poet
This always-lively Irish pub is well known for its revelry, especially during the sports-games screenings that take place throughout the week. Though it serves good food, the quintessentially Irish drinking atmosphere is the real draw, especially after dark. The kitchen serves filling pub grub until 2 am most nights.
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D’Underground
This bar-club is a popular spot among younger Singaporeans who come to play games and dance until 6 am. The bar has a range of nostalgic table games, including Crocodile Dentist, Penguin Trap, and Pirate Roulette, as well as a large area dedicated to beer pong. The free-flowing alcohol packages make it an affordable place to dance the night away, listening to live bands.
Foc Pim Pam
This open-air watering hole near the top of Orchard Road is popular with locals looking for a gin and tonic or glass of wine before they head home. Although it's open from the late morning, it's generally only busy in the evenings, especially Friday night, when the happy hour runs from 3 pm to 9 pm. There's also a great range of Spanish finger food, from Padrón peppers to cheese platters.
Gibson Bar
This casual cocktail and seafood bar comes from the team behind Jigger & Pony (another renowned Singapore bar), so you already know it's good. Their seasonal cocktail menu does a good job of highlighting southeast Asian ingredients such as passionfruit and pandan. Try the oysters along with their namesake cocktail, the Gibson, which incorporates a homemade Ginjo sake vermouth.
Ginett Singapore
Drinking isn’t a cheap affair in Singapore unless you plan to guzzle beers at a hawker center, and sometimes not even then. That's exactly why Ginett deserves special mention for its extensive wine menu with affordable pours for both glasses and full bottles. There’s also a full (mainly French) food menu—items from the charcoal grill are recommended.
Going Om
Inspired by the Himalayas, Going Om is a bit of a spiritual haven for the hippie community. Live music is often performed in front of the bar by buskers who show up most nights around 9 pm; small tables are set up for people to soak up the easy-going surroundings. You can tuck into standard bar staples like popcorn chicken and Parmesan fries, but even more interesting are the in-house services like card readings, holistic healing, and yoga or meditation classes.
The Good Beer Company
Craft beers and thin-crust pizzas are the main draws for thirsty workers at this bar in China Square. You'll find a large selection of ales, IPAs, and lagers on tap, many brewed in Singapore, plus a well-stocked fridge for perusing. Pizza and pint deals are available on most days, and happy hour runs until 8 pm.
Harry's
Join the post-work throng at this long-standing bar by the water to watch sports and drink ice-cold beer. There's an eclectic menu of Asian and Western favorites served throughout the day, with fish and chips always a popular choice. Expats and business executives make up most of the crowd, which spills out onto the sidewalk on weekends.
Hooha! Café
Music industry insiders, club owners, and musicians congregate at this club in the small but busy Pasir Panjang Village entertainment hub. The Saturday night jamming and sing-along action may go into the early hours upstairs, with people leaving the bar to go directly to Mass in the morning. There's no band, but drum sets and guitars are available upstairs. Downstairs, there's a bar and restaurant, though the drinks are better than the food.
IB HQ | A Cocktail Bar
This small, 30-seat, shophouse is part bar, part research facility. The research is really about husband and wife team Kamil Foltan and Zurina Bryant exploring locally sourced ingredients like betel leaf and lemongrass, and showcasing them in a tightly curated (and revolving) menu of tipples (S$24+ unless otherwise stated). Expect a chill, laid-back vibe and unconventional concoctions like the Pandan Szaerac, in which pandan-infused whisky gives a twist to the beloved bar classic. While waiting, ask them how they use the rotary evaporator and sous vide machine to construct their concoctions.
Ice Cold Beer
Set in a 1910 townhouse noted for its Straits-Chinese architecture, this bustling pub attracts expats and locals alike and serves some 60 beers on tap or in bottles (they're "ice cold" from being in vast ice tanks). At the back of the bar, you can play darts; upstairs, you can play pool and arcade games. If you get peckish, the range of international bar snacks includes hot dogs, chicken wings, and mini-burgers.
KPO
Once the Killiney Post Office, this Orchard Road landmark is now a spacious two-level indoor and outdoor bar with a great ambience in the evening. Balcony tables upstairs offer views of the traffic whizzing by, while inside the mix of raw concrete walls and steel architecture contrasts with the chill tunes that usually play, often mixed by a local DJ. Tuck into solid local dishes like Hokkien mee or nasi lemak with your beer. Happy hour promotions run every day until 8 pm.
Kult Yard
Part beer garden, part taqueria, part art café, this cool hangout is set in a former police barrack in leafy Pearl’s Hill Terrace—a stone’s throw from the bustling streets of Chinatown. The courtyard is a great place to chill with a beer or kultail (Kult Yard cocktail creation) while listening to some live music or checking out the local artwork on display.
Lantern
With a happy hour menu that starts at 11 am, any time is a good time to chill out with a drink on one of the sunbeds or cozy couches at this bar on the rooftop of The Fullerton Bay Hotel. To get seats with the best views, book well ahead.
Lime House East Coast
This Caribbean-inspired bar and bistro aims at bringing the laid-back rhythms and flavors of those far-away islands to Singapore's equally slow-paced Katong district. Rum and lime are the lifeblood of signature drinks such as Lime House Punch (spiked with sorrel, spices, honey, and fresh lime juice) and the tropical and refreshing Morris (with coconut water and cane sugar). A menu of Caribbean staples, from tapas to goat curry and sweet plantain lasagne, can be ordered for dinner or even brunch on weekends.
Long Bar
The home of the Singapore Sling cocktail reopened in 2019 after a major makeover and now sports stylized, earthy decor inspired by the Malayan plantations of the 1920s. But some things haven't changed: you can still knock back the original-recipe Singapore Sling and chuck peanut shells on the floor, technically the only place you're allowed to litter legally in Singapore. As you might expect of a bar inside Singapore's best-known and most historic hotel, it's touristy and pricey.
Molly Malone's Irish Pub & Brasserie
Classic fish-and-chips join the beers, cocktails, and whiskeys at this friendly Irish bar, which was originally built in Ireland before being transported in full to Singapore in 1995. The bar is full of interesting characters and is the closest you'll come to a local joint in the area. There's also live music most nights, TVs screening live sports, and a full menu of pub classics.
Muddy Murphy's
Inside Claymore Connect is this Irish pub famed for its wine-and-cheese promotions; Sunday Roast lunches; live Irish-Celtic bands; and beverage selection that includes whiskeys, draft Kilkenny Ale, and Guinness Stout. The bar was actually built in Dublin in 1996 before being reassembled in Singapore. It's one of the most popular spots on Orchard Road to catch live sports, with huge TVs showing rugby, football, boxing, tennis, and more. It also has live-music performances on weekends and Thursday quiz nights.
No Sleep Club
Since moving to a new home on buzzy Keong Saik Road, this neighborhood bar-cum-restaurant has gone from strength to strength. Drinks are inventive, the atmosphere cool and welcoming, and the food always hits the spot, with the Sunday roast a highlight among locals.
Nutmeg and Clove
This avant-garde cocktail bar, a regular in Asia's 50 Best Bars, delivers a proudly Singaporean-influenced experience. Drawing inspiration from Singapore's progression from colony to independent metropolis, the extensive cocktail menu uses herbs, fruits, spices, and flora in concoctions that reflect Singapore's history in every sip. Accompanying nibbles are as experimental (and delicious).
Olde Cuban
In this plush bar, you can sink into leather sofas with a glass of aged whiskey in one hand and a rare cigar in the other. The Olde Cuban is home to a collection of more than 100 whiskies and over 200 types of cigars, with an old-fashioned aesthetic straight out of a scene from Mad Men.
Olibier Rooftop Bar
Singapore’s love of rooftop bars extends beyond the Central Business District and into Little India with this no-frills, homestyle watering hole decorated with lawn chairs and unvarnished wooden tables. Browse their rotating menu of craft beers from Beijing-style witbiers to classic Belgian pilsners. Keep your stomach lined with local snacks like fishball keropok, and if you’re lucky a tarot card reader might be in residence for the evening.
Potato Head
Hailing from the sandy shores of Bali, this bar with a cult following brings a beach-chic aesthetic to the art deco heritage building it occupies. Although it has an Asian burger restaurant and quirky speakeasy-style bar, head for the rooftop bar—a place of fairy lights, bright murals, lush greenery, lovely night views over the city, and tropical cocktails that will have you believing you're really in Bali.
Rogue Trader
While there's a movie of the same name about the real life of Singapore-based rogue trader Nick Leeson, that's where the similarities end. This British colonial–style cocktail bar is known for its menu of Indian-inspired tipples and its wide selection of whiskies. Expect your taste buds to be challenged—the bartenders are known to experiment with unusual ingredients like goji berries and sumac. And since it's located above Meatsmith Little India, expect the bar food to be a cut above the usual pub grub.
Sago House
This raw, pared-back cocktail bar was built almost entirely with upscaled materials, lending a vibe to the place more akin to a friend's house rather than a smooth-operating business. There’s a weekly rotating menu of exciting cocktails that use local produce, and an accompanying menu of tasty bar bites. Climb three stories and look for the iron hand on the shophouse door.
The Secret Mermaid
This speakeasy-style bar serves exceptional cocktails, developed from both their large collection of boutique spirits from American distilleries, and from their homemade infusions and concoctions. There’s also a short selection of beers and wines, and a snack menu led by the renowned oyster happy hour.
Synthesis
Part restaurant, part speakeasy, and part music club, this classy venue is decked out as a vintage Chinese medicine hall. Neon lights, dark corridors strewn with hanging paper lanterns, and a well-choreographed menu of modern Singaporean food (think char siew but with Iberico pork) make for an exclusive ambience—but entering through the Suntec Mall spoils part of the fun. Happy Hour is from 4 to 6 pm daily. Reservations are recommended, but tables are also available for walk-ins.
Tipsy Penguin Tampines
One in a group of affiliated bars and cafés that cater to young and debonair Singaporeans, Tipsy Penguin is a hotspot in the student-dominated eastern district of Tampines. Good vibes, a better-than-average choice of bar food, and live music make it a brilliant choice for a fun night out. It's popular for its Hyogo Japanese oyster platters, tenderloin steak fries, and Italian pastas. The menu also includes an eclectic choice of international tapas (from wagyu cubes to smoked chicken nachos). Patrons can rent popular board games while trying the literally mind-numbing selection of well-priced wines, beers, and shots.
