We went to Pulau Ubin over the weekend. Pulau Ubin is a small island off the northeast coast of Singapore. It’s accessible via a 10-minute bumboat ride from Changi Point Ferry Terminal.

What I love about Pulau Ubin:

• It’s a great place to bike on trails.
• It has a countryside appeal that’s opposite of urbanised Singapore.
• There are camp sites for people looking for some adventure.
• There are rocky beaches to quarries to explore. There’s also hiking on hills.
• It makes for a perfect day trip on a weekend.

I share more in this week’s uncut video.

Have you been to Pulau Ubin? Tell me about your adventures on the island.

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We met up with our friends S and E at the hawker center in Changi Village. The place was packed with cyclists. It had a happy and energetic vibe. I ordered butter toast with kopi C — tbh, it can’t get better than that on a humid morning.

Afterwards we walked over to Changi Point Ferry Terminal to meet up with our other friends. We went straight down to queue for the boats. There was a long queue already as many people wanted to take advantage of the long weekend.

The bumboat cost is S$4.00 per head, one-way. Cash only.

It was a perfect sunny morning and the ride to Pulau Ubin was smooth. When we arrived, we headed straight to the bike rental shops. Mountain bikes were going at S$15 for the older ones, $25-30 for the newer ones. We went for the old ones. Make sure to try them out near the rental shop before you take them.

If you’re asking why we didn’t bring our foldable bikes, I thought it’d be better to rent for a few dollars than to spend on repairing our bikes which aren’t quite built for rough trails. I also didn’t want to go through the hassle of cleaning my foldies… as they’re expected to get dirt and gravel on them from Pulau Ubin.

Soon after we followed our friends’ itinerary and rode westward from the main village area. The route had numerous cyclists, fisherfolk, and people who opted to go trekking. Unlike our first visit in 2020, we were now allowed to keep our masks off during the entire time while outdoors.

We reached the quarry at the furthest end on the west… where we also wanted to take a trail up a hillside but had to turn around since the ground was muddy. We reckoned it wouldn’t be worth it and instead headed back towards Puaka Hill to enjoy the signature overview shot of Ubin Quarry.

By this time the sun was high above and we were hungry. We made our way to the main village and got a table at a seafood restaurant. There’s only a handful of eateries to choose from which adds to the appeal of the place. We ordered sweet and sour pork, sambal kang kong, cereal prawns, and fried rice.

It felt like we were there for two hours since the food took forever to serve (given the place was packed with customers and it appeared they only had two cooks in the kitchen?). I was enjoying this “holiday” feeling so it didn’t bother me much to wait.

After eating we got back on our bikes and rode towards the east side of the island. We didn’t get to see this side in our visit in 2020. I quite enjoyed this route more because of the many trees. The route is more within the island than the eastern side, which is slightly more coastal. Also, I wouldn’t like to be here after dark omg.

When we got to Chek Jawa Wetlands, you could already hear a thunderstorm coming. I was worried but thought there were shelters at different parts of the route in case of a lightning storm. We walked towards the wetlands area and noticed many monkeys and wild boars.

It started to drizzle so we headed back to the main village afterwards. I’ll say that the right side (eastern side) is my favourite. We unfortunately didn’t have enough time to do actual trails. I think I’ll visit the island again soon to do some type of trail.

Overall it was a great day trip, save for the thunderstorm that arrived right as we got on a boat back to Changi Village. Overall on my Strava, we covered just above 12km on roads. I’d like to double that next time!