The plan: Continue my adventure of visiting every MRT (subway) stop in Singapore, watching the island change one stop at a time. This trip covers nineteen stops on the Downtown Line, starting in the historic city center and moving gradually northeast to the middle of the island. Join me in riding the Singapore MRT Downtown Line from Chinatown to Bukit Panjang.

If you’d like to explore the entire line, don’t miss my journey riding the Downtown Line from Expo to Fort Canning. Looking for more rail adventures? For an overview of every MRT and LRT line, plus suggestions for where to start, visit Singapore by MRT and LRT.

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Chinatown

Chinatown was once the heart of the Chinese immigrant community in Singapore, and it is now the largest historic district in Singapore. Each January, it also transforms into the heart of the island’s Chinese New Year celebrations.

Chinatown has plenty of Taoist and Buddhist temples, of course, including the enormous Buddha Tooth Relic Temple …

… but because it once attracted immigrants of all kinds, it is also home to both mosques and southern Hindu temples:

Chinatown attracts a lot of tourists, so this is a good place to find souvenirs galore:

There are also two amazing hawker centers in Chinatown: Maxwell Food Centre and Chinatown Complex Food Centre, each of which boasts a Michelin-star-earning chicken rice stall. Chinatown is also the best place on the island to taste and buy tea.

Telok Ayer

Just over a small hill from Chinatown, Telok Ayer also has streets lined with historic shophouses …

… and old temples:

The building above, Thian Hock Keng, is the oldest Hokkien temple in Singapore. Before Singapore engaged in major land reclamation efforts, Telok Ayer was all coastal, and this temple was dedicated to the worship of Mazu, a Chinese sea goddess. Just one block down sits Masjid Al-Abrar, one of the oldest mosques in the country:

Beyond its historic buildings, Telok Ayer is known for its hip cafes and restaurants — and because it sits right at the edge of the CBD (Central Business District), they’re always crowded during the work week.

Downtown

At this stop, you move from the historic city center to a world of glass and steel …

… with only the occasional bit of greenery:

The single interruption in the skyline is Lau Pa Sat, a historic building that once housed Singapore’s fish market:

Now a well-known hawker center, La Pau Sat was first constructed in 1824. Rebuilt in 1894 with lots of cast iron, this open-air octagonal food court is one of the oldest Victorian buildings in Southeast Asia.

Bayfront

To get to Bayfront, the MRT travels a short distance around Marina Bay and brings you up to the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, the Marina Bay Sands Convention Center, and the iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel …

… home to a famous infinity pool, which sits out on top of one of the largest cantilevered platforms in the world (we visited in 2017):

From Bayfront, you can also walk through a long tunnel to Gardens by the Bay …

… or stroll along the water past floating stores and the brilliant white ArtScience Museum:

Bayfront is a stop for tourists and locals alike, all out for shopping and entertainment.

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Promenade

On one side, Promenade offers access to shopping centers and skyscrapers. On the other, the station exit leads out to the Singapore Flyer …

… and also to a terrific view of Marina Bay:

Bugis

Bugis seems to be synonymous with shopping; the station sits right beneath one shopping mall, Bugis Junction, and is within easy walking distance of two more. There are a few original shophouses just outside of the station …

… but there are even more fake shophouses within the mall itself:

Bugis is also the closest stop to the National Library flagship building and the trendy Kampong Glam neighborhood, so there’s a lot going on here. The MRT station itself is a crowded and sprawling interchange where the Downtown Line meets the East West Line (the Green Line).

Rochor

Rochor sits at the edge of Little India, where you’ll find rows and rows of shophouses festooned with advertisements of all kinds.

Rochor is also just a few blocks away from Sim Lim Square (famous for selling electronics galore) and the iconic Sim Lim Tower:

Rochor had the first interesting MRT art I’d seen in a while: Tracing Memories, by a group of students from the nearby LASALLE College of the Arts:

This column features items found at the nearby Sungei Road Thieves Market, an old but waning institution in Singapore.

Little India

Little India is one of the most vibrant places in Singapore — it has murals and colorful buildings …

… massive temple towers …

… and shops selling all sorts of wares: saris and spices, fruits and vegetables, gold jewelry and garlands …

… and pictures of the gods:

To see more of Little India, don’t miss my posts on the murals of Little India and the Walk of Faiths heritage trail developed by the National Heritage Board.

The Little India MRT station is another enormous interchange; here, the Downtown Line meets the North East Line. The station art reflects the neighborhood’s heritage: Memoirs of the Past, by S. Chandrasekaran, draws its inspiration from Indian folk art.

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Newton

At Newton, you leave Singapore’s lively downtown area and enter the world of condos. The main point of interest here is the Newton Food Centre, opened in 1971 as Singapore’s first hawker center. It’s hugely popular with tourists, especially at night — so there’s not much open at mid-morning:

I liked this tree shrine just outside of the hawker stalls …

… and I’ve always been a fan of the Newton MRT station art:

Titled Newton, MessyMsxi’s ensemble of pieces fancifully envision what Singapore might look like in the year 2200:

Stevens

Now we head north, and the MRT is starting its run along Bukit Timah, the longest road in Singapore. This section of Bukit Timah is crowded with three things: condos, landed houses, and schools. So it may not appear all that exciting to the average traveler. But I’ve learned that you can find brief adventures even in the boring-looking spots, so I wandered through tiny Malcolm Park …

… past the CPIB Corruption Reporting and Heritage Centre and the Tanglin Community Club …

… and up to Malcolm Road, where you can see colonial black and white houses from the 1920s:

These old bungalows are now fantastically expensive — but wow, can they be beautiful inside.

Botanic Gardens

Founded in 1869, the fabulous Singapore Botanic Gardens have been named a UNESCO World Heritage site — and this MRT stop comes out right at the Gardens’ northeastern corner (the Botanic Gardens are one of the many Singapore parks accessible by MRT).

From the station’s entrance, you can walk past plants that are fragrant and fruiting, variegated …

… and in all colors of the rainbow.

If you’re willing to walk about 15 minutes, you can make your way to the spectacular National Orchid Garden.

It’s no surprise that the Botanic Gardens are a popular spot for wedding photos:

Aside from the Botanic Gardens themselves, this stop is right next to the chic and tiny Cluny Court mall and the much less chic Serene Centre.

In the station, don’t miss the botanical art that runs along the walls …

… and straight up the stairs.

Tan Kah Kee

There are pretty much two things to see at this stop: Hwa Chong Institution, one of the most competitive secondary schools in Singapore …

… and lots of landed houses:

That’s about it, though you can find beauty in the flowers along the station wall …

… the flowers along the Bukit Timah Road overpass (which look down on a giant drainage canal) …

… and the art in the Tan Kah Kee station:

Called Gratitude, this piece is made up of a river of text written by students from Hwa Chong.

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Sixth Avenue

Sixth Avenue is full of surprises, starting with the station art (unlabelled and untitled), and moving to what you find above ground. The surrounding area first appears to be just an endless sea of condos and landed houses …

… but a bit of wandering leads to several blocks of restaurants, eating houses, a small hawker stall (with Bismillah Biryani, some of the best on the island)…

… and shops selling items like wine and houseplants:

They even have a few great murals:

I had far more fun at this stop than I would have expected; given that it’s set in amidst a stretch of very wealthy Upper Bukit Timah homes, Sixth Avenue felt surprisingly down to earth.

King Albert Park

King Albert Park won my “Most Boring Stop of the Trip” award, hands down. It’s all condos and private residences and not much else.

That said, I loved the art in the windows of the overpass above Bukit Timah Road …

… and the station art, The Natural History of Singapore’s Mythical Botanic Creatures by Artists Caravan, is whimsical and fun:

As a side note: for reasons entirely unknown to me, King Albert Park is named for King Albert I of Belgium.

Beauty World

At Beauty World — named after a former amusement park and entertainment center — the wealthy homes of Upper Bukit Timah give way to the ubiquitous government housing structures known as HDBs:

Once a major gambling center, Beauty World is now home to several old malls, a huge array of restaurants, and the yummy Bukit Timah Food Centre:

Beauty World is a hugely active area where you can find everything from paint shops and massage parlors to Korean grocery stores and Chinese temples.

I am a huge fan of the station art at Beauty World MRT, which takes on a 3-D appearance when seen at certain angles:

Called Asemic Lines, this work by Boedi Widjaja takes forms from multiple languages (Chinese, Jawi, Tamil, and Latin) and layers them on top of each other. I like that it invites the viewer to “‘hover’ between reading and looking.”

Hume

The February 2025 addition of the Hume station must have been a welcome addition for the residents of nearby condos such as Hume Park and Symphony Heights.

For most other visitors, however, Hume Station offers little in the way of attractions. The Bukit Timah Rail Corridor sits tantalizingly close, just behind a grassy area and a dense block of rainforest across the street, but there’s no access from the station area.

If you’re willing to risk getting muddy, you can access the rail trail via several short, narrow, definitely-not-government-sanctioned paths just to the north of the opp Hume Stn Exit 1 bus stop on the right. I would not attempt these paths right after it’s rained, but they are your best shortcut options if you want to access the rail trail from Hume (note that there are easier, more obvious entrances at both King Albert Park and Hillview stations).

Do check out the station’s facade, made of yellow granite slabs meant to recall nearby quarries from days gone by. Inside, each color symbolizes something in the area: yellow for the quarries, green for the Rail Corridor, and white for the Ford Factory where the British surrendered to the Japanese during World War II.

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Hillview

On one side of Bukit Timah Road, you’ll see nothing but condos, condos, and more condos (with Bukit Timah — the tallest hill in Singapore — in the background).

You can also access the rail corridor from Hillview Station exit B.

If you’re here and hungry, don’t miss the delicious iO Italian Osteria at the HillV2 shopping center.

On the other side of the Hillview MRT station, outside exit A, you can hike through Bukit Timah Nature Reserve — another great Singapore park accessible by MRT — and find monkeys!

You can also go to Rail Mall (one of the few strip malls in Singapore), have a delicious snack at Springleaf Prata, and imagine what life would have been like when this was an old railway station (here, as envisioned in a mural by Yip Yew Chong):

Cashew

At first glance, there’s not much of anything at Cashew — this station serves condos on one side of the road and the vast, low-lying Ministry of Defense headquarters on the other:

But walk just a little ways, and you’ll find this beautiful rain tree (designated a national Heritage Tree) …

… and just beyond, you can have fun at Hazel Park Open Space:

But my favorite find near the Cashew stop was the Ga-Hock Eating House, an unassuming old-school coffee shop and seafood restaurant wedged between a busy road and a drainage canal.

I didn’t expect to find so many tables back there — and I certainly didn’t expect to find row upon row of birds tucked between a tin roof and a storage unit!

Bukit Panjang

The northern terminus of the Downtown Line, Bukit Panjang is a massive residential town crammed with HDBs, which stretch out as far as the eye can see.

The MRT station itself doesn’t have much to offer aside from a connection to the LRT (light rail) and access to the somewhat drab Hillion Mall. I wanted to feel excited about Bukit Panjang, but it just didn’t happen. My favorite part of this stop was the station art, Punctum of the Long Hills by John Clang — which, again, focuses on HDBs: