Get ready for a Singapore Cable Car ride!

This particular cable car has always struck me as a rather delightful oddity. After all, this is an island where the term “mountain” is used loosely and generously to describe only one place — Mount Faber — and where every other high piece of terrain is accurately called a bukit (Malay for “hill”).

So Singapore does not really need a cable car. But in the 1970s, the government dreamed up a gondola project as a tourist attraction. And since the Singapore government is good at getting what it wants, the cable car took shape

Singapore Cable Car History & Fun Facts

• The Singapore Cable Car runs from 300 feet above sea level at one end to 154 feet above sea level at the other.
• According to Wikipedia, this was “the second aerial ropeway system in the world to span a harbour.” Barcelona took first place, though I guess Singapore can claim to have the first one in Asia.
• You’ll be riding a “monocable detachable-grip gondola lift system” that spans 5,360 feet from the top to the bottom of the Mount Faber Line.
• There are three stations and sixty-seven cabins; each cabin can hold up to eight people.

We hopped on at the highest point, Mount Faber Peak, from which you can see a vast swath of Singapore:

Mount Faber Peek-a-Loo Views

But the highlight at the top has to be the “Peek-a-loo,” the washroom with the best view in all of Singapore.

Riding the Cable Car from Mount Faber

To get to the cable car itself, you have to go up to the second floor, through the gift shop, and then around to the ticketing booth. From here, you stand in a line; the wait time varies hugely depending on when you choose to visit, but they move things along pretty briskly. Your ultimate goal is one of these little cabins:

The gondola cars don’t always look like this, but for its 50th anniversary, the cable car sported a Pokemon theme. So each one was decorated on the outside with PokeBalls and on the inside with different Pokemon characters.

You get a great view to the west as soon as you leave Mount Faber station:

It’s all trees below as you descend slowly over the southern slopes of Mount Faber Park, and then civilization begins to approach in the form of the rather unappealing 1970 tower that houses HarbourFront cable car station (though we were so excited about our free Pokemon visors that we didn’t pay much attention to the buildings).

HarbourFront Station

If you choose to get off at the HarbourFront Station — as we did on our second go-round — you have easy access to the HarbourFront MRT Station, VivoCity mall, and the excellent Seah Im Food Centre. Try the amazing black carrot cake at Fried Kueh Teaw Mee!

If you continue down along the gondola ride, you’ll soon have views straight out over Keppel Harbour.

Not long after this point, you’ll swing up to one of the support towers …

… and you’ll have your first spectacular views down over the resort island of Sentosa. You’ll see the resorts, residences, and greenery that line Sentosa’s coast along Keppel Channel …

… and then the water slides, swimming pools, and other entertainments that really make Sentosa fun will come into view.

Sentosa Options

Once you get down to Sentosa station, you can either hop off or keep going back around. We opted for the latter — but had we continued, we could have taken a five-minute walk over to the Sentosa line, where a much smaller gondola situation exists to take passengers to both Siloso Point and to the largest Merlion in Singapore.

The return trip offers views all the way down along the eastern side of Sentosa; you can take in the hotels, Universal Studios, and the golf course far beyond.

We kept on going all the way back to the top:

I must say that we really, really enjoyed the ride!

In fact, we would happily have gone around twice, but we were defeated by the heat. Each gondola car has glass all around, so the sun pours in, and only two small windows on one side of the car actually open. Since there’s no AC, this means that the cabins are hot hot hot. So we took a trip and a quarter and then got off for fear of melting.

Tips for Your Singapore Cable Car Ride

• Price: It’s expensive! You can find current ride pricing here (side note: if you get an annual pass and actually use it, it’s a bargain). We thought the fun was worth the hefty price tag, but I’m not sure everyone would agree.
• Tickets: You can buy tickets online or in person. There are various ticket options (combos/unlimited rides/two different lines, so purchase carefully)
• Bring water. As noted, it’s hot.
• On-and-off option: If you want to get off at a stop to look around, you’ll need to move to the end of the queue again to get back on.
• MRT access: The most sensible place to start if you’re taking public transportation is HarbourFront.
• Best time to ride: We didn’t try it, but this would be a great ride at sunset. Some people also like to take it at night, when it’s cooler and you can see the lights of the city spread out before you.

If you’re heading to Sentosa, don’t miss my Singapore Oceanarium review.