The Horse Lands in the Lion City
The smell hits you before the visuals do. Somewhere between the char of freshly grilled bak kwa and the sharp citrus of mandarin oranges piled in cardboard boxes, you realize Chinatown has already switched gears. It’s maybe two weeks before Chinese New Year proper, but the uncles running the dried meat stalls are already hoarse from shouting prices, and the queue for Lim Chee Guan snakes around the block.
2026 is the Year of the Horse — Fire Horse, specifically, which apparently amps up all the usual Horse energy. Whether or not you put stock in zodiac predictions, Singapore takes it seriously enough to build an 8.8-metre golden horse installation right in the middle of Chinatown. The celebrations stretch from late January through the end of February, with three anchor events spaced across the period: the Chinatown Street Light-Up, River Hongbao, and the Chingay Parade.
Chinatown After Dark
The street light-up runs from January 30 to March 18 along South Bridge Road, Upper Cross Street, New Bridge Road, and Eu Tong Sen Street — nightly from 7pm to midnight, extended to 6am on New Year’s Eve itself. This year’s theme is ‘Galloping into the Prosperous Year’, and beyond the central horse sculpture, there are 60 smaller horse figures and 48 fruit decorations lining the streets.
The Festive Fair runs from January 27 to February 17, which is where Chinatown gets properly chaotic. Stalls selling pineapple tarts, love letters (kueh bangkit), waxed meats, and candy line both sides of the street. It’s crowded to the point where you’re basically shuffling sideways past people. Go on a weekday evening if you can — weekends are genuinely difficult to navigate with a bag in each hand.
One thing worth catching: the Chinese New Year International Lion Dance Competition on February 7-8 at Kreta Ayer People’s Theatre. It starts at 6pm, and the level is surprisingly high — these are competitive troupes, not the ones doing rounds at shopping malls.
The Return of the Fireworks
River Hongbao is the one that’s changed the most this year. It’s moved to Gardens by the Bay (not the floating platform at Marina Bay, which is what older guides still reference), and 2026 marks its 40th anniversary. The big headline: fireworks are back after a six-year hiatus.
The event runs February 15 to 24. Admission is free, no tickets needed. Opening night kicks off at 6:30pm with fireworks at 8pm. On the second night (Feb 16), there’s a midnight countdown display. Feb 17-18 have fireworks at 9pm. After that, it’s the usual mix of lantern installations, carnival rides, stage performances, and food stalls.
Fourteen lantern installations are spread across the gardens, including the God of Fortune and Wishing Heart lanterns. The Horse zodiac features prominently, as you’d expect. Budget two to three hours — the grounds are big and the food street alone can eat up a fair amount of time.
One caveat: the first few nights are packed. Like, elbow-to-elbow packed. If you’re going mainly for photos of the lanterns, the weekday evenings in the second week are noticeably calmer.
Chingay Goes Circular
The Chingay Parade — February 27 and 28, 8pm to 9:30pm, F1 Pit Building — is doing something different this year. Instead of the usual linear parade route, the 2026 edition uses a 360-degree circular stage with a ring-shaped arena. The theme is ‘WISH’, which is vague enough to mean basically anything, but the production values are reliably high. Over 3,000 performers across multicultural dance troupes, float processions, stilt walkers, LED displays, and apparently a multi-tier transformable stage.
Tickets range from $20 to $60. They went on sale in December 2025, and PAssion card members got early-bird discounts (30% off through January 11, 20% after). There’s a bundle deal — four tickets for the price of three in Cat 1 and Cat 2. Kids under 2 sitting on laps get in free.
Honest take: Chingay is impressive as spectacle, but it’s long. Ninety minutes of parade and performance is a lot if you have young kids or if you’re not particularly into large-scale choreographed shows. The seats are bleacher-style and not especially comfortable. That said, it’s genuinely unlike anything else in the region — the scale is absurd.
Getting Fed
Chinese New Year food in Singapore deserves its own section because the variety is staggering. Yu sheng — the prosperity toss salad — is everywhere from high-end restaurants to hawker-style stalls. The ritual involves tossing shredded vegetables and raw fish as high as possible while shouting auspicious phrases. It’s messy, it’s loud, and most of the ingredients end up on the table rather than in the bowl. That’s the point.
Pineapple tarts from Bengawan Solo are the default gift option, though the queues get ridiculous close to New Year’s Day. Bak kwa from Bee Cheng Hiang or Lim Chee Guan is the other staple — lines of 45 minutes to an hour are normal in the week before CNY. If you want steamboat (hotpot) during the reunion dinner period (Feb 16 evening), book well in advance. Most restaurants fill their reunion dinner slots by early January.
For a less hectic food experience, the hawker centres away from Chinatown — Maxwell, Old Airport Road, Tiong Bahru — still have festive specials but without the tourist crush.
The Practical Stuff
Singapore’s MRT handles CNY traffic well. Chinatown station (NE4/DT19) drops you right into the action. For River Hongbao, take the Circle Line or Downtown Line to Bayfront. Chingay at the F1 Pit Building is walkable from Promenade station.
The weather is warm and humid — expect 27-32°C with possible afternoon showers. Dress light, wear comfortable shoes. You’ll be walking a lot.
Accommodation-wise, hotels near Chinatown and Marina Bay fill up fast during the festive period. Not just the obvious chains — even the boutique hotels on Keong Saik Road and Duxton Hill get snapped up. Worth booking early through Agoda or Trip.com if you want walkable distance to the main events.
For activities and experiences, KLOOK and KKday both carry Singapore CNY packages — things like guided Chinatown walks, reunion dinner reservations, and Gardens by the Bay combo tickets. Not all of them are worth the markup, but the guided walks can be genuinely good if you want cultural context beyond what the signage provides.
Beyond the Red and Gold
If you’re in town for the full stretch, there’s plenty to fill the gaps between the big events. Gardens by the Bay is right there if you’re doing River Hongbao anyway — the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome are air-conditioned relief from the humidity. Haw Par Villa, the wonderfully bizarre Chinese mythology theme park on the West side, is free and worth a couple of hours if you want something genuinely unusual.
The Southern Ridges trail connecting Mount Faber to Kent Ridge is one of those things locals recommend that tourists rarely do — it’s a proper nature walk with canopy bridges and city views, and mercifully cool in the mornings.
I left Singapore on the last night of River Hongbao. The MRT was still running but mostly empty — everyone was either at the gardens or already home. My suitcase smelled faintly of bak kwa from a last-minute purchase at the airport, and my phone was full of blurry fireworks photos that all looked the same. Good trip, though.
