The 35-Minute Island: Singapore’s Southern Islands by Boat

WINTER ISSUE · ASIA · DESTINATIONS

Singapore is a city of islands that mostly lives facing inland. A short boat ride south, it turns out, is the cheapest holiday in Asia, and one of the least understood.

In short: Singapore’s Southern Islands, including St John’s, Lazarus, Kusu and the Sisters’ Islands, sit roughly half an hour by boat from Marina South Pier. A public ferry loops between them on a fixed timetable; private boat charters let visitors reach quieter beaches like Lazarus on their own schedule. For residents and travelers alike, they are the closest thing Singapore has to a weekend away without leaving the country.

What are Singapore’s Southern Islands?

Ask most visitors what Singapore looks like and they will describe a skyline: the towers, the gardens, the hotel with the ship on its roof. Ask what Singapore is, geographically, and fewer people know the answer. It is an archipelago. The Singapore Land Authority describes the Southern Islands as eight main islands off the south coast, from Sentosa to St John’s, Lazarus, Seringat, Kusu and the Sisters’ Islands.

Sentosa is the famous one, and it is reached by road, rail and cable car. The rest are reached only by water. That single fact, that a boat is required, is what keeps them quiet. In a city where almost everything is optimised, the Southern Islands are a small, deliberate inefficiency.

In a city built to remove friction, the boat is the friction worth keeping.

How do you get to Lazarus and St John’s Island?

The public route is simple. A ferry leaves Marina South Pier and loops to St John’s, then Kusu, and back. Lazarus is joined to St John’s by a causeway, so most people walk across. The published round-trip fare has been around S$15 for an adult, according to recent traveler reports; check the operator’s current timetable before you go, because departures are limited and the last boat back is not a suggestion.

The private route is where the experience changes. A chartered boat can drop you on the beach side of Lazarus instead of the jetty, wait while you swim, and leave when you decide, not when the timetable does. For groups of six or more, the difference in cost per person narrows quickly, and the difference in the day does not.

Which island should you choose?

• Lazarus Island for the beach: a long, quiet crescent and the best swimming of the group.
• St John’s Island for history and walking: a former quarantine station, now trails and shaded lawns.
• Kusu Island for culture: a small island with a Taoist temple and a Malay shrine, busiest during its annual pilgrimage season in the ninth lunar month.
• Sisters’ Islands for the sea itself: part of Singapore’s marine park, managed by the National Parks Board, with guided intertidal walks on some dates.

Why do so few residents go?

Here is the contradiction at the centre of the story. Singapore is one of the great maritime cities of the world, a port whose wealth was built on ships, and yet for many of the people who live there the sea is something seen from a window or a rooftop bar. The water is everywhere; access to it feels like it is somewhere else.

Part of the reason is habit. A weekend escape, in Singapore, traditionally means a flight: Bali, Phuket, Langkawi. The Southern Islands are too close to feel like travel. Part of it is information. Ferry times, landing rules and private options are scattered across operators, ticket resellers and word of mouth. Nobody has made the islands easy to decide on.

The case for the short holiday

That is changing, slowly, for the same reason late booking is changing charter everywhere: people want experiences they can decide on this week, not this year. A Saturday morning on Lazarus costs a fraction of a weekend flight, takes no annual leave and leaves no carbon footprint worth mentioning. For a city that works as hard as Singapore, the 35-minute island may be the most rational holiday it has.

When is the best time to go by boat?

Singapore is warm all year, but the sea has seasons. The northeast monsoon, roughly from December to early March, brings more frequent rain and breezier conditions, while the inter-monsoon months tend to have calmer mornings and afternoon thunderstorms. The practical rule is the local one: go early, watch the sky after lunch, and check the forecast from the Meteorological Service Singapore before you book.

The sea was always the address

Singapore tells its own story as a city that turned a harbour into a nation. The Southern Islands are a reminder that the harbour is still there, just past the cranes, waiting to be used for something other than freight. The skyline will always get the photographs. The islands get the people who already have the photographs and want something else.