Singapore Pulau Ubin: Private Bike Tour with Ferry Skip & Guide

4.97

(150 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I didn’t expect to smell the sea before I even saw it. We’d just hopped off the little ferry (no queue, which felt like cheating in Singapore) and suddenly everything was green — not city park green, but wild, tangled Pulau Ubin green. Our guide, Li, grinned at our wide eyes and handed out bikes that looked tougher than me. “Ready for kampong style?” he asked. I wasn’t sure what that meant until we started pedaling past wooden houses on stilts and roosters strutting around like they owned the road.

The ride itself was bumpy in places — I nearly lost my hat to a low branch — but Li kept us laughing with stories about the island’s old granite quarries and how his uncle used to fish here before there were smartphones. At one point we stopped by a fruit farm and someone (not naming names) tried to pick a guava before realizing it was still rock hard. The air smelled like wet earth after rain, even though the sun was already burning through the clouds. I think that’s what surprised me most: how quiet it was except for birds calling and our tires crunching gravel.

Chek Jawa Wetlands felt almost otherworldly. Mudskippers darted across the sand while fiddler crabs waved their claws at us — Li said it’s their way of showing off but who knows. He pointed out mangroves twisting into each other, explaining why they matter more than most people realize. Honestly, I tuned out for a second because there was this odd salty-sweet smell from somewhere in the mudflats that made me hungry (coconut break came right after). Sitting there sipping fresh coconut water with sweat drying on my arms, I caught myself thinking: this is still Singapore? It didn’t feel possible.