I did a hike today to the Bukit Timah Summit from Bukit Timah Railway Station. You can, of course, easily start the hike from the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve Car Park but I chose to start the hike from the Rail Corridor’s Bukit Timah Railway Station at King Albert Park. We will end the hike with a visit to the Hindhede Quarry, located within Hindhede Nature Park too.
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How to get to the Bukit Timah Railway Station
You can take the MRT to the King Albert Park MRT station or you can park your car at the KAP Mall.. this map showed the two ways…
Purple Colour : If you are coming from KAP Mall after parking your car, take a walk out of the mall and turn right (if you are facing the Dunearn Road). You can see the famous Black Bridge (okay.. it is called Bukit Timah Truss Bridge).
Red Colour : If you are coming from the exit of King Albert Park MRT station, then turn left and walk along Dunearn Road. You can see the Black Bridge too…
Either way, after a short walk, you will see the Rail Corridor. So nice nowadays.
Bukit Timah railway station is a former railway station and crossing loop in Bukit Timah, in the westernmost part of the Central Region of Singapore. I was last here when I walked the Rail Corridor years ago. I will be back one day to walk down the Rail Corridor to Tanjong Pagar.
Anyway, our objective today is to get from Bukit Timah Railway Station to Bukit Timah Summit.
Getting to Bukit Timah Summit from Bukit Timah Railway Station
From the Bukit Timah Railway Station, you just need to walk along the Rail Corridor backwards towards the Bukit Timah Truss Bridge to go northwards towards Rifle Range Nature Park.
Or you don’t even need to go to the Bukit Timah Railway Station at all. Just do a turn around towards the Bukit Timah Truss Bridge.
And here’s an even better map…. from NParks (I love NParks).. visit Hiking and nature walks at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and then click on the link to download the map. But I personally prefer this A Guide to Hiking Trails at Bukit Timah.
Crossing The Bukit Timah Truss Bridge
So here we go across Dunearn Road to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve through the Bukit Timah Truss Bridge.
There is a nice information about the Bukit Timah Truss Bridge here too.
Our model (just like in Coney Island hike and or Cycling from Changi Beach to East Coast) was with us today too… so here she is, trying to cross the bridge by balancing on the rail tracks…)
And the beautiful new launch condo of Mayfair Modern is just next to you as you walk along the Bukit Timah Truss Bridge.
Just walking along the Rail Corridor, you will enjoy the peace and quiet of the previous railway tracks (most have been removed)…. No more railway tracks but just a nice walking path
My previous walk along the Rail Corridor, did not have these nice YELLOW BRIGHT markers… which tell you where you are along the Rail Corridor. Helpful !
13.3km to Woodlands but never mind, we are NOT going there today. We are going to Bukit Timah Summit from Bukit Timah Railway Station.
After a while, you can see an entrance to the Rifle Range Nature Park but we are not going to go there yet.
Instead, walk on under the bridge… (The Jalan Anak Bukit Road runs above)….
Going to Bukit Timah Nature Park through Rifle Range Nature Park
And walk on till you see a small side walk which will bring you into Rambai Boardwalk. That’s the purple walking line you can see in the map below.
This is the start of Rambai Boardwalk…..
You will see Rambai Hut, which should be familiar if you have gone to the Rifle Range Nature Park through the Bukit Timah Beauty World MRT station way (as talked about in my Rifle Range Nature Park post).
And our model is still enjoying (so far) her walk into the Rifle Range Nature Park.
Now, dont be so excited that you walk RIGHT INTO RIFLE RANGE NATURE PARK. We are NOT going there. Instead, take a left turn very quickly into the walk into the boardwalk.
That is because we are going to Hindhede Link to go to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve Car Park.
You will now be walking along the Rambai Broadwalk still but keep a look out for the left turn into Hindhede Link.
Which looks like this. It is EASY to miss it ! Look out for the yellow signboard.
And take this path UP to Hindhede Link.
Hindhede Link is pretty rustic and natural…. very nice to walk along this link. Don’t miss it as it is a more fun way to get to Bukit Timah Summit from Bukit Timah Railway Station. Rather than simply going to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve directly through the Rail Corridor.
Our model is starting to tire out 😂……
More rustic way..
And finally at the end of the Hindhede Link is the entrance to Rifle Range Nature Park (Hindhede Entrance)..
From here, you can walk up to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve Car Park (and Visitor Centre) with Le Wood condo on your left.
By the way, the Rail Corridor exit to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is a little further down the road (behind you when you exit from Rifle Range Nature Park (Hindhede Entrance))…
It looks like this…. the little steps on the left side of this photo are the steps that lead to the Rail Corridor (or from the Rail Corridor)…
Surprise : The Bukit Timah Park Connector PCN
What I noticed was that this is also a PCN. A very very short PCN, the Bukit Timah Park Connector. The 1.6km Bukit Timah Park Connector links Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to Bukit Batok Nature Park (which I did walk past quite recently from Ulu Pandan PCN).
And yes there is the famous PCN words on the ground… And my model decide to stand on the PCN words….
The Entrance to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
So here we are… at the entrance to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Where we are going to hike to Bukit Timah Summit from Bukit Timah Railway Station.
And as I said before, there is a car park here which you can just here to hike up Bukit Timah Summit…. (instead of doing what we do, which is to try to hike Bukit Timah Summit from Bukit Timah Railway Station through the Rail Corridor and Hindhede Link in Rifle Range Nature Park).
And there is of course the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve Visitor Centre.
And the famous Bukit Timah Nature Reserve Stone. You will meet its brother at the summit.
Hiking Up Bukit Timah Summit
And here we go up !
We are going up the main road till we see the Kuring Hut. Take a rest at Kuring Hut after that.
Our model is tiring out fast…
As for me, I am using my trusty walking stick which saved my life on the Hong Kong Dragon Back Hike… it is so useful during the UP SLOPE (and later the stairs)…
Anyway, your first stop (at least for me) is the Kuring Hut.
And then onwards to the next upwards climb…
With our model again….
And the trees are very tall during our hike from Bukit Timah Summit from Bukit Timah Railway Station.
And then you will bear with the pain and tired legs till you reach the second hut, Simpang Hut.
And this point, after a rest (again), you can either take the road up to the summit or you can walk the horrible steps up to the summit. Turn Left for the Road to Summit. Go up straight for the steps
Of course, I stupidly choose the steps. No lah.. that’s the fun part..
Go ON ! And finally, you reach the highest point in Singapore, the Bukit Timah Summit.
And of course the Summit Hut to rest.
And the famous Bukit Timah Summit Stone.
And of course, our model MUST TAKE A PHOTO here…
At this point the total distance you have covered from Bukit Timah Summit from Bukit Timah Railway Station is 3.43 km and you will have taken an hour only.
Going down from Bukit Timah Summit through Catchment Path
After a rest, it is time to get back down to the Bukit Timah entrance. To do that, I take the road down (instead of the steps) by turning around the summit.
And you will reach a signboard pointing you to Catchment Path. I decided to take this path.
And from there after a short walk, you will take the turn to Cave Path… the whole walk is not too bad but also a little challenging. At a certain point, you do have many steps to climb up too…
And then to South View Path…
And our model is still walking with us !
When you have completed the walk, you will find yourself back at the visitor centre.
A visit to Hindhede Quarry
Before ending our hike, we decide to take a short detour with a visit to the Hindhede Quarry, located within Hindhede Nature Park. To do that, from the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve Visitor Centre, there is a nice broad walk path to the Hindhede Nature Park.
The path to Lookout Point at Hindhede Quarry
And it is indeed worth a visit… like little Guilin in Singapore…
And thank you to our model today for accompanying us on our hike from Bukit Timah Summit from Bukit Timah Railway Station and to Hindhede Quarry. Here’s a final photo of her at Hindhede Quarry.
Total Distance to Bukit Timah Summit from Bukit Timah Railway Station and to Hindhede Quarry
The whole hike took me about 2 hours at a distance of 5.6km. This includes walking from Rail Corridor Bukit Timah Railway Station to Rifle Range Nature Park’s Hindhede Link and then up to Bukit Timah Summit. Then from Summit down to Catchment Path and Cave Path, and then South View Path. And then finally to Hindhede Quarry and a short walk back to the Visitor Centre.
Very tiring walk despite the short distance of only 5.63 km. That is because of the hike UP and DOWN the Bukit Timah Summit. The elevation change, the steps (that nearly killed me, frankly) and of course our warm weather, all these contributed to the fatigue I felt at the end of the 5.6 km hike. But it was WORTH IT.
And here’s the RUNKEEPER map as usual.
Conclusion
I am glad to have finally hiked up to the summit of Bukit Timah. I am also glad to done it by starting from Rail Corridor, and taking a detour through the rustic and very enjoyable jungle walk through Hindhede Link. I also hiked up the summit but came down through a different route before finally ending at Hindhede Quarry. I would definitely recommend this route rather than just parking at the Nature Reserve Car Park (if this is your first time hiking up the Bukit Timah Hill).
I like it this way ! How about you ? What is your experience with hiking up Bukit Timah Hill ?
