Marang Trail is the start of the Southern Ridges walk (or the end if you so wish). The Marang Trail starts at the Harbour Front area and is a 9-kilometre chain of green, open spaces spanning the hills of Mount Faber Park, Telok Blangah Hill Park and Kent Ridge Park and the unique thing about this trail is that you are mostly connected by nature pathways and bridges (that crosses roads or hang above the forests).
For this article, I am walking from the start of the Marang Trail to HortPark in Alexandra. That’s about 4km walk that takes roughly an hour or so.
Map of South Ridges Hike
You can see the trail from this map. You can see the blue arrow where the Marang Trail is.
How to get to Marang Trail
Indeed, it is a short walk from Harbour Front MRT station to the Marang Trail.
If you are driving, there is the Marang Road Car Park which is a large open air car park. You can find plenty of parking spaces 🙂
Once you are parked, look for the “motorcycle parking area” (slightly caged up).
Cut across the parking area by “going into the cage and getting out of the cage” and you will see the start of the trail !
The start of the trail is clearly stated
And of course, my favourite park map 🙂
Up Up and Away
It is quite a way UP the staircase if you are fit. If you are fat like me, then it is a struggle. But take your time. Enjoy the view as you ascend up the stair to Mount Faber.
This looks daunting !
This greets you at the top !
If you want to reach this area to start a walk and avoid the Marang Trail staircase, I saw that there is a CARPARK B at the vicinity.
A map tells you what a good job you have done.
The walk from Mount Faber to Henderson Wave
Your next step is to choose 1 of two possible walks from Mount Faber to Henderson Wave. This walk is called the Faber Walk.
I choose to walk the slightly longer route but they are roughly the same. Nothing special about this walk 🙂
The view at some points are not bad.
Just enjoy your walk.
Henderson Wave
Soon you will reach Henderson Wave. A nice place right above the roads 🙂
A board here shows your upcoming attractions
Covid prevents you from sitting and enjoying the views.
The views here are quite special.
Or Scary..
Telok Blangah Hill Park
You will then reach the Telok Blangah Hill park next.
At this location, there are TWO car parks (Car Park 1 and Car Park 2).
There is also this interesting Forest of Giants.
I mean if you have walked in the Muir Woods in California like I did, this is nothing. But still this is pretty refreshing to find such tall trees in Singapore.
Walking down, you will pass by Alkaff Mansion
And you will then soon see this.
You can decide if you want to go up the red stairs but it leads to Hill Top Walk.
It is pretty nice. Do it if you have not done so. At the top, you can still easily carry on the walk as there is a “exit” back to the walk.
Telok Blangah Hill Top Walk
Some photos here
Forest Walk
From the Telok Blangah Hill Park, your next stop will be the Forest Walk.
If you wish to begin your Southern Ridges Walk at Forest Walk, you can park at Carpark 3 on Telok Blangah Hill Park. But it is a super small car park 🙂
The Forest Walk is a Elevated Metal Bridge which offers you the experience of walking through the secondary forest of Telok Blangah Hill at eye-level with the forest canopy.
It can be a little slippery in wet weather so be careful. The views are nice.
Take a slow walk and enjoy the tranquility of the forest
As you come to the end of the Forest Walk, you will reach the Alexandra Arch, which is a white bridge over the Alexandra Road, which can lead you to the HortPark.
Alexandra Arch
From here you can see the HortPark
HortPark and Canopy Garden Dining
HortPark is so under-rated but it is a great place to learn more about the flora of Singapore. You can see how big the park is.
By this time, you will have walked 4km.
At this point, we will stop here. But on another day, we will carry on from HortPark to Kent Ridge park through the Canopy Walk !
Oh yes, if you are here and not ate, I recommend the Canopy Garden Dining at the HortPark. The breakfast is great here. The Egg Benedict is nice and so is the English Breakfast set. My favourite is the Scrambled Egg Toast !
With a nice cup of coffee !!
When you are done with a nice breakfast and a nice walk in the HortPark itself, you can take a grab back to your car at Marang Road Car Park.
Or if you prefer, you can take a MRT from Labrador Park Mrt to Harbourfront MRT and have a nice local breakfast at Seah Im Hawker Centre.
A few years later, I continued this route by going from Hortpark to Kent Ridge Park and then to Kent Ridge MRT. This kinda of finish up the whole Southern Ridge for now ! 🙂
Other Places to Hike
If you like those hikes with more forest than urban walks, I can recommend the Lower Peirce Reservoir Park and Lower Peirce Trail
