Pinnacle at Duxton

Ever since I moved to Singapore, I have heard from various sources that the roof top garden at the Pinnacle is accessible to the public for a $ 5 fee. So when a friend was visiting and we found ourselves strolling around Tanjong Pagar we decided to venture into The Pinnacle and explore. The whole process of gaining access to the roof top garden was hilarious so I have to document it here. We first took one of the elevators and got to the top (50^th floor), when we were at one of the gates (it’s one of those rotating gates), we saw there is sensor mounted on the wall right next to the gate for you to beep your EZ link card. I thought I was well prepared as I brought an extra card for my friend, but damn it didnt work. (I thought that’s all you need as I read some reviews from other visitors). There were a group of school boys behind us and they also tried to do the same but to no avail. But I refused to give up so I waved to a couple strolling inside the roof garden and asked them how they got in. They told us to go to the ground level of Block G where you can pay $ 5 to get access from a machine (I guess you can’t just go with an EZ link card, you need to process your card with the $ 5 entry fee). I will skip the part where we walked all around The Pinnacle and wasted 20 mins looking for the machine. Finally we found it, it’s on the ground level facing Cantonment Road. The signage was not very good so it is only after asking multiple residents that I managed to find the machine. As we walked up to the machine, we saw an «out-​of-​order» sign and I was about to break down. But then right next to the machine there is a small kiosk (but interestingly the window of the kiosk where you would usually buy tickets from was sealed). But seek and you shall find, so I knocked loudly on the door to the kiosk and just as I was about to push open the door and enter the room the window opened and a man demanded $ 5 from each of us. He then told us to go to one of the entrance to the roof garden on the top floor by taking any of the elevators and he would open the door for us because he will be monitoring us through the cctv. He also handed me a piece of paper with his number on it and told us to call him when we are done so he could open the gate for us. Ok, a bit creepy big-​brother style and a bit low tech given the whole EZ link card option but if it works who cares. I also don’t understand if you are a tourist how do you call him as you might not have a phone with you? Hopefully they have fixed this by now and the card is working but that was definitely a bit of an adventure for us.
The view was stunning, you can see sentosa and the pier in Tanjong Pagar and you can walk all around to the other side and enjoy the view. The place was literally empty, there were 5 of us there so you can pick your own corner to enjoy the view or run around and take and re-​take a lot of those jumping photos (that’s what this other group were doing the whole time). Note that you can’t eat and drink there so no picnic. In fact there was a notice with a list of prohibited actions (I remember one being the hanging of laundry). Oh well, it’s Singapore so take it or leave it. Actually The Pinnacle has become quite the icon of Singapore as it was featured in various travel magazines in HK so next you have guests in town, consider taking them here instead of the usual MBS or Gardens by the Bay. This is a better deal than paying $ 40 to go up to Ku De Ta, well you can’t drink here. It is also a chance to showcase Singapore’s superb public housing policy to visitors.

It is confusing to figure out where to pay the entrance fee!
There are I think 5 buildings! It turns out it’s block 1G, so go to the first floor there. You must have an EZ link card to pay the $ 5 at the kiosk. there is no customer service person to help so be aware in advance. there is also a 200 person limit per day so if 200 people have already visited that day, don’t bother going! This also means there aren’t too many people there at the same time so it will never get crowded.
There are two sky park/​bridges. one on the 26^th floor has a running track.
I don’t think you can go to both with the $ 5, so just choose one. Obviously the 50^th floor has better views. I think the Singapore Flyer has much better views, but that costs $ 33!
It can also be breezy so hang onto your hats!

The tallest public housing in Singapore with 50 floors of apartments. The best part is on the 50^th floor, there is a sky garden that is accessible to the residents, as well as members of the public, for $ 5 per entry. Make sure you bring along your ez-​link or any other CEPAS compatible cards as that is the only way in! It’s definitely cheaper than going to the marina bay sands roof for a very similar view. You can see all around the island and not just the Bay.
Apart from the view from the top, just sitting on the «environment deck» on the 3^rd floor where the garden and playgrounds are, the light breeze on the face can be such a relaxing environment. The carpark is on the ground floor and there’s even a community centre in the middle of the compound — the Tanjong Pagar community club. The parking can be very limited and is almost always full on weekends but it’s walkable from Tanjong Pagar MRT station. The estate even has its own food court just behind the Tanjong Pagar shopping centre and has childcare centres, etc on level 3. If only all public housing in Singapore are as nice and doesn’t cost as much.