Things to do in Singkawang
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Singkawang
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Imlek to Cap Go Meh window, dates move by lunar calendar; the city fills and prices spike around the festival.
Wettest months, roughly 320 to 390 mm of rain, with flooded streets and grey beach days at the peak.
Driest window by local standards, the best odds for beaches, sunrises, and quiet temple mornings.
Haze season from forest and land fires; smoke closed Singkawang Airport for days in August to September 2026.
What's on
- Imlek (Chinese New Year) 6 February 2027; the date moves each year
The start of the fifteen day new year season in Indonesia's most Chinese city, building to Cap Go Meh.
- Cap Go Meh Festival Singkawang 15th day after Imlek; next on 20 February 2027
The tatung parade with over 700 mediums, plus lantern parade, street cleansing, and dragon burning over about three days.
Best things to do in Singkawang
Vihara Tri Dharma Bumi Raya
The city's oldest temple from 1878 for Tua Peh Kong, at the centre of town and the heart of Cap Go Meh.
Cap Go Meh Festival Singkawang
Indonesia's largest Cap Go Meh, with over 700 tatung in trance parading to cleanse the city for the year.
Pasar Hongkong
The old market that turns into the city's night food centre, the best first evening graze in Singkawang.
Cagar Budaya Rumah Keluarga Tjhia
The Tjhia merchant family ancestral house, a lived in heritage home with its ancestor altar down a small lane.
Thai Pak Kung Temple
The huge modern temple inaugurated in 2022 and promoted as the largest in West Kalimantan.
Sakkok
The ceramic village in Sedau where Chinese and Dayak potters still make Singkawang ware by inherited methods.
Masjid Raya Singkawang
The grand mosque beside the central temple, the other half of the view that sums up Singkawang's harmony.
Where to stay in Singkawang
Old Town and Pasar Hongkong
festival, temples and food on foot
Walk to the central temple, the Tjhia house, and the night food centre, which matters most at Cap Go Meh.
Grand Mall and Alianyang
newest rooms and mall convenience
Home to Swiss-Belinn Singkawang inside Singkawang Grand Mall, about 4 km from the old town sights.
Pasir Panjang beach strip
beach weekends and families
Resort and budget beach hotels at kilometre 15 to 17 south, with town as a day trip by car.
Best restaurants in Singkawang
Choi Pan Tho Ce
A dedicated choi pan shop steaming Singkawang's signature dumplings with fried garlic and house chilli.
Chai Kue Sak Kok
The chai kue address by the ceramic village, the same steamed dumplings under their other name.
Mie Tiaw Asuk
The legendary kwetiau name of Singkawang, flat rice noodles wok fried with a deep smoky char.
Bubur Singkawang dan Kwe Tiaw Pasar Hongkong
The evening Pasar Hongkong stall for bubur and kwe tiaw, the two bowls that define a Singkawang night.
Rujak Thai Phui Jie
The rujak specialist for Singkawang style rujak with juhi dried squid, sweet, sour, hot, and chewy.
Singkawang Dimsum Cuisine
A sit down dim sum and Chinese restaurant on Diponegoro, the comfortable group lunch at stall level prices.
Sahabat Seafood Singkawang
The sit down seafood dinner on Ahmad Yani, fish, prawns, and crab by weight for a group table.
Outdoor things to do in Singkawang
Pantai Pasir Panjang
The city's long headline beach 17 km south, with stalls, rentals, and the sunset the locals come for.
Pantai Batu Burung
A small, fragile beach by Sinka Island Park, named for the granite bird rock reached by a little bridge.
Palm Beach
A managed beach plot on the Pasir Panjang strip with white sand and green graded water at sunrise and sunset.
Sinka Island Park
A big coastal park with a hill zoo and a bridge to tiny Simping Island, best checked locally before visiting.
Taman Bukit Bougenville
A hilltop botanical garden 6 km south of the city, built around bougainvillea and shaded flower paths.
Hutan Mangrove Setapuk
Mangrove forest walked on wooden bridges and explored by small boat, the quiet nature stop of the trip.
Gunung Poteng
A protected forest hill 7 km east where Rafflesia tuan-mudae blooms briefly and unpredictably.
Danau Biru Singkawang
A flooded former mining pit with intensely blue water, a thirty minute photo stop and not a swimming lake.
Best hotels in Singkawang
Swiss-Belinn Singkawang
The city's only international chain hotel, in the Grand Mall with a rooftop pool and the newest full service rooms.
Mahkota Hotel Singkawang
The central local flagship on Diponegoro, best placed for Pasar Hongkong and the festival streets on foot.
Dayang Resort Singkawang
The bayfront resort on Pasir Panjang from 2022, with pools and balconies, the most resort like stay in the city.
Hongkong Inn
A simple budget inn steps from Pasar Hongkong, with the festival streets and night food on foot.
Palapa Beach Hotel
A big basic beach hotel at kilometre 17 of Pasir Panjang, cheap rooms with the sunset at the door.
Is Singkawang expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | IDR 300,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | IDR 600,000 a person |
| Splurge | IDR 1,200,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Cap Go Meh Festival Singkawang: months ahead
- Swiss-Belinn Singkawang: weeks ahead
- Mahkota Hotel Singkawang: weeks ahead
- Book Cap Go Meh week rooms, grandstand seats, and flights months ahead; the city sells out.
- In ordinary weeks, book only a day hire car the day before.
- Arrive the day before the tatung parade, not on the parade morning itself.
Is Singkawang safe?
- The local risks are natural and seasonal: haze smoke, flooding in the wettest months, and sea conditions on an exposed coast.
- Carry a good mask in the July to October haze season and recheck flights the day before travel.
- At Cap Go Meh, fix a meeting point and keep valuables in front of you in the parade crowd.
- Drink bottled or filtered water. Emergency 112, police 110, ambulance 119.
Singkawang travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Older guides that say Singkawang has no airport; it opened in 2024, but haze can still close it for days.
- Promising children Sinka Zoo without checking its current state locally first.
- Ordering seafood sold by weight without confirming the price before it is cooked.
- Treating Danau Biru as a swimming lake; it is a former mining pit and a photo stop only.
Getting around Singkawang: public transport and more
- Walk the old town cluster of the central temple, Pasar Hongkong, and the Tjhia house on foot.
- Hire a car with driver by the day for Sedau, Sakkok, Sinka, and the Pasir Panjang strip, 6 to 20 km out.
- Singkawang Airport has scheduled Jakarta flights, but the Pontianak road at three to four hours is the fallback.
- Agree any day hire price in writing before setting off.
Who Singkawang suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Singkawang your trip
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