Always on the look out for new events and restaurants in Singapore?
Before you mop and return to your monotonous cafe-hopping and movie-and-dinner routines, stop and hear us out. Whether you’re local who’s looking for the best things to do in Singapore this weekend, or a tourist who’s planning your Singapore itinerary, we’ve got you covered with new attractions and events in May.
Now before you complain about the lack of things to do in Singapore again, here are 21 exciting new things to do in Singapore this month.
New pop-ups, exhibitions & attractions this month
1. Weekend Brew Club
Singapore’s first free coffee buffet is back this month, and it’s touring three neighbourhoods.
Weekend Brew Club is a roving lifestyle activation blending cafe culture, retro nostalgia and heartland energy — free-flow Nanyang and Western brews, DJ sets, workshops, and photo booths, with a different menu at every stop.
Four zones at every site: the Weekend Brew Bar for unlimited refills, Weekend DJ Counters spinning 2000s hits and Mandopop, Weekend Brew Games with merchant vouchers up for grabs, and Weekend Brew Clinics for coffee-themed workshops.
A ticket is required for the coffee buffet and is redeemable at participating merchants with minimum spend, while stocks last.
Date: 2–3 May (Tampines West); 9–10 May (Toa Payoh); 15-16 May (Bras Basah) 2026
Locations:
Tampines West Open Plaza, Singapore 520826
Kim Keat Palm, Singapore 310022
Bras Basah Complex, Singapore 180231
Opening hours:
Tampines West & Toa Payoh: 9am-3pm
Bras Basah: 1-7pm
2. The Pokemon Truck
A 24-foot LED mobile gaming lounge rolls into Plaza Singapura for three days only this month,
Step inside the Pokemon Truck, and get hands-on with Pokémon Pokopia on Nintendo Switch 2. You can also meet Pikachu in person, snap a shot with the full-size backdrop, and walk out with an exclusive Pokemon sunvisor as your souvenir.
Date: 1–3 May 2026
Location: Plaza Singapura, 68 Orchard Rd, Singapore 238839
Opening hours: 10am-10pm
3. Cinco de Mayo at El Chido
Mexico meets a Singapore rooftop for one high-energy night.
El Chido, the Mexican-inspired bar on top of Pullman Singapore Hill Street, throws its Cinco de Mayo fiesta on 2 May from 5pm — infectious rhythms, city-skyline views, and bold flavours served poolside. A curated menu of Mexican bites and signature cocktails powers the night, and a professional face painter is on hand if you want to commit to the theme.
One-night-only, walk-in territory, right at the start of the Labour Day long weekend — the best kind of pre-Sunday rooftop plan.
Date: 2 May 2026
Location: El Chido, Pullman Singapore Hill Street, 1 Hill St, Singapore 179949
Opening hours: 5pm till late
4. After the Monsoon: Art & War in Southeast Asia
National Gallery’s next blockbuster reframes WWII and the Vietnam War through Southeast Asian eyes.
Opening 22 May 2026 at National Gallery Singapore, After the Monsoon gathers 280 works across painting, drawing, photography, installation and interactive art to re-examine how the region has documented and challenged dominant war histories. The title borrows from the monsoon’s wet-and-dry cycle as a metaphor for conflict, destruction, and renewal.
Date: 22 May-18 October 2026
Location: National Gallery Singapore, 1 St Andrew’s Rd, Singapore 178957
Opening hours: 10am-7pm daily
5. One Ocean: Every Action Ripples
Science Centre’s world premiere immersion drops you deep into the blue.
From 30 May, Science Centre Singapore hosts the global debut of One Ocean: Every Action Ripples, a Tara Ocean Foundation collaboration produced by Ride FX. Ten interactive zones, translating groundbreaking marine research into something you can actually feel.
Expect 360-degree projections, free-roaming VR, and spatial soundscapes engineered to pull you inside the ocean’s hidden worlds.
Date: 30 May 2026-3 January 2027
Location: Science Centre Singapore, 15 Science Centre Rd, Singapore 609081
Opening hours:
Monday: 10am-5pm
Tuesdays: Closed
Wed-Sun: 10am-5pm
6. Heroic Moves: Chinese Martial Arts in Singapore Popular Culture
Heroic Moves stages over 50 objects and images tracking the evolution of Chinese martial arts in local popular culture from the 1960s to today — set up right at the mall atrium so you can walk through it while running errands. It lives at Westgate from 29 April to 17 May before moving to Junction 8 in June.
Expect old wuxia serial panels, vintage film posters, and the kind of film stills that will stop anyone raised on Sunday-afternoon TVB dead in their tracks.
Date: 29 April–17 May 2026 (Westgate); 1–14 June 2026 (Junction 8)
Location: Westgate, L1 The Courtyard Main Entrance; Junction 8, L1 (outside Toast Box)
Opening hours: 10am-10pm daily
7. SIFA 2026
Singapore’s flagship arts festival returns under the theme “Let’s Play!”
From 15 to 30 May, the Singapore International Festival of Arts takes over Empress Lawn, Anderson Bridge and venues across the downtown core with boundary-pushing theatre, dance, music and multidisciplinary work. Five pillars anchor it: Festival Stage, Festival Village, Festival Play!Ground, Festival House and Festival Late Nites.
Free for Festival Village; ticketed for mainstage programmes
Date: 15–30 May 2026
Location: Multiple venues — Empress Lawn, Anderson Bridge, Victoria Theatre, Esplanade
8. Singapore HeritageFest 2026
Over 100 programmes across the island dig into Singapore’s maritime past.
Running 1–24 May, HeritageFest 2026 ties its theme to Singapore’s sea-shaped history — kampong craft, port culture and the material legacies of island life, delivered through hands-on sessions rather than dusty displays.
Standouts: a parent-child Jong Boat Craft workshop at Reflections at Bukit Chandu, a “From Port to Plate” hawker trail with interactive missions, and a pottery session at Thow Kwang’s Dragon Kiln. Most programmes are free but booking is required.
Date: 1–24 May 2026
Location: Islandwide
9. vOilah! France Singapore Festival 2026
Two months of French food, film, music and art, scattered across the city.
vOilah! returns from 25 April to 20 June with 26 programmes spanning gastronomy, science, lifestyle and the arts — and most flagship events are free.
May highlights: Michelin-starred chefs Sébastien Lepinoy and Jérémy Gillon leading cooking demos, Cannes-premiered Love Me Tender screening at Sentosa alongside César-winning animations Ernest and Celestine and Dilili in Paris, and a free outdoor Miles Davis tribute concert at OCBC Square @ Kallang. Art exhibitions run at Alliance Française and Gillman Barracks throughout.
Date: 25 April–20 June 2026
Location: Multiple venues — VivoCity, Sentosa, Alliance Française, Gillman Barracks, OCBC Square @ Kallang
10. Beatlemania on Tour
Mop-tops, bell-bottoms, and every song you know, for three shows in May only.
Beatlemania on Tour lands at Sands Theatre on 15 and 16 May with a costume-heavy, instrument-replica-faithful run through the Beatles’ catalogue. Three shows across two nights — 15 May at 8pm, 16 May at 3pm and 8pm.
It’s a tribute, but a thoroughly staged one: lighting, costume changes, and a setlist built to hit every singalong from mop-top-era Hamburg to psychedelic Sgt Pepper.
Date: 15-16 May 2026
Location: Sands Theatre, 10 Bayfront Ave, Singapore 018956
11. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Roald Dahl’s chocolate factory gets a full musical treatment in Singapore.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory The Musical runs at Sands Theatre from 19 May to 7 June — three weeks to catch Willy Wonka, the golden ticket, and the Oompa-Loompa routine on a proper stage.
It’s the West End adaptation, not the film — expect original songs alongside the familiar ones, the big set pieces (chocolate river, TV Room) staged at arena scale, and enough spectacle to justify a ticket for both kids and adults running a nostalgia lap.
Tickets start from $92.
Date: 19 May–7 June 2026
Location: Sands Theatre, Marina Bay Sands, 10 Bayfront Ave, Singapore 018956
Admission: From $92
12. IVE Live in Singapore
The “Love Dive” crew bring their world tour to Indoor Stadium for one night this month.
K-pop girl group IVE perform at Singapore Indoor Stadium on 9 May at 6pm — one of the bigger K-pop moments on the May calendar.
Expect a deep-cut-heavy setlist alongside the hits — “I AM”, “After LIKE”, “Love Dive” — and a DIVE (the fandom) crowd at full lightstick volume from the opening bars.
Tickets from $188.
Date: 9 May 2026
Location: Singapore Indoor Stadium, 2 Stadium Walk, Singapore 397691
13. Night at Orchard
Orchard Road’s only proper night market is back for three nights only.
Night at Orchard sets up along the pedestrian walkway from Wisma Atria to Ngee Ann City from 29 to 31 May, featuring food stalls, indie lifestyle brands, game booths, and enough lighting to tur.
Date: 29–31 May 2026
Location: Orchard Road pedestrian walkway, Wisma Atria to Ngee Ann City
Opening hours: 3-10pm
14. Makers’ Market at Pasir Ris Mall
Makers’ Market takes over Pasir Ris Mall from 1 to 3 May with a curated roster of independent crafters — small-batch products, handmade goods, and the kind of one-off finds you can’t replicate elsewhere.
Good for east-siders who don’t want the CBD crowd, and worth the train ride for anyone hunting for Mother’s Day gifts.
Date: 1–3 May 2026, 11am-8pm
Location: Pasir Ris Mall, 1 Pasir Ris Central St 1, Singapore 518826
15. Spring Weekend Festival
A container-park festival to kick off the Labour Day long weekend.
Spring Weekend Festival runs 1–2 May at Cosford Container Park, hosting a revolving cast of festivals, food pop-ups and weekend markets through the year.
Expect the usual Cosford combo: food trucks, indie vendors, live music, and a loose festival energy that reads more block party than mall activation.
Free admission, but good to reserve a spot in advance.
Date: 1–2 May 2026
Location: Cosford Container Park, 30 Cosford Rd, Singapore 499550
Opening hours: 1-11pm
16. Boutique Fairs Singapore
The long-running curated boutique market returns to Suntec City for a weekend.
Boutique Fairs Singapore runs 16–17 May at Suntec Convention Centre Hall 404, 11am to 9pm — indie designers, handmade jewellery, and lifestyle labels you won’t find in the malls downstairs.
It’s one of the few Singapore fairs with a properly juried lineup, which means less “two stalls selling the same candle” and more actual discovery. Long opening hours make it work as either an afternoon plan or an after-work stop. Worth it for the jewellery section alone if you’ve been hunting a one-off piece.
Date: 16–17 May 2026
Location: Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hall 404, 1 Raffles Blvd, Singapore 039593
Opening hours: 11am-9pm
17. Twilight: Flea & Feast
A half-day flea-plus-food hybrid on Funan’s top floor.
Twilight: Flea & Feast features a flea market with a food component — indie sellers, prepared bites, and the bonus of being on the greenest-leaning floor of a CBD-adjacent mall.
Date: 23 May 2026, 10am-5:30pm
Location: Trehaus @ Funan Mall, Lobby A, Level 7, 107 North Bridge Rd, Singapore 179105
Admission: From $6.52 per adult
18. Yummy Food Expo
Free-entry food expo to close out May and spill into June.
The Yummy Food Expo takes over Singapore EXPO Hall 5 from 29 May to 1 June, 11am to 9pm daily — free entry, tastings, bulk-buy deals, and the full spectrum of F&B brands under one roof.
It’s the sort of expo where you show up for lunch and leave with bags of marinated beef, dried seafood and some niche coffee blend you’d never pick up otherwise. Go hungry, go with cash, and don’t trust anyone who says they’re “just browsing”. It overlaps the long Vesak Day weekend — pair it with a Changi dinner.
Date: 29 May–1 June 2026
Location: Singapore EXPO, Hall 5, 1 Expo Dr, Singapore 486150
Timing: 1-9pm
19. Say Yes To Everything
Last weeks to catch this Robertson Quay exhibition before it closes.
Say Yes To Everything runs at STPI, known for some of the most interesting print-and-paper shows in the city, and this one leans into large-format experimentation.
Free admission.
Date: Now-9 May 2026
Location: STPI Creative Workshop & Gallery, 41 Robertson Quay, Singapore 238236
Opening hours:
Mon-Sat: 10am-7pm
Sun: 11am-5pm
20. Luke Heng: Mechanics of the Snap
Mechanics of the Snap is Luke Heng, Singapore’s homegrown artist, first major solo exhibition at Yeo Workshop.
This showcase features his works over the past three years, which also represents his transition into his new art style. This series presents tightly cropped compositions that examine the systematic failure of support structures under the weight of informational entropy
Date: 14 March-24 May 2026
Location: Yeo Workshop, 1 Lock Rd, #01-01, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108932
Opening hours:
Monday: Closed
Tue-Sat: 11am-7pm
Sun: By appointment
New things to eat in Singapore this month
21. Jiin Omakase
Jiin arrives 8 May from the Les Amis Group — a refined, deeply personal dining journey built around omotenashi, the Japanese philosophy of thoughtful, intuitive hospitality.
Premium seafood and peak-season produce flown in from Japan anchor the menu, with the counter format reading closer to a private dinner than a restaurant seating. Expect the usual Les Amis Group polish on service — and the usual Les Amis Group pricing. Reservation-only, occasion-dining territory.
Date: Opens 8 May 2026
Location: 1 Scotts Rd, #01-11 Shaw Centre, Singapore 228208
Opening hours: 12-3pm, 6:30-10pm
22. Cheese Wonder
This cult brand — known for wrapping lines around blocks in Tokyo and Hong Kong — finally opens a Singapore pop-up at ION Orchard, bringing its signature molten-centred cheesecake to the island for the first time.
Expect the full lineup: the signature Cheese Wonder (a thin-shelled cheesecake hiding a molten cream centre that cracks open when you bite), Wonder Sand cookie sandwiches layered with rich cream, and a limited Red Strawberry edition for the season.
Date: 8 May-30 June 2026
Location: ION Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn, Singapore 238801
Opening hours: 10am-10pm
Can’t find what you’re looking for?
Check out our ultimate guide on the 65 best things to do in Singapore instead. Alternatively, if you’re on a budget, we’ve also compiled a list of the best things to do in Singapore for free.
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