Photo: Kimhour Peuv / CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Orchard Road's light-up, Christmas at Gardens by the Bay and Universal Studios, and how to plan a Christmas week in Singapore from India in 2026.
Singapore does Christmas properly for a city where most people do not celebrate it: Orchard Road is lit end to end, the malls compete with each other's decorations, and the big attractions run Christmas versions of themselves. For a family from India it is also the one week when school holidays, office leave and the festive season line up, which makes it the most popular — and most expensive — week of the year to travel. This guide covers what is on in December 2026 and how to plan the week sensibly.
Is Christmas a holiday in Singapore?
Christmas Day, Friday 25 December 2026, is a public holiday, which gives Singapore a long weekend. Christmas Eve is a normal working day, though offices empty early. Attractions, malls and restaurants are open through Christmas, and the days between Christmas and New Year are among the busiest of the year at every major attraction.
Planning this trip yourself?
Send us your dates and how many are travelling. We will come back with an itinerary and a price, usually within one working day.
Orchard Road's Christmas light-up
The Orchard Road Business Association had not announced the 2026 dates of Christmas on A Great Street at the time of writing. In 2025 the lights ran from 8 November to 1 January along 3.1 kilometres of Orchard Road from Tanglin to Dhoby Ghaut, with a Christmas village at Ngee Ann City's Civic Plaza, nightly snowfall shows at 8pm and 9pm, and a Christmas Eve street party for which the road between Paterson Road and Bideford Road was closed to traffic from 6pm to 2am. Expect a similar shape for 2026, and check the official listing once it is published.
The way to see it is on foot after dark. Start at one end of Orchard Road and walk the length of it — the street is lined with malls, and each one decorates its own frontage, so the walk takes a couple of hours with stops. Weekend evenings in the second half of December are shoulder to shoulder; a weekday evening is calmer. Our Orchard Road shopping guide covers the malls themselves.
Christmas at Gardens by the Bay
Gardens by the Bay's Christmas Wonderland had not been announced for 2026 at the time of writing. In 2025 it ran from 29 November to 1 January, from 6.30pm to 11pm in the Supertree Grove and The Meadow, and it was ticketed: an adult ticket cost S$9 to S$15 depending on the date and whether it was bought in advance, and children aged 3 to 12 paid S$7. While it is on, the Supertree Grove is closed in the evening to anyone without a Wonderland ticket — the nightly light-and-sound show can still be watched for free from the nearby World of Plants area.
The conservatory domes keep their normal hours through the season, and an afternoon in the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest followed by the Supertrees after dark makes an easy Christmas-week day. Tickets for the domes are on our Gardens by the Bay page.
Universal Studios and Sentosa at Christmas
Universal Studios Singapore had not announced its 2026 Christmas programme at the time of writing. In 2025 A Universal Christmas ran from 28 November to 4 January, with a Christmas stage show and fireworks over the park's lake on selected nights, included in the normal park ticket, and the park stayed open until 9pm in the second half of December.
Whatever the theme, Christmas week is peak at Universal Studios Singapore: queues for the big rides are at their longest, and dated tickets for the days between Christmas and New Year can sell out. Book the date in advance, arrive at opening, and do the most popular rides first. The rest of Sentosa — the beaches, the cable car, the luge — is busy too, but spreads the crowd better than the park does.
Weather in December
December falls in Singapore's northeast monsoon season and is one of its wetter months. That usually means heavy showers or thunderstorms that pass within an hour or two rather than days of rain, and it is still warm — pack light clothes and an umbrella rather than anything heavier. Plan an indoor option for each afternoon: the domes at Gardens by the Bay, the museums, the malls or the aquarium.
Christmas food for vegetarian travellers
Hotel Christmas buffets are mostly built around turkey, ham and seafood, so a vegetarian family will usually eat better elsewhere on the day. Little India's restaurants are open as normal, and several of the city's buffets carry a full vegetarian spread — our vegetarian buffet guide lists them. Book any Christmas Day lunch or dinner well ahead.
Planning a Christmas trip from India
- This is the peak week. Flights from India in the last ten days of December are the most expensive of the year and fill first. Travelling in the first half of December gets you the same lights at a lower fare.
- Book attraction dates early. Universal Studios and the Christmas events are dated tickets; the days between 24 December and 1 January go first.
- Apply for the visa in good time. Indian passport holders need a Singapore e-visa through an authorised agent — do not leave it to the last week before a holiday departure.
- Stay near an MRT line. Taxis are slow and surge-priced on December evenings; a hotel near a station makes Orchard Road and Marina Bay easy to reach and to leave.
A Christmas week in Singapore, packaged
Our Singapore Tour Packages cover hotels, airport transfers and the attraction tickets in each itinerary, and the packages priced with return flights from an Indian city run on set departure dates through December — each package page lists the dates and the price. To build a Christmas week around your own dates instead, send them through Plan My Trip. Staying on for the fireworks? Our New Year's Eve guide covers the night of 31 December.
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