To make the most of the Hari Raya Haji public holiday (Eid Mubarak to all my muslim friends!!), we decided to go on a family trip to Coney Island.

To get to Coney Island, you will need to enter through either the West Entrance or the East Entrance. The West Entrance is more accessible as it joins in from Punggol. If you are driving like us, it is best to park at The Punggol Settlement. This area has a large parking lot, many food and beverage places, a playground, and a washroom. By the washroom and playground, theres a manmade pond filled with an army of terrapins! This settlement also has a bike rental area where you can rent individual or family bikes to cycle around Punggol Point Park, Punggol Promenade Nature Walk, or to Coney Island.

From the Punggol Settlement, its about a 10-15min walk to the west entrance.

Coney Island is open only from 7am to 7pm, and I would highly recommend going in the morning when there’s less of a crowd. The morning tends to be cooler and all the flora and fauna are just awakening and at their peak. The sounds of the insects, birds, and waves nearby is absolutely divine.

It was quite crowded when we went because it was a public holiday and we thought we were going to have a terrible time because the nature sounds and experience would be drowned by all the chatter among people. What we realised though, most of the families stayed within the first two beaches of the West Side because children were getting tired if they weren’t cycling. And those who did cycle, went far into the island towards the East. This left the middle area much quieter and undisturbed for our exploration.

Since we weren’t cycling, we decided to go up to the boardwalk which was next to the mangrove at the centre of the island, sit down at Beach Area C to have lunch and walk back.

It was a short and hot day trip, but totally worth it. It is the perfect outing after a long time staying home in front of our books and computers. My sister picked fallen flowers and collected them, my parents were super excited about the different plants and fruits and vegetables, and I was obsessed with the tall trees and sounds. All of us had a nice cold shower when we came home and took a fat nap. This is definitely going to be a place we’ll come back to again and again. Hopefully, before the development of the HDB right by the Punggol Settlement.