Sacred Streets, Changing Beats: Walking the Heart of Kampong Glam

Kampong Glam wears its contradictions openly. Prayer calls echo from Sultan Mosque while tattoo artists work in shophouses nearby, and century-old restaurants share streets with pop-up photo-booths.

On this walking tour, you’ll find out how a neighborhood that began as a gathering place for Singapore-based Indonesian pilgrims planning their Hajj journey became Singapore’s creative quarter. It’s also where pioneering street artists and independent businesses built a community that’s now threatened by its own success.

The tour starts at Sultan Mosque, which is the last remaining mosque where the call to prayer still sounds across the streets. You’ll walk past restaurants that’ve been operating since the 1900s, and explore alleys transformed by artists like Zero when rents were still affordable and regulation minimal. As you walk along streets lined with commissioned murals and independent boutiques, you’ll hear from the artists and entrepreneurs navigating dramatic change.

The tour ends on Haji Lane, declared the world’s most Instagrammable street by the New York Times in 2009, where boutiques and street art create an electric atmosphere.

On this 45-minute tour, you’ll have a chance to:

• Visit Aliwal Arts Centre, home to RSCLS collective and an anchor for Singapore’s street art scene since the early 2000s
• See maritime murals celebrating the area’s seafaring past, created when the shoreline sat much closer than today
• Witness the rapid gentrification reshaping this compact neighborhood
• Pass through the famous Muscat Street Arch, and stroll pedestrian-only Bussorah Street where every angle captures Sultan Mosque
• Learn how this neighborhood became the cultural heart for Singapore’s young Malay generation
• Browse Wardah Books, specializing in English-language Islamic texts and operating successfully since 2002
• Explore the back alleys where artists like Zero created community before rising rents began forcing them out
• Discover modern interpretations of teh tarik – pulled tea that’s cooled by pouring it between metal mugs

This walk offers a rare glimpse of a neighborhood caught between preserving its creative soul and adapting to commercial pressures.