What to expect
Chinatown is dense, and that density is the appeal: a Hindu temple, a Buddhist one and a mosque all sit within a few minutes of each other, which tells you more about Singapore than any museum. The streets nearest the MRT are heavily geared to visitors, with souvenir stalls under awnings. One or two turns away, the area returns to being an ordinary neighbourhood of medical halls, dried goods shops and old men playing chess. The food centre at its heart is the largest in the country and worth the time on its own.
Getting there
Chinatown station on the North East and Downtown lines is the obvious entrance, and exit A puts you straight onto the main pedestrian street. Maxwell on the Thomson-East Coast line is better if food is the priority. Telok Ayer, one stop away, is the quieter approach and lands you near the older temples.
When to go
Mornings for the temples, which are calmer and cooler before ten. Lunchtime for the food centre, accepting that you will queue. Evenings for the shophouse bars on the hill, which only come alive after work. Sunday is busiest. Chinese New Year transforms the whole area and is spectacular, but do not go expecting to move quickly.
What a resident would tell you
Most people eat at the first food centre they find. The larger one, up the escalator above the wet market, has several hundred stalls and is where the queues that matter form. Go up, not across.
Worth knowing
The pedestrian souvenir streets are not representative and take about ten minutes. If that is all you see you have not seen Chinatown. The interesting parts are south and east of there, towards the older temples and the hill.
If it rains. Most of it is sheltered by five-foot ways and covered markets. A solid wet-weather choice.