Singapore Bouldering Gym Reviews

Because touching plastic is the new touching grass

When I started out with bouldering a little over a year ago, I wished there were articles reviewing the different gyms in Singapore, what was good about each, which were beginner friendly, et cetera et cetera

After one year and recently doing a tour of Singapore gyms, I decided to write it myself for anyone else like me just starting out and not sure where to go. This was originally meant to be a vlog series but I tried videoing myself and speaking and just nope. So here you go, a blog series.

What mainly felt important to me:

1. What food can I have before a session?

2. What food can I have after a session?

3. How long does it take for me to get there?

4. What kind of walls does the gym have?

5. How difficult are the routes in the gym generally?

6. What’s the gym’s demographics?

7. How’s the quality of life amenities at the gym (eg. showers/lockers)?

8. How much does it cost/how do I register?

And that’s things which I’ll include in my reviews in this series.

For reference, I’m currently a male V4+ climber going onto V5 with ~175cm span. Also aged (circa thirty years old), and climbs peak hours not by choice. Been climbing consistently for about a year now and I generally climb for fun without any specific objective. Having fun is more important than climbing hard stuff although they’re not mutually exclusive things.

To set a target audience for myself, I’ll be focusing my writing to inform:

1. New local climbers

2. Foreign climbers who are new in Singapore

Also as a anti-disclaimer of sorts, nothing in this series will be sponsored posts. You can expect the truth and nothing but the truth, even if it’s ugly.

Changelog since first publish

1. 5th August 2024 - Added Climb Central Novena thanks to pings from @clareyflows and @theunclebeta, added a mention to the Climbjios Swappers group on Telegram for purchasing cheap passes, added newly written BM Downtown review

2. 8th August 2024 - Added Ground Up Climbing review

3. 14th August 2024 - Added BFF OTH gym (thank you @enenpull!) and published review on BM Tai Seng

4. 20th August 2024 - Published BM Bugis review

5. 29th August 2024 - Published BM Rochor review

6. 1st November 2024 - Published Project Send review

TL;DR of bouldering gyms in Singapore

Since this series is targeted at climbers new to Singapore’s climbing gym environment, here’s a quick summary/some notes about the Singapore climbing culture/gyms:

1. Every gym has their own special snowflake app. Majority use the MindBodySoul platform and you must register and sign their waiver online before visiting.

2. Gym entries range from $18-$30, all gyms have shoe rentals, only a few have chalk rental, gyms in the City Business District (CBD) area are generally fully featured with showers, changing rooms et cetera.

3. All gyms here have good basic necessities stuff like basins for washing arms, water refillers, and toilets.

4. Offpeak climbing is always recommended if possible. Most bouldering gyms get very crowded in the evening, majority of climbers here are of working adult age. Weekend mornings tend to be quiet as well.

5. Similar tripod culture as Korea (or so YouTube tells me), careful of blocking someone videoing their own climbs!

6. Route grading tends to be sandbagged compared to the western world. A colleague from the UK who climbs V3/4 there could only manage V2s here.

7. Gyms are gonna hate this but… Branded equipment prices tend to be about 1.5x what you’d pay if you ordered online. Some gyms carry local brands if you’re into supporting local businesses.

8. Another one that gyms might not like but… You can purchase a passes at multipass prices or cheaper from the Climbjios Swappers group on Telegram (just do a global search for that name)

List of bouldering gyms in Singapore

With that, here’s the full list of climbing gyms that offer bouldering in Singapore. If there’s a link, it’ll link to the review, otherwise the review hasn’t been written. Subscribe to the Bouldering newsletter I just created or check back monthly if you’re interested!

If you want to save a map of all these to your Google Maps, one can be found here (made by yours truly)

Ark Bloc

• Seng Kang

BFF

• Bendemeer

• One Tampines Hub (might not ever go, heard it’s small)

• YO:HA

Boruda

• Labrador Park

Boulder+

• Aperia Mall

• Chevrons

Boulder Movement

Boulder Planet

• Sembawang

• Taiseng

Boulder World

• Paragon

Climba

• CBD

Climb Central

• Chua Chu Kang

• Funan Center

• Kallang Wave Mall

• Novena Velocity (might not ever go, heard it’s small)

Fit Bloc

• Depot Heights AKA FB 2.0

• Kent Ridge AKA FB 1.0

Ground Up

Kinetics

• Serangoon Road

Lighthouse Climbing

• Alexandra Road

Outpost Climbing

• Crawford Lane

Oyeyo Boulder Home

• Little India (might not ever go bc initiation fees 🥲)

Project Send

Z-Vertigo

• Bukit Timah

Cheers

Hope this helps someone and if you’d like to follow my adventures in bouldering, my story and progress is being documented on Instagram at @boulder.joernal.