National Parks Singapore

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Description

MacRitchie Reservoir serves as a gateway to the nature reserves. It has become a popular spot for nature lovers and exercise enthusiasts. It is also a great place for morning and evening walks or strolls along the water's edge.

MacRitchie Reservoir now boasts a green two-storey carpark with 300 parking lots. Its upper deck collects rainwater and channels them into a bioswale. Bioswales are landscape elements designed to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water.

The reservoir also has an amenities centre equipped with toilets, showering facilities, lockers, drinking fountains and a food kiosk. Our reservoir deck is an ideal venue for warm ups and for holding events like cross-country. Being a popular venue for water activities, it also has a newly improved pontoon for kayakers and our upgraded canoe shed will be ready by 2011.

MacRitchie Reservoir is one of the four reservoirs that bound the nature reserves. Other reservoirs include Lower Peirce Reservoir, Upper Peirce Reservoir and Upper Seletar Reservoir. Serving as water catchment areas, forests surrounding these reservoirs are protected from agriculture activities in order to ensure the quality of water.

Free guided tours are conducted every month to introduce nature to the public. (Click here to download the map for MacRitchie Trails).

History
MacRitchie Reservoir was constructed in 1867, by a donation of S$13,000 by philanthropist Tan Kim Seng, as the first impounding reservoir in Singapore. It resulted from an increase demand for water in the mid-19th century, which grew beyond the capacity of ox-drawn water carts. In 1891, the reservoir was extended and the enlarged Impounding Reservoir was renamed as Thomson Road Reservoir in 1907. Then, in honour of the Municipal Engineer, James MacRitchie, who designed and built the reservoir, it was renamed again as MacRitchie Reservoir.

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DIY Guide to Walking Trails

» Getting There

By Bus

Take bus nos. 52, 74, 93, 130, 132, 156, 157, 162, 165, 166, 167, 852, 855 or 980. Alight along Lornie Road at the bus-stop in front of MacRitchie Reservoir Park.

By Car

Entrance to the MacRitchie Reservoir Park car park is along Lornie Road.

For carpark charges, please click here.

By MRT

Nearest MRT station at Marymount MRT (Circle line) located 2km away from MacRitchie Reservoir Park.

» Maps & Hiking Routes

Click here for map of MacRitchie Trails in Central Catchment Nature Reserve.
Click here for Trail Etiquette.
Click here for the Parks & Trees Act 2005.
Form for Application to Hike at HSBC TreeTop Walk and MacRitchie Trails for groups of more than 30

Interested in guided walks? Every 2nd Saturday of the month, there is a free guided walk held within MacRitchie entitled "Getting to Know MacRitchie" at 9.00am. You can email NParks_mailbox@nparks.gov.sg to register for the walks.

For the "Getting to Know MacRitchie" walk, please gather at the cafeteria within the park, by 9.00am. The walk is about 1.5 hours, therefore, dress comfortably and wear comfortable walking shoes. Please bring along some water and umbrella. This walk will be guided by MediaCorp volunteers and NParks' staff. It is also available in Mandarin, upon request.

» Opening Hours

7am to 7pm

Facilities Available

Drinking fountain, Toilets, Event lawn, Shelters, Nature trail, Jogging path/ running track, Fitness corner/ stations & fitness equipment/ exercise station, Food & beverage area/ restaurant/ cafe, Benches

Activities Available

Bird watching

Exercise & workout

Heritage trails & guided tours

Photography

Trekking & nature walks

Water sports

Trekking & nature walks

Photography

Heritage trails & guided tours

Fishing

Exercise & workout

Bird watching

Businesses located in this park

The Mushroom Cafe

Related Events

Comments (7)

Posted by: NParks MacRitchie Team (November 13th, 2009, 09:32 am)

Due to the proximity of certain amenities around the park, free parking for first few hours may not be effective. We recognise the need of our park users, hence the carpark charges would be made reasonable. The introduction of charges for car park at MacRitchie was reviewed on a needs basis. This is to regulate demand in car park and to control situations of the misuse of free parking.

Posted by: femmemme (November 11th, 2009, 10:49 pm)

Carparking charges should be designed to deter non-visitors who park there for long duration. It should not penalize real visitors to the park. Therefore may I propose that carpark be free for first 2hrs/day and increasing parking charges beyond the 2 hrs so as to make it non-economical viable for abusers.

Posted by: augzz (November 11th, 2009, 09:20 pm)

If the park is not fully utilized ie. overwhelming parking during peak period (ie. weekends) & events (usually held on weekends), then it defeats its purpose to be a place for all to exercise, relax & enjoy the outdoors. What then is the rationale to upgrade it??

Posted by: NParks MacRitchie Team (November 11th, 2009, 09:41 am)

MacRitchie Reservoir Park will be introducing carpark charging. This is a measure to regulate the use of the carpark and not just specifically targeted at the possible misuse by Mt Alvernia staff. The measure is to alleviate the overwhelming usage of the carpark during peak period and events. We seek your understanding on this matter. Thank you.

Posted by: augzz (November 10th, 2009, 12:09 pm)

Read in the New Paper that soon there would not be anymore free parking at MR. Is it really going ahead? I hope the free parking could be kept for weekends & public holidays at least whereby there would be more people exercise or spend time with their families. Why penalize all when it is the staff of Mt A. who abuses the free parking!

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