River Hongbao is an annual festival that is held during the Chinese New Year in Singapore. Started in 1987, River Hongbao has become a tradition that locals look forward to every year.
This year’s River Hongbao will be held at Gardens by the Bay. The number of participants allowed is capped at 4,400 people per time slot. Ticket is free of charge, but advance booking is compulsory. Tickets will be released in batches, from 19 January 2022 to 22 January 2022.
When and Where is River Hongbao 2022?
Date: 30 January 2022 to 6 February 2022
Time: Varies, refer to table below
Location: Gardens by the Bay outdoor garden, refer to “Map” section
| Date | Visiting hours |
|---|---|
| 30th January (Sunday) | 6.30pm – 10.30pm |
| 31st January (Monday) | 6.30pm – 9.00pm 9.30pm – 12.15am |
| 1st February (Tuesday) to 6th February (Sunday) | 2.30pm – 4.30pm 5.00pm – 7.30pm 8.00pm – 10.30pm |
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IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE:
The gate is open 30 mins before the start of event, and close 30 mins after the start of event. So, do not be late for your entry! For example, if your time slot is 6.30pm to 9pm, you must arrive at the check-in counter latest by 7pm. If you arrive late, you won’t be allowed to enter even though your timeslot is still ongoing.
Tips / Things to Note Before Visiting
Don’t be late! The check-in counter is only open 30 mins before and 30 mins after the start of the event. Latecomers will not be allowed entry.
Be prepared for wet weather. River Hongbao is an outdoor event with limited shelter. Do bring umbrellas or raincoats to be protected from the rain.
There are drink corners but no food stalls inside River Hongbao event area, so if your timeslot coincide with your mealtime, you can eat at any of the dining places at Garden by the Bay. Once you’ve checked-in and issued a wristband, you can exit the event area at any time and re-enter again by showing the wristband.
Map of River Hongbao 2022
Entrance and Check-in
There are 2 entrances, one at The Meadow (near Floral Fantasy), another one at Golden Garden (near Flower Dome).
I entered via the entrance at Bayfront Entrance near The Meadow. Digital QR code was accepted during check-in. A wristband was issued to each visitor. Bag search was conducted after the check-in. We brought our own water and they were fine with it.
春回大地Welcome Arch @ Bayfront Entrance
Drink Corners
There are 2 drink corners where visitors can buy drinks from vending machines. However, visitors must finish the drink inside the barricaded area. There are tables and chairs but they’re not sheltered, so it can get pretty hot during the day.
30 Charming Lanterns
There will be 30 lanterns at River Hongbao 2022 Light Up. They are scattered all around Gardens by the Bay.
One cluster (the Spring Fragrances lantern) is situated inside Flower Dome, which requires separate ticket admission. The ticket to River Hongbao doesn’t include admission to the Flower Dome conservatory.
Meanwhile, the other lanterns are located at outdoor garden which doesn’t require separate ticket. Most of the lanterns are clustered around Supertrees and The Meadow.
The most eye-catching lantern has to be the 18-metre Cai Shen Ye holding a pot full of overflowing gold coins at Supertree Grove.
Here are some of the lanterns you can find at River Hongbao this year.
“步步高升Rising after Challenges” Lantern at Supertree Grove
春风得意 Welcome Arch @ Golden Garden
春风年画总关情
“感恩的心 Wishing Heart” Lantern
Garden Rhapsody
At 8.15pm, there is music and light show at the Supertree Grove where the Cai Shen Ye statue is located at. Don’t miss it during your visit!
Amusement Rides and Carnival
What is a festival without carnival, right? In this year’s carnival, visitors may look forward to kids-friendly rides and carnival games from the Double-Story Horse Carousel to a giant Inflatable Playground, Robotic Rides, Pirate Ship and Trackless Train rides.
Nightly Festive Shows
Every night, there will be live performances at the central stage located at The Meadow. The performances include music performance, dance performance, Getai shows, martial arts display as well as performances by our local artistes – Zoe Tay (鄭惠玉), Mark Lee (李国煌), Paige Chua (蔡琦慧), Felicia Chin (陈凤玲) and Marcus Chin (陈建彬). You can also watch these shows online at River Hongbao’s official Facebook page.
Seats are available on a first come, first served basis. Visitors who want to watch the show need to queue for entry. When there are available seats, visitors will be ushered to the available seats. Based on my experience, it was not difficult to get a seat, I queued for less than 5 mins and immediately got a seat. I guess that’s because there are plenty of seats and not that many visitors who wanted to watch the show during the day of my visit.
Ponchos were provided under each seat in case of rain. But I recommend that you bring your own umbrella/poncho in case the organizer runs out of ponchos to give out.
Other Activities
How to Make Booking?
Booking must be made online, from 19 January 2022 to 22 January 2022. Refer to the ticket release schedule in Step 1.
Things to take note about before booking:
- Each person can only register for one session per day, with a maximum of 5 pax per booking.
- For the purposes of verification of identity and to ensure the smooth operations of River Hongbao, you will be required to key in your full name and last 4 characters of NRIC/BC/FIN/Passport during registration; as well as the full name of everyone in your group.
- Only fully vaccinated, recovered, medically ineligible individuals, or children aged 12 years and below (subject to event capacity) will be allowed into River Hongbao.
Booking Step 1
Visit the main website, click the booking button, scroll to be bottom, and choose whether you’re registering for 1 person (individual) or a group.
Booking Step 2
Key in your particulars, age details, date of visit, mode of transport and time slot.
Booking Step 3
Key in your full name, your email, your mobile number, your age group, as well as the full name of other people in your group and their age group.
Booking Step 4
Finally, you will arrive at this “Success” page. You will then receive the confirmation email in your inbox.
My own booking experience on 19 Jan 2022:
I noticed on River Hongbao’s FB page that many people commented they were unable to get their tickets even though they tried to access the booking page exactly at 11am.
For me, I accessed the booking page at 10.59am, and I was able to choose the time slot. But, after filling up my details at Step 3, I couldn’t proceed, the system said there’s no more slot. I guess that’s because I spent too much time filling up my details (because I needed to take screenshot to attach in this post).
I closed the tab, then opened the booking page again. There were still available slots, so I quickly typed in my particulars and thankfully my submission went through.
After booking, the confirmation email didn’t come immediately. Instead, it took them 1 hour to send the confirmation email.
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