Sultan Shoal Lighthouse Tour: Visiting a Historic Maritime Landmark in Singapore’s Waters

I’ve always been fond of exploring islands and I like to visit some of the more offbeat corners of Singapore to see what surprises my country holds. Some years back I visited one of our oldest lightshouses – Raffles Lighthouse on Pulau Satumu, so I was pretty stoked when the opportunity came up to do the Sultan Shoal Lighthouse Tour to another historic lighthouse in Singapore’s waters, this time over in the west near Tuas megaport and Jurong Island. Here’s what the Sultan Shoal Lighthouse Tour experience was like and what to expect.

About Sultan Shoal Lighthouse

Singapore as a thriving port with a rich maritime history – at any one point there are 1,000 ships in our waters, and our ports are some of the busiest in the world! Lighthouses were key landmarks to ensure the safety of boats coming into our shores.

Sultan Shoal Lighthouse was built in 1895 atop a solid coral reef. The story goes that the shoal got its name because a ship named Sultan ran aground in this area, and the lighthouse was built to prevent that in future.

Today it’s one of five lighthouses managed by the Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and one of two that can be visited by the public. Sultan Shoal Lighthouse became fully automated in 1984 and does not have a lighthouse keeper.

The Long and Winding Road has some great pix and maps from our national archives to tell you more, but I don’t want to give you too much information so you can learn about some of this from the guides giving the tours.

Where is Sultan Shoal Lighthouse?

Sultan Shoal Lighthouse is located in the waters off the Tuas megaport in Singapore’s Southwestern waters, to the west of Jurong Island.

Back in the day it would have been in the middle of the straits, but because of the creation of Tuas Mega Port, the island where Sultan Shoal Lighthouse is located is now very close to the Phase 2 section of the port – we could see the ongoing land reclamation efforts right across the water from the lighthouse.

There’s no way to see Sultan Shoal Lighthouse from Singapore’s mainland unless you are working in Tuas Port or on Jurong Island, which are both protected heavy industry areas, so not places that a casual person can easily enter.

In Tuas, the furthest you might get is to the infamous Tuas Lamppost 1 covered in stickers, but the road is blocked and any view of the sea covered by hoarding and construction panels.

Sultan Shoal Lighthouse Tour by MPA

I read in The Straits Times about the opening of Sultan Shoal Lighthouse tours when it was launched in early June 2026 and quite luckily managed to secure tickets for a session in late June 2026, paid for with my Culture Pass credits, whee!

Meeting point: Pasir Panjang Ferry Terminal

The ferry ride goes from Pasir Panjang Ferry Terminal, which typically serves the people who work in the southern offshore islands like Pulau Bukom (oil refineries) and Pulau Semakau (landfill). It’s quite a small basic set up, but there are 2 small shops here selling food and snacks as well as a vending machine in case you need to fuel up.

I drove here but you can also take the Circle Line MRT to either Pasir Panjang Station or Labrador Park Station and take a short walk here.

I arrived a bit before 9am to be safe, but the organisers only officially started registering people at 9am, scanning the QR ticket code and making sure any indemnity forms are all filled up. I was also given a coloured tag – the boat was split into 3 smaller groups to facilitate movement around the island and commentary.

Pasir Panjang is a pretty busy port area, lots of construction happening but this is also set to change over the next decade or so as the ports move to Tuas. The prime area left behind will then be redeveloped into more housing and leisure areas as part of the Greater Southern Waterfront.

The Journey: Singapore’s waters

We headed out to the ferry. I usually like to sit upstairs in the outdoor area for the best view, but because it’s a pretty small upper deck, they kept all of us in the air-conditioned seats downstairs and rotated us up in small groups for fairness. I took a window seat on the right side of the boat so I could see mainland Singapore as we departed, and the offshore islands on the way back.

The boat sails from Pasir Panjang westwards through the Singapore Straits, this area is a tad further away from the more popular weekend getaway Southern Islands like the St John’s Island cluster. Instead, we passed by the more industrial side of things. The islands in these parts serve heavy industry like petrochemicals and oil refining, keeping these processes away from the residential areas of Singapore. There are also a cluster of military islands like Pulau Sudong, Pulau Pawai and Pulau Senang.

I’d also never had a chance to properly see Jurong Island, which consists 7 smaller islands that were joined together to form a larger industrial area and consolidate resources for Singapore’s oil refineries and other industrial processes.

For an average Singaporean, there is little reason for you to be out in the waters around these parts as leisure boats don’t pass through this area much, so it was quite cool being able to see the industrial side of Singapore from the water. Our guides also shared about Singapore’s maritime history along the 1-hour journey form Pasir Panjang to Sultan Shoal, and stories about the many islands around here.

Exploring Sultan Shoal Lighthouse

About an hour later, we finally arrived at the dock on Sultan Shoal. This is a very small island but because it is technically a restricted space (these tours require permits, random people are not allowed to land their boat here), we’re not allowed to wander around on our own. We disembarked in groups, and my group headed to the chalet side first.

The MPA’s predecessor was the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA), and back in the day they actually built 2 small chalet units here that PSA staff were allowed to rent and bring their families here to stay! The small houses are now empty and not in use, but you can see the BBQ pit outside in the garden.

Nearby is an interesting tidal pool that traps seawater for swimming. It was low tide when we were there so there wasn’t a lot of water in the pool. Across the water was also a view of Tuas port in action. Tuas port is meant to be highly automated and will be one of the largest in the world when completed.

Did you know that during the land reclamation for Tuas port, over 2,300 corals around Sultan Shoal were relocated to the St John’s Island cluster?

Sultan Shoal Lighthouse has been automated for quite a long time so there are no lighthouse keepers living there unlike Raffles Lighthouse. There is a drone kept in a box in the outdoor area that is used to monitor the lighthouse and check for any damages on a regular basis.

However, you can still see remnants of when they needed manpower to look after the lighthouse. While we weren’t allowed to go up to the top, we could poke around the first level, a narrow corridor surrounding a spiral staircase with openings to a toilet, storeroom and kitchenette.

We had about an hour of exploration on the island before piling back on the boat for the hour-long return trip, reaching Pasir Panjang Ferry Terminal at about 1250pm.

All in all I did enjoy this little excursion in Singapore. It’s not often you get to see these hidden historical sights of Singapore so I’d recommend anyone interested in Singapore’s development and history to check it out. There

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Curious about Singapore’s offshore islands? Check out my other posts for more: