Buddhist siteFree entry

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum

#3of 8 places to visit in Singapore CitySingapore City, Central Region, Singapore

Also known as Fo Guang Shan Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

Quick answer

Opening hours: Temple: 07:00 - 17:00 daily. Entry is free. Allow 1 hr. Best time: 09:00 - 10:30.

Updated 18 September 2026 · Compiled by Traveliac, AI-assisted · 5 min read

Get directionsOfficial site

Photo: Qingwu Zhou (周庆武) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Opening hours: Temple: 07:00 - 17:00 daily; Museum floors: 09:00 - 17:00 daily
Entry fee: Free
Time needed: 1 hr
Best time of day: 09:00 - 10:30
Best months: Feb – Apr, Jul – Aug
Address: 288 South Bridge Road, Singapore 058840

About Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum rises five storeys on South Bridge Road in the heart of Chinatown, built in a Tang dynasty architectural style with red-lacquered timber-effect beams and a mandala-patterned roof rather than the greyer, more austere style common to older Hokkien and Teochew temples nearby. The building opened in 2007 as the purpose-built home for a tooth relic said to belong to the historical Buddha, housed in a 320-kilogram solid gold stupa on the top-floor Sacred Light Hall. The relic's authenticity is disputed among Buddhist scholars and the temple itself presents its provenance, traced to a Myanmar monk in the 1980s, as a matter of faith rather than settled historical fact. Below the relic chamber, the temple operates a full public Buddhist museum across four lower floors, covering artefacts, Buddhist art from across Asia, and a rooftop garden housing a large prayer wheel and bonsai collection open to visitors on the same free ticket.

Best time of day: 09:00 - 10:30. The relic chamber on the top floor and the rooftop Hundred Dragons Wall garden are both open and comparatively quiet before Chinatown's midday tourist traffic builds up.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum timings

Opening hours: Temple: 07:00 - 17:00 daily; Museum floors: 09:00 - 17:00 daily
Closed on: Open every day

Opening hours compiled from btrts.org.sg and public records, last updated 18 September 2026. They change without notice — confirm before you travel. How we write these guides

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum ticket price

Entry fees for Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum
Ticket	Price
Standard ticket	Free
Concession (student / senior)	Free
Children	Free

Free entry to the temple and museum floors; donation boxes are placed throughout but giving is voluntary, as of 2026.

Prices compiled from btrts.org.sg and public records, last updated 18 September 2026. They change without notice — confirm before you travel. How we write these guides

Best time to visit Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum

Quiet
Moderate
Busy

07:00 - 09:00
Morning PrayerBest time to go
Resident monks conduct morning chanting; the museum floors are not yet open but the ground-floor temple hall is accessible and quiet.
Quiet
09:00 - 11:00
Late Morning
Museum floors and relic chamber open with minimal queueing; the best window for an unhurried visit to all five floors.
Quiet
11:00 - 15:00
Midday Peak
Tour groups routed through Chinatown converge here; the relic-chamber lift and rooftop garden both see queues.
Busy
15:00 - 17:00
Late Afternoon
Crowds thin as day-tour groups move on to other Chinatown stops; a second, smaller quiet window before closing.
Moderate

History of Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum

The temple's founding traces to Venerable Shi Fa Zhao, a Singapore-based monk of the Fo Guang Shan order, who acquired the claimed tooth relic in the 1980s from a monastery in Myanmar and spent roughly two decades raising funds and planning a permanent home for it in Singapore's Chinatown, chosen specifically for its historic concentration of Chinese religious buildings including the nearby Sri Mariamman Temple and Al-Abrar Mosque.

Construction began in the early 2000s on a site along South Bridge Road, designed in a Tang dynasty style intended to evoke the Buddhist architecture of China's Tang period (618-907 CE) rather than the Hokkien vernacular of most of Singapore's older Chinese temples. The building was completed and officially opened in 2007, with the relic installed in a purpose-built stupa on the top floor. The temple has since become one of Chinatown's most visited religious sites, run as a working monastery with resident monks alongside its public museum function.

Rules & etiquette at Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum

Shoulders and knees must be covered throughout the temple; sleeveless tops, shorts above the knee, and see-through fabric are turned away at the entrance, though free sarongs and capes are available at the door for visitors caught without appropriate clothing. Shoes are not required to be removed except when entering specific prayer halls marked with signage.

The top-floor Sacred Light Hall housing the relic itself restricts photography around the stupa; camera use is generally permitted on the museum floors below but signage at each gallery should be checked, as rules vary by room. Visitors should stay quiet and avoid stepping directly in front of worshippers who are actively praying, particularly during the temple's morning and evening chanting sessions.

The rooftop garden's giant prayer wheel is meant to be turned clockwise only, following Buddhist convention; a queue can form here on weekends and public holidays.

Tips for visiting Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum

1
Visiting outside the 10:00-15:00 window meaningfully reduces the wait for both the relic chamber lift and the rooftop garden, both of which have limited capacity at any one time. The museum's lower-floor Buddhist art galleries are frequently skipped by visitors heading straight to the relic, but hold a genuinely broad collection worth 20-30 minutes on their own.
2
Combine the visit with the block of South Bridge Road and Pagoda Street immediately outside, which holds Chinatown's densest run of shophouse facades, incense shops, and the Chinatown Street Market's souvenir stalls; prices at stalls directly outside the temple run higher than those one or two streets away, a pattern common to most tourist-site perimeters in Singapore.
3
A vegetarian canteen operates in the temple basement on some days serving simple donation-based meals; this is not guaranteed daily, so treat it as a bonus rather than a planned stop. No tipping is expected anywhere in the temple or surrounding Chinatown food stalls.

How to reach Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum

The red star is Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum; the numbered pins are the 7 nearest places in our guides, each showing its rank in its city. Tap a pin for details.

288 South Bridge Road, Singapore 058840Directions in Google Maps

From Singapore Changi Airport (SIN)
19 km · 30-40 min
S$2.50-3.50 by MRT; S$28-38 by metered taxi
From Chinatown MRT Station
0.2 km · 3 min walk
Included in standard MRT fare from prior journey
From Merlion Park
1.5 km · 18-20 min walk, 8 min by taxi
Free (walking); S$8-10 by taxi

Nearest airport

From Singapore Changi Airport (SIN)

19 km, approximately 30-35 minutes by taxi or MRT via the East-West Line and a change to the North-East Line.

Nearest station

From Chinatown MRT (NE4/DT19), Exit A

approximately 3 minutes on foot.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum FAQs

Is there an admission fee for Buddha Tooth Relic Temple?

No. Entry to both the temple and its four-floor museum is free, as of 2026, though donation boxes are placed throughout for those who wish to give.

What is the dress code for visiting?

Shoulders and knees must be covered. Sleeveless tops, above-knee shorts, and see-through clothing are not permitted inside, but free sarongs and capes are provided at the entrance for visitors who need them.

Is the tooth relic confirmed to have belonged to the Buddha?

This is disputed. The relic's provenance, traced by the temple to a Myanmar monastery in the 1980s, is presented by the temple as a matter of religious faith rather than a scientifically or historically verified fact, and its authenticity is not universally accepted among Buddhist scholars.

How much time should be set aside for the visit?

About one hour. This covers the ground-floor temple hall, the museum floors, the top-floor relic chamber, and the rooftop garden, though the museum galleries alone can absorb another 20-30 minutes for visitors with a deeper interest in Buddhist art.

Compiled with AI assistance from official sources and public records, and published only after the checks in How we write these guides. Nobody from Traveliac has visited this place. Last updated 18 September 2026. How we rank and check places