Pasir Ris or East Coast?

[apollo_69]

So I'm moving to Singapore next week and have to find somewhere to live! I'd like to live near a beach and around nature parks as much as possible, with decent transport links to the rest of the city...

From browsing around so far it looks like the 2 best (only?) options are East Coast or Pasir Ris, I was wondering if anyone can comment on which one might be better and why? Pasir Ris looks a bit further out so maybe a longer commute but not by much, and maybe not as many local options e.g. nightlife, bars, restaurants etc..

I'm a single guy in his mid 20s so no other considerations really...cheers

[Saint]

Pasir Ris is part of the East Coast so you'll need to be a bit more exact with what you are comparing Pasir Ris to?

At a guess I would probably say you are referring to East Coast Park area which would be Siglap/Marine Parade area?

[Girl_Next_Door]

I was staying Siglap area, and its a nice area (good restaurants and a few small & nice water holes). But in reality, I never end up going to East Coast Park as often as I thought I will be (even when its only 10 mins walk). Even with cabs, its still a good 30 mins via express bus to work in the morning (no train station nearby) and about 20mins via cab home after work.

Not sure about your budget, but how about staying somewhere near Harbourfront? You can catch the sky train to Sentosa, and the beach is a little nicer than East Coast. But mind you, its still a man-made beach with the view of a lot tanker, etc. Same view in East Coast, anyway...

Unless you are a hard core runner/blader who is going to run/roller blade a few times a week, you might want to consider staying somewhere nearer to a train station/more accessible to work (Since you work 5 days a week, and chill 2 days a week). But... thats just the rational me speaking.

My two cents worth...

[mortlock2005]

We are living in Siglap, which is pretty much in the middle of the East Coast. We're about a 10 minute walk from the MRT, which is then about 15 minutes into City Hall. The beach is about a 15 minute bike ride away and we really enjoy biking down there. Beaches in Singapore aren't very good really. They're fairly polluted, and there is a view of the container ships. I wouldn't swim at the beaches here - ever!

On the East Coast you could live closer to town (around Costa Rhu, which is pretty posh and very expat), Joo Chiat (interesting and quite local - large muslim population), Siglap/Marine Parade (somewhere inbetween posh expat and local), or further out (Bedok is quite nice and has good shops).

Overall East Coast is nice, affordable and fairly convenient. The big mall is Parkway Parade, but there are smaller shopping areas. We were previously in Bishan (on the North/South train line) and it was fantastic. Very convenient, and very affordable - but not close to the beach!

[ProvenPracticalFlexible]

Saint for real estate purposes East Coast covers the old 15th district, more specifically Katong, Marine Parade, Siglap and Tanjong Rhu as you can see from the property adds on local newspaper or for example this very site:
http://www.singaporeexpats.com/singapor ... ctures.htm

and Pasir Ris belongs to the 17th Far East, so there is a difference.

As for the original question, I’d say East Coast is better. More lively than Pasir Ris, which is really already quite faraway, though MRT helps a bit if you stay close to it. But for bars depending on your taste you might prefer something in the city. I’m in my mid (?) 30’s and quite often in the east coast bars I often feel I’m the only one who doesn’t have memories of the rise and fall of the beatles. Not that I mind hanging with old people.

In the east coast park you can do pretty good and healthy pub walk from Parkway to Siglap with at least 4-5 bar stops on the 4-5 km walk, so ends up healthy drinking in my books. I do that walk always with new visitors at least once. Or cycling to Changi V and back for a few well selected beers at Charlie’s Corner.

It really depends alot where you need to go to work daily, if it’s in the city east coast is fine, if it’s in the west side it’ll be somewhat painful to waste time for travel every day.

[apollo_69]

Thanks PPF yes I did mean Siglap/Marine Parade area...so where do all the young people hang out? I think East Coast would win easily if it had an MRT, I don't want to be stranded as I'll be travelling quite a bit with work and no car (mainly in the city when in Singapore I imagine).....I'm sure the buses are ok but here in London they're notoriously unreliable so maybe it's not a fair comparison?

If the beaches really aren't all that then maybe I'll look for somewhere near Bukit Timah and just make the most of the nature parks....do people swim on Sentosa beach at all? I'll be flatsharing so could probably afford Harbourfront at a stretch...

[Saint]

Saint for real estate purposes East Coast covers the old 15th district, more specifically Katong, Marine Parade, Siglap and Tanjong Rhu as you can see from the property adds on local newspaper or for example this very site:
y.

Unfortunately it's only estate agents that have made Tanjong Rhu classed as East Coast when it's no where near the East! Pasir Ris however?

On a locals view, anything east of Katong is classed as East Coast.

[ProvenPracticalFlexible]

Saint for real estate purposes East Coast covers the old 15th district, more specifically Katong, Marine Parade, Siglap and Tanjong Rhu as you can see from the property adds on local newspaper or for example this very site:
y.

Unfortunately it's only estate agents that have made Tanjong Rhu classed as East Coast when it's no where near the East! Pasir Ris however?

On a locals view, anything east of Katong is classed as East Coast.

Tanjong rhu I assume is added to the same group as it's a new area, which didn't belong to city either.

Even east coast changes to upper east coast (old 16th district), after siglap. It seems to follow the road names more or less. With the logic that everything east of Katong, even Tampines would be east coast. What I hear among locals is that all east of Katong is east, but east coast is really just the areas around the east coast road. So I guess there are different views among the locals.

[adibahhhhhh]

i'm a local and am living in pasir ris and have spent much of my time in marine parade/east coast/siglap, so here's a breakdown of the pros and cons to help you out:

pasir ris:

- quiet beach town, 30-45 minutes away from the CBD, little or no restaurants/bars, water and dry theme park, average-sized malls selling basic necessities, average schools, average library, has its own mrt station, great for just relaxing.

marine parade:

- can get pretty crowded at times, 15-30 minutes away from the CBD, wide range of restaurants/bars, has a couple of average-sized malls but has one upscale mall (parkway parade), good schools, good, 3 storey library (as opposed to the one in pasir ris, which occupies only half a floor), doesn't have its own mrt station so you gotta get a bus out, great for exploring.

but pasir ris is definitely cheaper in terms of rental.