Singapore · Singapore
Toa Payoh New Town, Singapore — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Toa Payoh New Town fills the western portion of the Toa Payoh planning area, a residential town of Singapore's Central Region by Siong Lim Temple.
About Toa Payoh New Town
Where to stay in Toa Payoh New Town
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
Novena and Kallang bracket the choice here. Toa Payoh New Town holds the western portion of the planning area, so a bed inside it puts Siong Lim Temple, the Toa Payoh Sports Hall and the Toa Payoh Swimming Complex within the same short radius as the housing blocks. Few hotels operate inside Toa Payoh.
Potong Pasir and Bidadari lie out in the wider Toa Payoh area, while Bishan, Serangoon, Geylang and Hougang each give another direction to base from.
About Toa Payoh New Town
What are the main landmarks in Toa Payoh New Town?
Siong Lim Temple is the landmark of note. Two municipal buildings stand alongside it, the Toa Payoh Sports Hall and the Toa Payoh Swimming Complex, both put up for the housing of the new town rather than for visitors arriving from across the Central Region. Three sites carry names.
Everything else is residential, which is why a walk through the western portion of the Toa Payoh planning area turns up blocks and shops well before it turns up sights.
What is the history of Toa Payoh New Town?
No founding year attaches to Toa Payoh. What the record describes instead is a planning area that outgrew the town inside it: Toa Payoh New Town occupies only the western portion, while the wider planning area took in estates such as Potong Pasir and Bidadari. Two names cover this ground.
Boundaries did the rest, setting Bishan and Serangoon along the northern side, the Central Water Catchment beyond them, Kallang to the south, Geylang to the south-east and Hougang to the east.
Where is Toa Payoh New Town?
The new town takes the western portion of Toa Payoh, with Bishan and Serangoon above it, Kallang below and Novena along the western edge.
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Updated August 2026