Climb Central (SAFRA Choa Chu Kang)

Climb Central at SAFRA Choa Chu Kang is one of the few gyms in Singapore where you can lead climb. Bouldering, top rope, auto belay and lead all run under the same roof, across more than a thousand square metres. Most of the walls in this country stop at bouldering, so a climber who wants rope work usually has to plan around it.

The auto-belay bank is the largest part of the floor, which means you can turn up alone and still climb ropes all evening. There are two bouldering caves and a kilter board for anyone training. Routes are set across the range rather than at one level: plenty for a first-timer, and enough technical setting in the upper grades to keep a strong climber busy. Entry is walk-in with no booking system, and a first visit includes the mandatory safety briefing and all the gear.

Climbers must be five or over, more than 20kg and taller than 1.1m, and children up to twelve need an adult on the floor with them. Two things to know before you set out. Weekdays do not open until the afternoon, so there is no morning session here. And the toilets and the water cooler sit a floor up from the climbing, which you notice on a long session. The clubhouse around the gym has a pool, futsal pitches and food, so a group that splits up has somewhere to go.