Haw Par Villa: Where Fairytales Go to Hell
Why go to Disneyland when you can go to Haw Par Villa?
Jerlyn Ng From missing her flights to having a non-existent sense of direction, Jerlyn has never been smooth sailing with her travels. But that doesn't stop her from constantly planning for her next (mis)adventure. She also has a thing for adrenaline and can’t wait to feed eagles in the sky one day.
A far cry from the ‘happiest place on earth’, Haw Par Villa is a theme park devoid of Ferris wheels, popcorns, and all things fairytale. And lines too; in Haw Par Villa, you don’t have to queue for two hours to check out that blood pond attraction… Yay…
Image credit: Cory Doctorow
Many of us have bittersweet (more bitter than sweet, really) memories of Haw Par Villa as “that place my parents brought me to when I was young and has scarred my mind ever since”. Fast forward a decade from that fateful mind-scarring day, us office slaves a.k.a. interns of TripZilla felt that it was time to pay this uniquely-Singapore attraction a re-visit before it possibly gets demolished for good.
So here’s why you should bring a friend in one hand, a camera in the other, for a one-of-a-kind experience:
Because fun and happy attractions are so passé
Image credit: Rudy Herman
Image credit: Cory Doctorow
Image credit: Walter Lim
Image credit: Rudy Herman
IT’S FREE
Image credit: Jirka Matousek
It’s not everyday you get to visit hell, and for free! The only price you have to pay is possibly getting scarred for another decade, yet again.
It totally educates our morals
Image credit: Kiran Foster
Dear parents reading this, what better way to educate your kiddos about essential life morals than having them witness that when they sin, they get minced alive. Or brutally beheaded. Or have their tongues sliced off.
Interactive attractions!!!
Occasionally, the statues may come alive too… Teehee.
Potential OOTD spots everywhere
Move over, pretty brick walls and pretentious cafe tables. Huge black faces and beheaded bodies will be your new OOTD backdrops.
You shed calories
At your usual theme parks, you gain the extra pounds from all the candy floss and soda. On the flipside, a trip to Haw Par Villa is going to shed them calories instead! With over a thousand statues and dioramas, this mind-boggling hell-on-earth is actually pretty damn huge. There are also steps almost everywhere, so technically your outing doubles up as legs day as well.
No queues. Zilch.
It’s just us and minced people against the world… And the Statue of Liberty.
No more pushing and shoving just to get ahead in line! At Haw Par Villa, we’re pretty sure no one will be fighting with you to see the 10 Courts of Hell first.
How to get there
Image credit: Dickson Phua
As Haw Par Villa has its very own MRT station, getting there via public transport is a breeze. And fret not if you’re driving as parking lots are literally just ten steps from the entrance. Convenience and getting the rudest shocks of your life over and over again? Sounds like the perfect day of fun already!
If both of us wimps could do it, we’re pretty sure any brave soul can too.