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While you may or may not celebrate National Day on August 9, the one thing that everybody loves — regardless of race, language, religion or patriotism — is the National Day Parade (NDP) fireworks.

This year, the colourful display will go off above the City Hall area, as the NDP 2019 will be held at its OG location Padang (instead of the Marina Bay floating platform).

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Fireworks are estimated to go off from 8 pm to 8.20 pm on the 6, 13, 20 and 27 July, and 3 and 9 Aug 2019. If you want to catch it, you have two choices: Either head to a free public spot or pay to access a “private” area within a restaurant, bar or hotel.

If you don’t want to pay to see the NDP 2019 fireworks, here are some free areas that are open to the general public:

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Text: Eugenia Liew, MoneySmart / Additional reporting: Natalya Molok

Now, this year’s National Day holiday happens to fall on the Friday before the Hari Raya Haji holiday (in lieu) on Monday. That makes a super long 4-day weekend.

Normally I’d recommend escaping town, but airfares are crazy expensive for dates between 9 to 12 August 2019. So maybe you can consider a staycation instead.

Many hotels around the Padang have guest-only areas (like rooftop pools and etc) that are perfect for catching the fireworks. While some — like the Ritz-Carlton and Marina Bay Sands — obviously cost an arm, leg and several non-vital organs, there are some affordable hotels in the area as well.

Here are some staycation options under $300 per night:

Ready to go? Don’t forget to check for NDP 2019 road closures.

Whichever option you decide on, I recommend taking public transport (over driving). Sure the trains may be crowded, but I’d rather tahan for 20 minutes than drive through a 2-hour traffic jam.

In addition to the small roads around the Padang, quite a few major roads like the Nicoll Highway and Esplanade Drive will be closed off too. For the full map and closure timings and dates, please refer to the official NDP 2019 traffic advisory.

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