NOVA, CÉ LA VI and Kinki Are the Singapore Rooftop Bars That Actually Book House DJs

Sixty-three floors above Raffles Place, a nine-pointed star sculpture the size of a delivery van flares violet and blue over a dance floor with no roof, no walls on one side, and a DJ working a crowd that can see half the CBD skyline over his shoulder. That's NOVA, and it's doing something most of Singapore's rooftop bars don't bother with: booking a DJ set as the point of the night, not the soundtrack to it.

Search "best rooftop bar Singapore" and you'll get two dozen lists ranking sunset views, cocktail menus and Instagram backdrops. Almost none of them ask whether the venue treats music as a program or as ambience. Plenty of rooftop bars in this city pipe a house playlist through the speakers at a volume built for conversation, which is a perfectly good night out and not what this guide is about. These three book actual DJs on actual recurring nights, with actual dance floors, and at least one of them regularly leans house. Here's what each one costs, when to go, and which nights aren't worth the lift ride.

NOVA: The View Comes With a Dance Floor Attached

NOVA sits on Level 63 of 1 Raffles Place, which as of its September 2024 opening made it, by its own claim, Singapore's highest rooftop bar, a title that had sat empty since 1-Altitude, which occupied the same tower, closed on 31 March 2022 after 12 years. NOVA is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday from 6pm to 1am, and Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 6pm to 3am. Entry runs S$28 Sunday through Tuesday (all night, one drink included), S$28 before 9pm and S$40 after 9pm Wednesday through Saturday (two drinks included past 9). Table minimums start at S$100 and climb to S$2,500 for the good spots. You'll need a physical government ID with your photo, name and date of birth on it; screenshots and digital copies don't work, and the door staff mean it. Dress code is smart casual, no flip-flops, sandals or sportswear, and management reserves the right to turn you away regardless of what's in your wallet.

The music is genre-hopping by design. Wednesdays belong to SUPERLOVA with DJ Tang, R&B and hip-hop. Fridays run Afterdark, an Afrobeat and baile funk rotation. Saturday is LENERD+1, described on NOVA's own site as "genre-defying electronic and bass music," which is the closest this venue gets to a house crowd, though don't expect a straight four-on-the-floor set. It's house blended with Afro house and bass, not a purist's night. If a rooftop with a literal star hanging over the decks sounds like the whole draw, Saturday is the one to book.

CÉ LA VI: Two Rooms on the Same Elevator, Different Nights Entirely

On the 57th floor of Marina Bay Sands, CÉ LA VI splits into an open-air SkyBar (open daily from noon) and an indoor-adjacent Club Lounge that runs its own weekly calendar. According to Marina Bay Sands' own site, the Club Lounge programs Ladies Night on Wednesdays, Groove Room on Thursdays (hip-hop and R&B), Higher on Fridays, Elevate on Saturdays with rotating international DJs alongside local residents playing house and EDM, and Soul Kiss on Sunday evenings for a slower, sunset-groove set. Saturday's Elevate is the house night here, and it's the same room Carl Cox closed out Singapore's Formula 1 Race Week in, which tells you the booking policy reaches further than a rotating local roster on a normal weekend.

Here's the honest gap: CÉ LA VI's official site doesn't publish a cover charge or a dress code for either room, which is unusual for a venue this size. Reservations run through SevenRooms, and if you want a straight answer on what a Saturday night will cost before you get dressed, call the venue directly (+65 6508 2188) rather than trust a third-party listicle's guess.

Kinki: The Rooftop That Isn't Trying to Be a Nightclub

Kinki sits on top of Customs House at 70 Collyer Quay, a Japanese restaurant with an open-air terrace wrapped in graffiti by local artist ANTZ and a 360-degree view across Marina Bay. It runs a DJ Takeover on Tuesdays and sundown DJ sets on weekends, per its own site's promotions page, with a dress code of smart casual and no published cover charge, because it operates primarily as a restaurant and bar rather than a ticketed club. The price of admission here is a table booking or a bar tab, not a door fee.

The music policy is looser than NOVA's or CÉ LA VI's, leaning toward whatever the resident is feeling that week rather than a committed house program. That's the trade-off: less predictable than a named night with a genre attached, but also less likely to charge you S$40 to find out you don't like the set. It's the pick for a lower-key evening that still has a real DJ behind the decks instead of a phone plugged into the sound system.

What Didn't Make This List

Loof, on top of Odeon Towers, is still Singapore's most famous rooftop bar and the city's first independent one, but its DJs run old-school and party-anthem sets rather than anything you'd call house, so it's left off despite the name recognition. 1-Altitude, the rooftop NOVA effectively replaced, closed for good in 2022 and still turns up on lists that haven't been updated since. The rooftop lounge atop the National Gallery, now rebranded under a different restaurant concept, doesn't have a documented resident DJ program, so there was nothing to verify.

Getting There and Home

NOVA and Kinki are both a short walk from Raffles Place MRT; CÉ LA VI is directly connected to Bayfront MRT via Marina Bay Sands. None of that helps you much past midnight, because Singapore's MRT stops running well before any of these rooftops close. Budget for a Grab home, expect surge pricing after 1am on weekends, and if you're heading to NOVA on a Saturday, know that the door will check your physical ID twice: once to get in, and potentially again if you're buying alcohol at the bar. For a wider view of what a night out costs across the region, see our breakdown of what a night out actually costs in Bangkok, Bali and Singapore, and for indoor options once you're done with the view, our guide to Singapore's best house and techno clubs covers the rooms that don't have a skyline attached.

FAQ

Is NOVA really the highest rooftop bar in Singapore?

According to its own site, NOVA sits on Level 63 of 1 Raffles Place and markets itself as Singapore's highest rooftop bar, a claim it's held since 1-Altitude, the previous record holder at the same address, closed in 2022.

Which night should I go if I actually want house music?

Saturday is the answer at both NOVA and CÉ LA VI. NOVA's LENERD+1 leans electronic and bass with house elements, while CÉ LA VI's Elevate in the Club Lounge books rotating international and resident DJs specifically playing house and EDM.

Do I need to dress up?

Smart casual is the minimum at all three. NOVA is the strictest and explicitly turns away flip-flops, sandals and sportswear, with staff empowered to refuse entry outright.

Is there a cover charge?

NOVA charges S$28 to S$40 depending on the day and time, with one or two drinks included. CÉ LA VI and Kinki don't publish a cover charge; expect a table minimum or a straightforward bar tab instead.

What happened to 1-Altitude?

It closed in 2022 after 12 years atop One Raffles Place. NOVA opened roughly two and a half years later, in the same building, at a comparable height, and inherited the city's "tallest rooftop bar" title.

Cover photo: the ASTRA sculpture and dance floor at NOVA, Level 63 of 1 Raffles Place. Credit: NOVA, via novabar.sg.