SAFRA Membership Fees and Facilities — Plus 10 Best SAFRA Promotions & Discounts

Generally, SAFRA is an affordable recreation club in Singapore: If you can’t afford a “real” country club membership yet want access to facilities like swimming pools, bowling alleys and etc, then SAFRA is an alternative.

On top of the swanky club facilities, the SAFRA card also comes with quite a few perks at almost 400 partner merchants. Although SAFRA isn’t the trendiest membership to have, the partners are not bad.

You can get discounts on local attraction tickets, movies, and even bubble tea. (For your convenience, I compiled a list of the best SAFRA promotions below.)

Think you might be interested? Here’s a breakdown of the SAFRA membership fees, member-exclusive discounts, and the club facilities.

 

SAFRA Membership fees

SAFRA membership type	2-year	5-year	10-year
Ordinary A (Operational Ready SAF NSmen and NSF) and Ordinary B (Former NSmen: former SAFRA members)	$80 ($40 per year)	$155 ($31 per year)	$270 ($27 per year)
Dependant of Ordinary A and Ordinary B (Former NSmen: former SAFRA members), and Life members	$40 ($20 per year)	$77 ($15.40 per year)	$135 ($13.50 per year)
Ordinary B (Former NSmen: New applicant) and Associate (Regular Servicemen and DXO)	$120 ($60 per year)	$232 ($46.40 per year)	$405 ($40.50 per year)
Dependant of Ordinary B (Former NSmen: New applicant) and Associate	$60 ($30 per year)	$116 ($23.20 per year)	$202 ($20.20 per year)

You can read the membership terms and conditions on the official SAFRA page.

Originally set up for national servicemen, most people will be eligible as long as there’s a current or former NSmen, regular or DXO in your family. For principal members (non-dependents), membership fees start at $80 for 2 years, and goes up to $405 for 10 years.

That’s relatively inexpensive, at $27 to $60 per year of membership.

 

SAFRA member cards

There 3 types of SAFRA cards available: The plain ol’ membership card, the SAFRA DBS credit card, and the SAFRA DBS debit card.

All 3 are SAFRA membership cards, which means they’re considered proof of your membership, and allow you to earn SAFRAPOINTS.

SAFRAPOINTS is just their reward point system, and you earn these points by spending at participating merchants and on SAFRA facilities.

Every $1 spent = 1 SAFRAPOINT

Every 100 SAFRAPOINTS = $2 rebate

That’s pretty much all the first one is. But on top of that, the credit and debit cards are cashback cards that earn you up to 3% of bonus rebates on MasterCard contactless payments and online shopping (with a min. spend, of course).

	DBS SAFRA credit card	DBS SAFRA debit card
Eligibility	Existing SAFRA member, age 21 and up	Existing SAFRA member, age 16 and up
Minimum income	$30,000 per annum	None
Annual fee	None	None
Minimum spend	$500	$400
Cash rebates on MasterCard contactless payment	3%	2%
Cash rebate on online shopping	3%	1%
Cash rebate on everything else	0.3%	0.3%

The credit card perks are — understandably — better than the debit card one, but like most entry level cards, there is a $30,000 per annum minimum income requirement and you have to be at least 21 years old.

Objectively, compared to other cashback cards in the market, these 2 aren’t that competitive. There are way better cards that offer up to 8% cash back on selected spending categories.

 

10 Best SAFRA member promotions

There are some 380 SAFRA member deals listed on their website, but here are the 10 I shortlisted:

	Discount	Validity
Shaw Theatres	1-for-1 weekend movie tickets	31 Aug 2019
Shaw Theatres	$7 movie tickets for NSFs	17 Dec 2019
Gong Cha	10% off regular price	31 Dec 2019
LiHo	5% off	30 Sep 2019
Zero Latency	10% off VR game sessions	31 Aug 2019
Sandbox VR	Up to 25% off VR game sessions	30 Sep 2019
Holey Moley Golf Club	9 holes of mini golf for $10	31 Dec 2019
Burpple Beyond	20% off all day annual plan	30 Nov 2019
Attica Club	Free entry	31 Dec 2019
Spa Infinity	Unlimited access to spa facilities and refreshments	28 Dec 2019
Expedia	10% eligible hotel bookings	14 May 2020

SAFRA movie discounts at Shaw Theatres

The most well-known SAFRA perk is 1-for-1 weekend movies at Shaw Theatres. It’s been around for as long as I can remember, but it seems that it expires this 31 August. Hopefully they’ll extend this promotion.

If you’re an NSF, you can get $7 tickets on Tuesdays up until Dec 2019.

SAFRA bubble tea discounts at LiHo and Gong Cha

SAFRA members also get perks at popular bubble tea chains LiHo and Gong Cha. It’s only 5% off LiHo, but 10% off Gong Cha, which is quite a big difference.

SAFRA discounts for recreational activities

If you’re the OGL-type who loves to plan gatherings and outings with big groups of friends, you’ll be glad to know that SAFRA members a ton of discounts for these activities.

There’s a special $10 rate for mini gold at Holey Moley, plus 10% and 25% off at virtual reality (VR) gaming centres Zero Latency and Sandbox VR respectively.

 

SAFRA gym and other member facilities

Those are quite attractive discounts, but don’t get carried away. You’re not paying a membership fee just for 10% off your pearl milk tea, okay?!

You’re paying for the country club-esque facilities. Like affordable EnergyOne gym access, for instance.

SAFRA EnergyOne gyms — from $32.10 monthly

The fitness gym is one of the most popular club facilities at SAFRA. Although open to public, SAFRA members get a significant discount off membership fees.

The fee structure is quite complicated. How much you pay depends on things like your SAFRA membership type, your SAFRA gym membership term, and whether you want access to just one of all SAFRA gym clubs.

Generally, it’s about $32.10 to $96.30 per month. Non-members pay more, but it’s still under $100, which is very reasonable.

You may also pay $8.55 to $13.90 per entry, but that’s way more expensive. Read more about SAFRA gyms and other cheap gym alternatives here.

There are 7 SAFRA clubs in general, each with “standard” facilities like the fitness gym (duh!), barbecue pits, indoor courts, dance studios, and swimming pools.

And then, there are some facilities exclusive to selected clubs:

SAFRA Choa Chu Kang (opening 2022)

The west-side club will be SAFRA’s 7th and newest addition, slated to open in 2022. The theme is “fitness oasis”, which explains why the released previews include facilities like an outdoor amphitheatre and a futsal court.

SAFRA Tampines

SAFRA Tampines seems to be the biggest, most well-equipped of the clubs. There’s a family-friendly karaoke centre, a bowling alley, billiards rooms, tennis and squash courts, and a futsal pitch.

SAFRA Punggol

SAFRA Punggol is probably second-best (to me anyway). They’re the only one with archery and watersports facilities, as well as bicycle and rollerblade rentals. There’s also a Manekineko karaoke centre, and an Orchid Bowl bowling alley.

SAFRA Yishun

SAFRA Yishun is not too shabby either: Aside from the Orchid Bowl bowling alley, there’s a full tennis court and a billiards room. Plus, a huge rock wall for avid climbers!

SAFRA Jurong

SAFRA Jurong has mostly the usual stuff; the only outstanding facilities are the karaoke studio, tennis court and futsal pitch.

SAFRA Mount Faber

Thanks to its recent facelift, Mount Faber may be one of the chio-er SAFRA clubs out there. However, the facilities remain quite basic. Aside from the usual ones, there’s a bowling alley and futsal pitch.

SAFRA Toa Payoh

Although the club with the most central location, SAFRA Toa Payoh is only good for indoor recreational activities. There’s a bowling alley, a billiards room and squash courts.

 

Do you think it’s worth it to get a SAFRA membership? Tell us in the comments below!