Asia : Southeast Asia : Indonesia : Sumatra : Riau Islands : Bintan

Bintan

Table of Contents:
Culture and History / Cities / Other destinations / Talk / Travel to Bintan, visa requirements / Visa Flights to Bintan, airtickets By boat / Get around By taxi / Bintan attractions and sightseeing / City tours / Shopping, Bintan souvenirs / Good restaurants and cheap meals / Bintan nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs. / Stay safe / Get out

More from Riau Islands:
Batam, Bintan, Karimun, Kundur

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Aceh, Kerinci Seblat National Park, North Sumatra, Riau, Riau Islands, South Sumatra

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Bali, Java, Kalimantan, Komodo National Park, Maluku, Nusa Tenggara, South East Sulawesi, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Western New Guinea

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Borneo, Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, One month of Southeast Asian diving and culture, Paracel Islands, Philippines, Singapore, Spratly Islands, Thailand, Vietnam

More from Asia:
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Bintan is one of the Riau Islands of Indonesia.

Culture and History

Bintan leads a double life: the northern portion of the island, Bintan Resorts (Lagoi), is a colony of Singapore in all but name, full of expensive resorts and manicured lawns. As it has very little in common with the rest of the island, the resorts are covered in the Bintan Resorts article.

Separated from the resorts by checkpoints and armed guards, the southern half of the island is "real" border town Indonesia, home to electronics factories, fishing villages, many prostitutes and some low-key beaches.

Cities

Kijang
Tanjung Pinang - the main town of the island
Tanjung Uban

Other destinations

Bintan Resorts - a chunk of Singapore in Indonesia
Trikora - the eastern beach

Talk

Bahasa Indonesia, which is spoken throughout Indonesia, is modeled on the version of Malay which originates from Riau on the Sumatra mainland and the Riau Islands. In fact, Riau Malay is regarded as the purest form of the Malay language and visitors from Malaysia will find the Malay spoken here very similar to Bahasa Malaysia, which is the version of Malay spoken back home.

Tanjung Pinang, the largest town on Bintan, has a large Chinese population who speak the Fujian and Chaozhou dialect as well as Mandarin.

Travel to Bintan, visa requirements

Visa

For detailed information on visas, please see Indonesia page. All Bintan ports, namely Tanjung Pinang, Lobam and Bandar Bentan Telani or Lagoi (Bintan Resorts) are visa-free and visa-on-arrival points of entry.

Flights to Bintan, airtickets

Bintan's airport only caters to a limited number of flights, none of which are international. Main operator is Riau Airlines which provide connections to Pekanbaru, Palembang, Jambi and the remote Natuna Islands.

By boat

You are most likely to arrive by boat. Most international travelers arrive from Singapore and Johor Bahru. Bintan is also the major domestic seaport for the Riau Islands and is a port of call for Indonesia's major passenger shipping company Pelni.

There are several passenger ports in Bintan. The most common one is at Tanjung Pinang where most short-distance inter-island ferries and those from Singapore and Johor Bahru dock. The other ferry terminals are at Tanjung Uban, Kijang (where Pelni boats dock), and Teluk Sebung which serves the Bintan Resorts area on the northern part of the island. Please see Bintan Resorts for details to get to that part of Bintan.

From/to Singapore - three companies - Penguin, Indo Falcon and Berlian/Wavemaster - operate ferries between Singapore's Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal and Tanjung Pinang. Together, they operate six ferries on weekdays, increasing to nine during weekends and public holidays. Tickets cost around $40 return.
- Berlian/Wave master (Tel: +65-65468830 in Tanah Merah FT)
- Indo Falcon (Tel: +65-62706778/62757393 in Singapore)
- Penguin (Tel: +65-65427105 in Tanah Merah FT)

From/to Malaysia - around five ferries daily to/from the Johor Bahru International Ferry Terminal at Stulang Laut, Johor Bahru, to Tanjung Pinang. Tickets cost RM75/125 one-way/return excluding taxes. Journey takes 90 mins. Call Tenggara Senandung (Tel: +60-7-2211677) at the Johor Bahru ferry terminal for more information.

From/to Batam
- Baruna (Tel: +62-771-28578 in Tanjung Pinang, +62-778-479162 in Telaga Punggur) and Sentosa speedboats run virtually every 15 minutes between Telaga Punggur on the southeastern end of Batam and Tanjung Pinang, the main town on Bintan. The fare is Rp. 30.000 before port taxes of Rp. 3.500 (1 hour). Slightly less frequent speedboats run between Telaga Punggur and Tanjung Uban on the western end of Bintan.
- Several ferries which originate from cities in the Sumatra mainland also call at Sekupang, the main domestic ferry port on Batam, before continuing to Tanjung Pinang. One such operator is Dumai Express.

From/to Dumai, Sumatra - several ferries daily by Dumai Express run to Tanjung Pinang via Sekupang, Batam. Some ferries also stop at Tanjung Balai on Karimun Island.

From/to Pekanbaru - SB Kurnia Usaha Baru runs daily ferry to Pekanbaru, departing at 6:30 am. The fare is Rp 220.000 before port tax of Rp 3.500.

From/to Tanjung Balai, Karimun Island - daily ferries by Arena to/from Tanjung Pinang.

From/to Tanjung Batu, Kundur Island - one daily speedboat operated by SB Giam Mas (Tanjung Batu agent at port, Tel: +62-779-431589) departs daily from Tanjung Batu, the main town on Kundur Island, at 0745 for Tanjung Pinang. The boat returns to Tanjung Batu on the same day, departing Tanjung Pinang at 1200. The boat has scheduled stops at Galang Island and Moro on Sugibawah Island, while unscheduled stops may be made at various little settlements along the way. Journey time is about two and a half hours each way. The fare from Tanjung Batu to Tanjung Pinang and vice-versa is Rp130,000 before port taxes.

From/to Singkep Island - ferries Batavia and Superjet run daily between Tanjung Pinang and Dabo on Singkep Island, departing at 11 am. The fare is Rp 105.000 before port tax of Rp 3.500. You can catch boat connections to the Lingga Islands from Singkep.

From/to Natuna Islands
- Fortnightly ferry from Tanjung Pinang to the isolated Anambas and Natuna Islands.
- Pelni's KM Bukit Raya sails from Kijang port in Bintan to Letung, Tarempa. Natuna and Midai on the way out to Pontianak, West Kalimantan. It however returns to Tanjung Pinang via a different route.

From/to other parts of Indonesia - PELNI ships link various Indonesian islands with Kijang port on Bintan. These ships provide direct links with Jakarta (KM Ciremiu), Pontianak and other more distant ports. Getting there/away: From outside Kijang harbour there are bemos (public minibuses) going the 26 km to Tanjung Pinang.

Get around

There is no public transportation to speak of Bintan. Taxis/car rental are the only ways to get around Bintan. Car rental should not cost more than S$50/day for a sedan, in fact, some places cost S$20/day.

By taxi

Taxis compete furiously for your custom and cutthroat bargaining is a necessity. The safety of these is dubious though, and it is generally advisable to avoid the taxi touts at Tanjung Pinang's ferry terminal entirely and arrange transportation with your lodgings.

Bintan attractions and sightseeing

Go to Trikora Beach. It is beautiful and there are many seasports readily available.

Also, the primary rainforests, although reduced in size due to commercialism, they are still majestic and magnificent.

City tours

Bintan has beaches and sea games, but it is also known to be a place for prostitution, unless this is what you are looking for. Bintan Resorts have fantastic golf.

You can also go island-hopping from the main ports. From Tanjung Pinang, going to a nearby island would only be about S$5-10.

Shopping, Bintan souvenirs

Both Indonesian rupiah and Singapore dollars are universally accepted.

The major shopping centres in town hardly compare to those in Singapore, Jakarta, or Kuala Lumpur, but the items sold are generally cheap, varied, and acceptable quality.

Good restaurants and cheap meals

Seafood in Bintan is fresh and affordable (about S$3-7/pax) and Tanjung Pinang has many restaurants, although they usually have sub-standard fans and minimal or gaudy decoration. However, service is good and waiters are friendly. There isn't always an English menu, so take a look at the Indonesian phrasebook and learn the basics.

Hygiene may be a problem, but restaurants here depend on repeat customers, so generally they will do their best to make sure you have an enjoyable experience.

Bintan nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs.

Drink bottled water. Except for a few 4/5* hotels, tap water is generaly not potable.

As the locals are generally Muslims and thus do not usually drink alcoholic beverages, beer and wines are not available in every shop, but major shopping centres/hotel concierges can tell you where to buy them.

Stay safe

Tanjung Pinang has a partly deserved bad reputation. Do not carry large quantities of cash or flash it about, and do not take unfamiliar taxis (particularly the touts at the jetty).

Locals will readily befriend you, but be warned, they will inflate your bills and take a cut. However, since the cut they take isn't very large unless they are really unscrupulous so they still make good, friendly, and knowledgeable guides.

Prostitution is a problem so unless that is what you are looking for, you should (if you are a man) never go near them. They are quite persuasive and lead hard lives so they will keep on pestering you if you show the slightest interest.