Riau Islands
Table of Contents: Islands / Culture and History / Talk / Travel to Riau Islands, visa requirements Flights to Riau Islands, airtickets By ferry / Get around By boat By air / Local transport / Riau Islands attractions and sightseeing / City tours / Good restaurants and cheap meals / Riau Islands nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs. / Hotels, youth hostels, lodging / Stay safe / Get out More from Sumatra: Aceh, Kerinci Seblat National Park, North Sumatra, Riau, Riau Islands, South Sumatra More from Indonesia: Bali, Java, Kalimantan, Komodo National Park, Maluku, Nusa Tenggara, South East Sulawesi, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Western New Guinea More from Southeast Asia: 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: Caucasus, Central Asia, East Asia, Middle East, Southeast Asia |
The Riau Islands (Indonesian: Kepulauan Riau, abbreviated to Kepri) are an archipelago in Indonesia, located east of Sumatra and south of Singapore.
It is also the name of the new Indonesian province which was created in 2004 which was carved out of Riau province. The province includes all the islands off the Sumatra coast which were previously part of the province, namely Karimun, Riau, Singkep-Lingga, Anambas and Natuna in the South China Sea.
The remainder of Riau province on the Sumatra mainland retains the name Riau province with its capital at Pekanbaru.
Islands
- Bintan - the largest island, home to the provincial capital Tanjung Pinang and to a large resort area
- Batam - border boomtown with industrial zones, sleazy bars, prostitutes and mistresses
- Karimun - island with busy little port, another pleasure spot for Malaysians and Singaporean males
- Kundur - where you can get away from it all but also a haunt for Malaysian and Singaporean males
- Singkep-Lingga - historic islands which are now off the beaten track
- Anambas - remote archipelago several hundred kilometers off the east coast of Malaysia
- Natuna - remote archipelago between Kalimantan and Malaysia
Culture and History
An archipelago of over 3,000 islands, the province has benefited greatly from its location - just 40 minutes from Singapore. Its two main islands Batam and Bintan are some of the most developed and affluent parts of Indonesia.
While Bintan and Batam get many visitors from Singapore and Malaysia via Johor Bahru, the rest of the islands in the province are very much off the beaten track, offering endless exciting trips to the adventurous.
The islands have also become a favourite destination for cycling enthusiasts from Singapore.
Talk
Bahasa Indonesia is modeled on the version of Malay which originates from 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.
Many of the islands, especially Bintan, Karimun and Kundur, have huge Chinese populations who speak Hokkien and Teochew (Chaozhou) as well as Mandarin.
Travel to Riau Islands, visa requirements
The Riau Islands are a major gateway into Indonesia because of good ferry links to nearby Singapore and Malaysia. For detailed visa information, please see the Indonesia page. Many of the seaports in the Riau Islands and the main airport on Batam are visa-free and visa-on-arrival points of entry. Please see the pages for the individual islands or cities on the visa status for a particular port.
Flights to Riau Islands, airtickets
Batam's Hang Nadim Airport (BTH) is the main airport in the province and fields flights from various Indonesian cities. Riau Airlines provides connections with cities in the Sumatra "mainland" such as Pekanbaru, Palembang, Jambi and Pangkal Pinang (in Bangka-Belitung province), while other airlines like Merpati, Kartika Airlines, AirAsia Indonesia, and Mandala Airlines fly to other cities like Medan, Jakarta, Surabaya, Makassar and Banjarmasin. See the Batam and individual city pages for details on connections.
As for international connections, Riau Airlines operates flights every Friday and Sunday between Batam and Johor Bahru in Malaysia. Check the Batam and Johor Baru pages for more details.
Bintan has a smaller airport at Kijang with flights from Pekanbaru.
By ferry
Ferries are the main way to get to the Riau Islands. Check the individual island or city pages for details.
From Singapore: Frequent ferries connect Singapore with Batam and Bintan. See pages of the two islands for details of ports served by the ferries. Ferries also link Singapore with Tanjung Balai on Karimun Island and Tanjung Batu on Kundur Island. Note that Tanjung Batu is not listed as a visa-free or visa-on-arrival point of entry, although visa-free nationalities seem to not have any problems entering via this port.
From Malaysia: Frequent ferries link Johor Bahru with Batam and Bintan. Ferries also run between Kukup in the south western part of Johor state, and Tanjung Balai on Karimun Island. As of mid 2007, a ferry service has been planned for Batu Pahat in Johor and Tanjung Balai on Karimun but has not taken off yet.
From other parts of Indonesia: Numerous ferries link Sumatra mainland cities such as Pekanbaru, Dumai, Palembang, Kuala Tungkal in Jambi and other smaller ports with Batam, Bintan, Karimun and other islands. Ships belonging to Indonesia's passenger shipping company Pelni call at Bintan's Kijang port, Batam's Sekupang domestic ferry terminal and the Natuna Islands, linking them with Jakarta, Medan, Pontianak and other major ports.
Get around
By boat
Boats are the only practical means of traveling through the archipelago. There are very frequent ferries between Batam and Bintan. Frequent ferry links the two islands with other islands in the province like Karimun, Singkep and Lingga. The remote Natuna and Anambas islands are linked by infrequent ferries and Pelni boats from Bintan. For more details, please see the pages for the individual islands.
By air
There are airports on Batam, Bintan and the remote Natuna Islands, where there are airstrips on Natuna and Matak. The main airline linking the various Riau islands is Riau Airlines.
Local transport
In terms of land transport, local transport in the form of taxis, buses, vans (angkut, bemo), and motorcycle taxis (ojek) are available on most islands. It cost a dollar or two, it depense how long the trip is.
Riau Islands attractions and sightseeing
In the capital of the Riau province Tanjung Pinang will you find many historical attration. The famous Budist Temple and Penyengat Island. With the famous Mesjid Raya Moque made by egg. Include the unique building, it's much a spirituel island.To be there you smell the glorious history of Indonesia, yoe can find the parts of the kings palace. Several mausoleum of royalities and a spirite of old religion. The mysteriou of Indonesia, this is maybe the place. Good/evil, black/light, aniamisme. The old ruler's palace and royal tombs, among them the grave of the respected Sultan Haji, who also was creater and author of the first Malay Language grammar book, are among the legacies left by the Riau sultanate. Still in use is the old vice-royal mosque, the Mesjid Raya.
City tours
Riau has many fantastic beaches. So beach life is recomended. Or else can we suggest The cultural center for stage performances of Malay music and dances is located in [Tanjung pinang]]. The center organize regulary festivals and other preformance. Culture happenings such as music and dance.
Good restaurants and cheap meals
The province is famous for it seafood reastaurants, in capital you will find many first class seafood restaurants to very lov price if you compare to the western world and Singapore.
Riau Islands nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs.
Indonesia is famous for coffie and tea
Hotels, youth hostels, lodging
Hotels of various budgets are available in the main towns such as Tanjung Pinang on Bintan, Nagoya on Batam, Tanjung Balai on Karimun and Tanjung Batu on Kundur, although those at the lower end are often sleazy and unpleasant. Five-star beach and golf resorts, catering mostly to Singaporeans, are also popular in this part of Indonesia, mostly located in the Bintan Resorts area on the northern part of the island. There are also resorts on the other islands, eg. Nongsa on Batam. See the individual city/island pages for listings.
Bear in mind that the economic boom has made accommodation in the Riau Islands more expensive than in other parts of Indonesia.
Stay safe
Riau province is a safe place, with a very low crime rate. The are no terrorisme in the province.
Get out
Riau dont have nigh life as the western world, but people hanging in the street in the night. So just go out and see. How the locals enjoy their evening.
More from Sumatra: Aceh, Kerinci Seblat National Park, North Sumatra, Riau, Riau Islands, South Sumatra More from Indonesia: Bali, Java, Kalimantan, Komodo National Park, Maluku, Nusa Tenggara, South East Sulawesi, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Western New Guinea More from Southeast Asia: 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: Caucasus, Central Asia, East Asia, Middle East, Southeast Asia |
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