Batam Travel and Holiday Guides.
A Guide to The Indonesian Tropical Island of Batam.
About Batam. Batam is located around 20kms from
Singapore - although around 160 square miles in size the island has a population
of nearly one million - many of the islanders work in factories which are owned
by Singapore companies. The island is easily reached from Singapore by ferry
with the trip taking around one hour - these
ferries go from Harbour Front Ferry Terminal across the Straits of Singapore to
Batam Centre and they run several times a day. The cost for a return ticket as
of January 2009 is around 34 Singapore Dollars. From Batam you can also take
ferries to neighbouring locations such as Bintan, Johor (in Malaysia) and
Karimun.
Flying In. There is just one airport on Batam called Hang Nadim Airport and this
handles flights mostly to Jakarta although their other destinations available on
a sporadic basis.
Visas: You need a visa to enter Indonesia and this
can be purchased at Batam's airport or ferry terminal on arrival. A maximum 7 day visa
costs USD $10 and a maximum 30 day visa is USD $25 - note these are single entry visas.
(note: quoted prices are as of January
2009 and merely for guidance since they are of course subject to change. (USD=
United States Dollar and SGD= Singapore Dollar).
Duty Free and Singapore. You can buy duty free cigarettes at Singapore Ferry Terminal before heading off to Batam but this is probably rather pointless as cigarettes are really cheap in Indonesia (around half the Singapore duty free price). However when you leave Indonesia do not take Indonesian duty free cigarettes with you since they will almost certainly be seized at the Singapore Ferry Terminal and you may well be fined on top of that.
Taxis. There are plenty of taxis available at the
ferry terminal and airport so transfers within the island are not a problem.
Expect a 20 minute taxi road to cost only 2 to 3 USD.
Car Rental:
You can rent your own car but probably the best bet is to hire a car and driver
for the day or just use the taxis - both options are quite inexpensive.
Batam's Beaches: The island has both public and private beaches - these private beaches are owned by the various hotels - what you can do is get a taxi to one of the hotels and get through security by saying you are there for lunch - then once into the grounds just head off down to the beach for a few hours.
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Batam accommodation, Food and Drinks: There are
many hotels on the island varying as perhaps is usual from quite inexpensive to
full blown and very expensive luxurious efforts. Batam Centre is located around
20 minutes from the ferry terminal and here you will find numerous business
style hotels where you get a reasonable room for around 30 to 40 USD per night.
On the coast there are the much more expensive resort hotels - where of course
you will also find the best beaches.
There are many restaurants of all types - from fish restaurants to fast food to
spice food - located all over the island. A nice place to try is around the
docks area at Batam Centre where you will find 30 or 40 fish restaurants - the
fish is straight off the fishing boats and excellent. A dinner for two people at
one of these restaurants might typically cost just 10 USD.
Prices for beer depend a little on where you are but at a bar expect to pay
around 1 USD for a bottle Bintang Beer (Indonesian national lager). Local
spirits are quite inexpensive - any imported spirits are very expensive, equally
wine has to be imported and is also rather expensive.
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Things to Do.
It's worth taking a trip out to see and go across Batam's Seven Bridges - then
probably end up with a nice long meal somewhere on the coast. There are quite a
lot of shopping opportunities on the island, from numerous markets to more shop
like shopping areas - if that is what you want to do on holiday of course.
Lazing around on the beaches is probably really what a holiday on Bintan is
about - eating and driking and just relaxing. It is worth trying out a few less
relaxing things to do whilst on holiday - you can go water or jet skiing, or
hire a canoe or kayak - also snorkelling is very enjoyable with plenty of
colourful fish and equally colourful rocks to be found close to the shoreline.
It is also possible to either enjoy a spot of rod sea-fishing for a while or
hire a small boat and go out a little way for some sea-fishing.
Late Night Exploits. Batam is quite notorious for it's sex trade - be wary of
what type of bar you go into late at night unless of course that is what you are
looking for.
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