Riau Archipelago

Trikora Beach At Bintan Island

Riau Archipelago with Tanjung Pinang as the capital is blessed with a lot potential tourism objects, beautiful beaches and cultural attractions.

Its waters are the backyard of native seafaring nomads who fish and trade for a living. Their traditional wooden sailing craft,s called 'pinisi' still manage to pass the forested channels of these islands, along with other indigenous craft,s fishing vessels and cargo ships. Tanjung Pinang lies on the largest island of Bintan archipelago. Once known as Riau, it was the heart of an ancient Malay kingdom. Today, Bintan is the latest hot spot of development in Indonesia's surging economy.

A master plan is underway to turn it into a major tourist destination. Barely an hour away from Singapore by ferry, tourist accommodation begins to take advantage  from its strategic location. It consists of Riau Archipelago, Natuna Islands and Anambas Archipelago. Originally part of Riau Province, Riau Archipelago was split off as a separate Province in July 2004 with Tanjung Pinang as its capital. Anambas Archipelago, located between mainland Malaysia and Borneo were attached to the new province. By population, the most important islands in this area are are Bintan, Batam and Karimun. Size wise, however, the sparsely populated Natuna Islands are larger.

Riau Archipelago with its thousands of island has plenty of scenic beaches and diving spots, among them Trikora on Bintan and Pasir Panjang on Rupat Island. The first is about 50 kilometers south of Tanjung Pinang on the eastern side of the island. Pasir Panjang, on the northern side of Rupat facing to Malacca Strait has natural beaches and they are also found on Terkulai and Soreh islands, about an hour's distance by boat from Tanjung Pinang. One of the most popular beaches is Nongsa on Batam Island. From here one can see the Singapore skyline.

Batam is one of the 3,000 islands, which make up the Riau Archipelago and is closest to Singapore, which is only 20 km away or twenty minutes by air-conditioned ferry. It has a rapid-growing population of around 100.000. As the island develops into a major industrial and tourist area, it attracts an ever-increasing population from other Indonesian islands who see Batam as a haven of opportunity. Once almost uninhabited, save for a few scattered fishing communities, Batam's history took a sharp turn beginning 1969, when it became support base for the State-owned 'Pertamina oil company' and its offshore oil exploration. In 1971 a presidential decree designated it as an industrial area and in 1975 the Batam Authority was formed. In 1978 Batam was established as a bonded area.

In addition to the oil support industries of Batu Ampar and a fast growing electronics industry, Batam now attracts increasing numbers of tourists. Many come from Singapore for a short holiday with friends and family, duty-free shopping and great seafood. The visitors to Singapore hope over for a day or weekend trip.

International standard hotels and numerous economy establishments cater to the expanding demand for accommodation. Business, as they say, is booming. An island two-thirds the size of Singapore, Batam progresses by leaps and bounds. Where virgin jungle once stood are now whole new towns, mosques, churches, temples and supermarkets, soon to be followed by reservoirs with enough water to supply a population of 800,000 and for industrial use, an airport-to become an international gateway ,a fine telecommunication system, well equipped industrial parks and the beginnings of a large new urban center.

Bintan Resort

REGIONS

ATTRACTIONS

PEOPLE AND CULTURE

CUISINE

GET IN

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 Indonesiapage. 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.

By plane

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 theSumatra "mainland" such as Pekanbaru, Palembang, Jambi and Pangkal Pinang (in Bangka-Belitung province), while other airlines like Garuda-Indonesia, Sriwijaya air, Merpati, Kartika Airlines, 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 called Raja Ali Haji Fisabilillah Airport at Kijang near Tanjungpinangwith flights From Jakarta By Sriwijaya airlines or Riau-airlines From Jakarta andPekanbaru

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 onKarimun 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 withBatam, 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. It also offers flights south to Singkep Island (Dabo) from Batam and that is a viable option rather than spending 3-6 hours on a ferry.

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 depends how long the trip is. However, to enjoy the island even more try to rent your own motor bike ("rental moto") It starts at 50'000 Rupias (3.2 €uro)/day when there are space to bargain, but on smaller islands they know they can charge more, up to 100'000 Rupias/day.

Tourism Office

Jl. D. I Panjaitan km. 8 No. 12, Tj. Pinang - Kep. Riau

Phone/Fax (62-771) 443377