From Singapore Rolling Down to Batam Island

Motor scooters are in plague proportions, every taxi driver has one hand always pumping the horn, and roads that begin as autobahns all of the sudden flip into pot-holed tracks. Hey, Mates, I don't think you're in Singapore any more.

However you're solely 20km away, on Indonesia's Batam Island, and it's only taken you an hour journey to get right here on the Batamfast ferry from Singapore's Harbourfront.

Common ferries shuttle Singaporeans to Batam to purchase low-cost clothes and layer cake, and convey Indonesians to Singapore to buy cellphones that work. There are massive, excited, chattering crowds, competing with the Indonesian music blared out by the onboard TV within the nook of the ferry. The trip itself is an experience.

The city of Batam is the richest and quickest rising city in Indonesia. Manufacturing and engineering have drawn in firms from all over the world and the industry has drawn in people from throughout Indonesia.
Opposite the Central Ferry Terminal are the Hypermart and the Mega Mall. Amid the red soil of new building sites, new housing is being thrown up everywhere.

The coast of Batam, like that of its subsequent door neighbor Bintan, is dotted with resorts. Singaporeans flock to Batam for weekends of golf and women, we had been told. Rainforest is being sacrificed for golf courses and beaches privatized.

Locations You Just Have to See in Batam

Nagoya Batam

In case you're the kind who is more drawn to highly urbanized sites, then you definitely will undoubtedly love Nagoya. This place is the leisure and business center of Batam. Right here, a whole lot of eating places, retailers, dance clubs, spas, karaoke clubs, cinema, bars, plazas, Batam hotels, and music lounges can be found. Among the widespread shopping centers in Nagoya include Nagoya Hill, BCS Mall, the DC Mall, Megamall, Kepri Mall and Robinson & Ramayana.

Turi Beach Resort

For those who're looking for less energetic pursuits, you can spend a few nights on the east side of the island at Turi Beach Resort, on a quiet, un-crowded seaside with a pleasing pool (and an average restaurant by Indonesian standards, it must be said) then on the town at the Novotel Batam, comfy and generic on the inside, apparently gaudy on the outside.

Barelang Bridge

An appropriate route for the morning tour is a trip to the Barelang (Batam - Rempang - Galang) region. All it takes is a car of course. Motors can indeed however for the convenience of rental car is advisable to use in Batam. And do not forget to prepare food and drinks  so stopped on the grocery store that's passed during the trip went to Barelang, which should be go through from the Nagoya is Panbil Mall, here are the Ramayana and KFC for lunch options, Kepri Mall with Carrefour and Top 100 Tembesi with top 100 supermarket.

The journey will be fun later. The primary sight that must be enjoyed is an excellent perspective of the first bridge with metal rope components exactly as we often see in American films and Hong Kong. Apparently there are also available in Indonesia, Batam exactly. Ease the first place visited was the Melur beach. Entrance is just ten thousand rupiah per car. From there, the location of the seashore is barely about 500 meters.

Completion of Melur seashore trip, simply across the junction the place the shingle seashore was the site of the former Refugee Camp Vietnam. About twenty thousand tickets per car. Nicely after this that rarely exists elsewhere, specifically to visit dragon fruit plantation. The original planting dragon fruit from Taiwan was later cultivated in many areas in Barelang.

At late afternoon after completing three of this unique place. On the way home you can enjoy the sun set over the ocean horizon line.

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Travel to Batam: Dragon Fruit Plantation in Barelang Bridge and Seafood

When you arrived in Batam, Some tour guide told you to try a cake made of dragon fruit. Probably you will be wonder if the dragon fruit is the typical fruit in Batam?

When visiting the Barelang Bridge, you also can go to dragon fruit plantation there and you will know that the dragon fruit is the typical Batam’s Fruit.
The dragon fruit plantation normally located close to the beach. This is a perfect location to plant the dragon fruit because based on the growers the dragon fruit need medium that nutrient-rich, sandy, sunny place and not muddy (therefore the dragon fruit crops shouldn't be watered too often) to grow. There are two kinds of dragon fruit which is split according to its color, white and red( actually its purplish red).

It was nice to be in this plantation. The atmosphere isn't too crowded, the scenery is so stunning and crucial is you'll be able to enjoy the dragon fruit fresh from the plantation.

From the dragon fruit plantation, we can head to...seafood restaurant! It feels waste if we went to Batam but don't eat seafood.


In Barelang, there are many seafood restaurants that built above the sea. The restaurant was built using woods and drums as a baseline. In my opinion, this restaurant is very unique. Because it is built above the sea, when the ocean waves come, we can feel the restaurant moves. When the sea water gets high then the restaurant will go up. There are the houses of fishermen in beside this seafood restaurant.

In the center of the restaurant, there are many small pools like this that contain fish, shrimp, crabs and others, so you can choose directly the seafood that you want to eat.

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One Day Batam Trip Idea

If you and your friends wanted a short getaway for a day tour in batam island...But don’t know what can you do in batam ? Let me provide you a one day Batam trip idea through this article.

In One day Batam trip you can do :

1. Go to Taman Mini Indonesia where you can explore Indonesia in One Day, A place where we can find a lot of miniature houses of all Indonesia provinces

2. Eat at Golden Prawn 933 and buy homemade Lapis cake there

3. Go to GTS Local Product Shop/ Yongheng Dry Market/ Bengkong Dry Food Stuff Market, for local goodies, crackers and dried cuttlefish.

4. Visit Maha Vihara Duta Maitreya Temple, The biggest temple in South Asia "Vihara Duta Maitreya" at Batam Centre .

5. Visit Thua Pek Kong Temple, the oldest historical temple in Batam town called "Thua Pek Kong" temple. Pray for your happiness and harmony

6. Buy brand t-shirt at cheap price in Fist Factory outlet, A factory outlet store that sell not only Ralph Lauren products but also other export overrun products like Nautica, Ann Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and more. The factory Outlet is located in the Nagoya Area of Batam and is a shoppers paradise as you will be able to buy assorted export overrun dress, t-shirts, jackets, shoes, bags and other stuffs and the prices are really cheap but a caution, the styles here are old designs of the Branded Products.

7. Massage in Indo Thai or Sawadika, for those who yearn for traditional Indonesian Massage, you can pamper to 1 to 2hours of good massage(at expense about S$15-S$25)

8. Visit Nagoya Hill, Nagoya Hill is a name of a Shopping Mall, the largest and most visited in Batam, Indonesia. Nagoya Hill became a tourist destination and an attractive tourism in Batam, due to Nagoya Hill Shopping Mall is a shopping place that has a fairly complete retail goods with a relatively cheap price.

9. Process to International Ferry Terminal and *Home Sweet Home*, end of one day Batam trip.

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Batam Island - An Indulge Island Near Singapore

Batam is a well-liked vacation spot for fun starved Singaporeans, who find the Singapore's digital life a bit 'dry'. Batam is greatest visited from Singapore, where the connecting ferries present an excellent service and frequency for connecting to Batam, although the ferry fare of average S$ 45 for a return fare for about an hour trip is kind of steep.

Batam is a short ferry ride away and belongs to Riau Province of Indonesia. The distance between Batam and Singapore is less than 20 kms. Nature and panorama wise, Batam Island doesnt have much to offer, however if you wish to get pleasure from cheap seafood and do loads of shopping at very reasonable price, Batam is the place for you. Nightlife is also quite lively, though, typically for all of the bad reasons. However, spa, massage and beer are very low price here. The hotels are a lot and for food, particularly seafood, you're spoilt for choice.

There is not much one can indulge while in Batam. One can try some of these activities:

1. Go for a long Drive through the Arch Bridge (Barelang bridges) to neighboring islands and to the Vietnamese refugee camp.

2. Need some pampering? Get a spa treatment at Batam! It is very cheap as compared to the packages in Singapore. You just paid S$50 on top of the accommodation to have a 2.5 hour treatment including body scrub, body massage, facial treatment and herbal bat.

3. Shopping at Nagoya Hill, It was a 30 minutes ride from the resort to Nagoya Hill Shopping Mall. First thing you may curious was, "Why is it called Nagoya Hill when you’re not in Japan?" No idea.

4. Go pubbing in numerous bars and discos

5. Dining, Batam has several fine restaurants where you can enjoy some great cuisine. If you want to enjoy the Batam fast-food experience, the best places are the A1 Pujasera, Windsor and the Nagoya Food Courts. If you want fine dining then don't miss out on going to the Golden Prawn Seafood Restaurant in Bengkong, for some fresh seafood dishes.

Batam is not famous for good beaches. So don’t expect a lot. But there are a few sea- facing resorts like Turi Beach Resort, Batam View beach resort, located near Nongsa village, which are worth exploring.

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Tourist Attractions in Batam City

In 2010 the City held a Visiting Batam Tour Year titled Visit Batam 2010 - Experience It. Supported by facilities of international standard hotels and resorts and various tourist activities that are arranged in Batam City Calendar of Events Tourism, is expected to ensure the comfort and satisfaction of domestic and foreign tourists during a visit to Batam.

Batam City as a tourism city, serves a variety of tourist facilities and beaches of marine tourism, cultural tourism and the arts, shopping, economy travel and conferences, as well as humanitarian tours. Supported by the availability of hotels and resort facilities with an international-class standards and the various events organized in Batam City Tourism Calendar of Events which is expected to ensure the comfort and satisfaction in domestic and foreign tourists visiting the city of Batam.

Below are the various tourist attraction in Batam that categories into: Nature tour, Historical tour, Culinary tour, Shopping Centre tour, Sports tour, Night Life tour and Special Interest tour.

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My Short Trip to Batam

It takes about 45 minutes ferry ride from the Harbour Front ferry terminal to go to Harbour Bay ferry terminal in Batam. There are some ferry operators with some different destination port from Singapore to Batam.

My husband and I took ‘Wavemaster’ ferry to Harbour Bay ferry terminal, a return ticket of $48.00 per person is cheaper than one way ticket which cost more than half of price. Waiting bay is clean, nice and not packed with people perhaps it was on Tuesday morning.

I enjoyed the sea breeze and the smell of the ocean until I realized that the ferry had arrived at Harbour Bay. First destination was Nagoya Hill, a new and big shopping mall surrounded by small shop houses with many variety of business. I like this kind of shopping malls where there are many unique shops selling different kind of stuffs. Bargaining is important to get good and cheap stuffs such as cloths, shoes and other things, of course it’s not easy to bargain if you do not have roughly idea on the price.

After strolling around almost one hour in the mall, we moved to the food gallery to find something to eat, so many small restaurants and food stalls offer delicious foods and refreshing drinks. Finally we decided to have our lunch at a Sundanese restaurant, it was good, yummy and cheap too, It costs around $10 for 2 people including fresh fruit juices.

From Nagoya Hill we took taxi heading to Batam Centre, actually this is another ferry terminal in central area but our ticket was return ticket for Harbour Bay which meant we had to take our return trip also from there. Taxi cost around $6 -$7 depends on the car condition and taxi operator and the price was not fix too. It’s about 20 minutes driving to get to Batam Centre, The mall is smaller than Nagoya Hill but nice place to shop, eat and relax too.

We spent our time having light meal i.e. empek-empek and es campur while resting our foot and enjoying the harbour view from the restaurant’s window. There are a movie theater and some Spas in this shopping mall which most visited by Singaporeans.

At dusk, we went back to the Harbour Bay, walking and exploring the new shopping mall which is adjacent to the Harbour Bay ferry terminal and Windsor seafood centre along the seaside. The mall just opened around February 2010, some shops had not opened for business yet, we went to Carefour to grab some avocados and other stuffs in our shopping list.

After finish shopping, we rushed to the seaside food centre, they open their business in the evening till early morning. Having an al-fresco diner under the clear sky was fantastic and memorable. The eating place was simple and clean, we could choose the fresh fish, prawn and crabs ourselves. We started to check out the menu, there were no price listed even the waitress had no idea at all how much was the food cost but politely offered to check with the cashier for the price. Anyway, we didn’t want to wait any longer as our stomach growled, we ordered some seafood meals and they served the food about 20 minutes later, their prawn and fish were really fresh and tasty, we enjoyed the meal and the ambience, after we got the bill we found their price was reasonable, it’s around 40% of the price for the same food in Singapore.

Full stomach and tired, we walked down to the ferry terminal and caught the last ferry for that day to return to Singapore.

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