A Guide to Batam

[surpize]

Ferry operators include Batamfast, Majestic Ferry and Sindo Ferry.

Which ferry operator would you all recommend?

Majestic Ferry... Newer

 

[firsttimebuyer]

Just wondering, do the restaurants, eateries, hotels, private car hires and taxis in Batam expect tips?

 

[Rocky Young]

Just wondering, do the restaurants, eateries, hotels, private car hires and taxis in Batam expect tips?

Generally you are not expected to give tips in Indonesia in restaurants, taxis or anywhere else. BUT, if you pay cash and the change is Rp 10,000 or even less, perhaps you'd want to consider to ask them to keep the change. Rp 10,000 is approximately S$1.

 

[Rocky Young]

I was just wondering, does anybody if it is possible to get to Golden City Go Kart from Allium Batam Hotel?

Take a taxi from the hotel. It should cost you less than S$10,000. It should be Rp 70,000 (S$7) or less.

Definitely cannot walk.

 

[Rocky Young]

Just wondering if it is weird for a near mid-30s male to go on a single trip to Batam.

I just wanna have a short get-away to Batam: a clean and decent trip.

During my younger days, I always backpack in Australia alone but budget super-tight.

Then I started working, for the past 10 years, I avoided travelling just to save money. The further I went was 2 business trips to Adelaide, which was super-shiok.

I try to jio my close buddy to go but he always come up with thousand and one excuses.

I am going on a Bangkok trip next year during February after CNY with another close friend of mine though.

Not weird at all. I run a travel agency and lots of single males (decent I presume) and even females go to Batam every weekend. If you have a clear mind, conscience and objectives, never worry about what other people think.

Batam has a lot of activities besides the nightlife. Cafes, restaurants, pubs, shopping malls, cinemas, massage & spa (proper), outdoor activities (go-kart, wakeboarding, paintball, etc.)

Have fun and enjoy yourself, life's too short to worry about what others think. Everybody's busy thinking about themselves!

 

[evolute8]

Bookmarked.

 

[bennykusman]

Hi,

am planning a trip to Batam, was thinking of going via Horizon Fast Ferry to Harbour Bay Terminal. Read there is many hotels, seafood restaurants and malls around the area from their web site, and is very close to Nagoya City.

Custom clearance is a breeze too.

Anyone had any experience going there?

Thanks

is grab allowed to take passenger from harbour bay terminal ?

 

[tomicaguy]

Batam go go-kart?

Sent from HUAWEI BLA-L29 using GAGT

 

[firsttimebuyer]

Part One - Batam trip:

Ok, everybody, just completed my solo trip to Batam.

I took the ferry service Batamfast from Harbourfront to Harborur Bay.

I think Batamfast, based on the commercial video playing on the on-board TV, has a fleet of over 20 vehicles.

I can't remember the ship I took, except it had the word "Flyte" in it. It was clean and seats look new. some setas had a charging point on it. Toilets may not have much of a flushing power as I tried to went in one and saw some s*it still floating in the bowl...eeewww........

I messed up the timing because firstly, I went to bintan before and the bintan ferry took a much longer time, about 75 mins, whereas the batam ferry took roughly around 50 mins. At the bintan trip, I was stuck in immigration for over 20 mins, while for the batam trip, I cleared immigration in roughly less than 10 minutes (bear in mind it was a Friday morning, on weekends, it is probably a totally different story).

I say I messed up the timing because I booked a car (hotel car) from Hagoya Hill Hotel, at Rupiah 70,000 one way, to arrive at 2 hour (based on estimated ferry trip and the estimated time to clear Batam immigration, both of which turned out to be very wrong.....) after departure from Singapore. But the hotel arranged it at Indonesian timezone and I had totally forgotten that Indonesia's timezone is 1 hour behind ours.

The end result was that when I reached Harbour Bay Ferry Terminal, I had a whole two hours to use before my hotel driver picked me up.

 

[firsttimebuyer]

Part Two - Batam trip:

Since I had a whole 2 hours at Harbour Bay, I took the time to explore. Harbour Bay complex is a mid-sized 2 story mall that is almost a ghost mall, most of the shutters were closed and only a small handful of shops were opened.

There was a Duty Free shop that sold Cigar brands that I didn't recognise, a Starbucks, there was a very large cafe by the name of 'Morning Bakery'. There was an opening ceremony, with a traditional Javanese dance, for a Guardian store. I think some local politicians attended the opening ceremony. There were a few F&B eateries, nearly all empty of customers, selling local Indonesian cuisine.

The Harbour Bay complex looked really clean, but I was surprised to see a few flys buzzing around.

I started walking outside the complex. It was really quiet, I think I was the only person on the streets. There were plenty of cars though. There is a whole row of coffeeshops outside the complex. Once I stepped outside, I got solicited every 2 minutes by local taxi drivers to take their taxi.

While I was walking around the streets, taxis would slow down and ask me to take their cab. There was one guy, on a scooter without a helmet, whom slowed down and ask me "Taxi taxi!!"(No, I am not taking a scooter without a helmet).

A new Marriot hotel is being built right next to the ferry terminal.

There are a number of 2-star hotels and motels in the area, with shophouses that have not opened for business yet.

There was a Zest hotel nearby, and a Swiss-Belotel (this required more walking distance, especially crossing the hazardous road).

I saw a second Morning Bakery outlet out on the streets, but this one was packed with locals.

I also saw a closed KTV by the name of M2, the wall-sized poster said 2.7 million rupiah for 2 bottle of liquor and some mixers.......

 

[firsttimebuyer]

Part Three - Batam trip

My hotel car driver eventually picked me up at HabourBay complex and drove me, in what was less than 15 minutes, to Nagoya Hill Hotel. I noticed the roads were filled with cars, but no pedestrians. My car driver was very polite, courteous and helpful. I managed to check in almost immediately, without any waiting time, at the hotel.

At the hotel, I made 2 mistakes: the first was that I choose to pay the remaining 90% of my hotel bill in cash (I thought I would have enough cash left behind). The second was that I didn't read the fine print when I made the online booking, that there was supposed to be a security deposit of either 500,000 rupiah or $50 SGD in the form of cash. I had only $45 SGD, so I paid 500,000 rupiah in cash.

I was suddenly conscious that I had suddenly a lot less cash than I had planned, since I did planned extra for taxi rides, Go-Karting and seafood etc.

A quick count showed that I had about roughly 1.1 million rupiah left behind, and I was very worried about over-spending.

In retrospect, that was no the case.

Thanks to poor planning, I spent the entire afternoon, close to 6 hours, roaming around Nagoya Hills, not just the shopping mall, but also the surrounding area.