Few years ago, during our visit to BaIi, when we came across Bintang (a popular beer in Bali), I had no clue that there is also a place with similar name “Bintan”. Do you know about Bintan?Although we mostly prefer a laid back beach destination for our vacation. Last year it was Phuket and Krabi. Checkout my blogs about this trip. Phuket in 4 days, Krabi in 3 days
This year somehow we ended up finalizing Singapore. Sole reason for choosing Singapore was our naughty 2.5-year-old toddler. Short and direct flight from Bangalore (4 hours) and unlimited tourist attractions especially for kids were the reasons compelling enough to zero down to Singapore.
This one not being our typical relaxing beach vacation somehow we were having pangs of doubt (Although Singapore dint disappointed us in any way and we had a real good time)
One day we discovered from a friend that there are some Indonesian islands in close proximity to Singapore where we can go by Ferry. So I began my search and figured out that Bintan & Batam are the 2 major Indonesian islands near Singapore. And that’s how we decided to split our vacation between the Laid back zone and the Action zone.
Out of 2 Islands in Riau Archipelago of Indonesia, we chose Bintan, simply as it offered a wide choice of luxury resorts and some options for sightseeing.
Here’s all you need to know about Bintan, Indonesia, a perfect weekend getaway from Singapore.
About Bintan, Indonesia
Bintan is a perfect retreat for those looking for a peaceful time. Situated in the South China Sea, Bintan is the largest island in Riau Island Province of Indonesia with Tanjung Pinang as its capital. With its high-end resorts, world-class golf courses and proximity to Singapore, Bintan is one of the popular weekend getaways among Singaporeans.
Unlike popular beach destinations in Asia like Thailand or Bali, Bintan is relatively lesser known. This sparsely populated island has a glistening coastal line with white soft sand, secluded beaches, tropical forest including mangroves and some historical heritage to discover.
Bintan Island is differentiated into northern and southern parts. North of Bintan island known as Bintan resorts is primarily the center of tourist activities, with most of the beachfront resorts and host of recreational activities.
How to reach Bintan
By Sea – Bintan is just an hour away from Singapore through Ferry. There are frequent ferries from Tanah Merah ferry Terminal to Bandar Bentan Telani Terminal, which will take you to Bintan resorts or Sri Bintan Pura Terminal at Tanjung Pinang. Read all about how to reach Bintan and our ferry experience in my next blog.
From Johor Baru Malaysia, 5 ferries serve the daily schedule between Johor Bahru Ferry Terminal to Sri Bintan Pura Terminal, Tanjung Pinang.
By Air- Bintan only has a domestic airport – Raja Haji Fisabililah Airport. From the capital city of Jakarta there are daily flights to Bintan.
When to visit
Given its proximity to equator, hence the tropical climate is dominant all through the year. Temperature ranges between 21° and 32° Celsius, with average daytime temperature of around 28° Celsius. Early November to late March is the monsoon season.
Avoid planning your trip during public holidays or weekends, as it can get pretty crowded. Our stay in Bintan was from Sunday to Wednesday. It was nice as we could enjoy all the facilities to the maximum including the entire beach to ourselves!
Where to stay
During our visit, we stayed in Nirwana Resorts by Nirwana gardens; it was a nice luxury resort with host of recreational activities and an incredible infinity pool. There are many resorts in the Bintan resorts Area. Read my complete review of the Nirwana gardens here. Hotel Review: Nirwana Resort Hotel,Bintan Indonesia
Major attractions
Bintan is primarily popular among tourists (mainly from Singapore) as a weekend getaway. Apart from relaxing, there are some other attractions, which you can add to your list if you intend to explore the island. Here’s listing all the activities, which I found interesting. We couldn’t try all of it due to shortage of time.
1) Explore the Bintan Resort Area
Bintan resort area in itself has so much to offer that you will fall short of time for the other activities. Nirwana Gardens has 5 resorts and a free shuttle. Some of the major activities and attractions offered at the resort were.
Beach – goes without saying! Bintan resort offers access to pristine beaches. An early morning or late evening walk in the palm fringed sandy beaches is a therapeutic experience. The beach at Nirwana resorts was perfect to soak your self into the sea and enjoy the tranquil surroundings. Calm sea with hardly any waves and crystal clear water was simply breath-taking.
Variety of theme restaurants – If you love to try different cuisines, than probably exploring the restaurants will be a good option. Nirwana gardens have 9 restaurants offering different cuisines and unique experiences. I am sure other resorts in the area will have many more. Although we could not experience all of them but we particularly loved Calypso floating bar, where you can enjoy your drinks right above the sea.
Enjoy the Pool – All the resorts have beautiful pools and that’s one amenity, which you should not miss.
Try Segway ride –Segway (Ninebot) are available on rental at Nirwana resort. Hop on to Segway and enjoy sunrise experience or catch the stunning sunset through a guided tour. Option to explore the area on your own is also available.
Buggy ride & ATVs – Nirwana gardens also offers exciting All terrain vehicles (ATVs) and Buggies on hourly rental basis. So you can rent one of those and enjoy the jungle trail or ride on the white sandy beaches.
Recreational activities & adventure sports – There are host of other recreational activities like bowling, Air rifle, Archery etc. Get an adrenaline rush through 4 storey’s Zip line.
Enjoy feeding the elephants at Elephant center.
Water activities – There are interesting water activities which you can enjoy including scuba diving, under sea walk, jet ski, parasailing etc.
2) Lagoi Plaza & Lantern Park– Lagoi plaza is a beautiful mall situated at a little distance from Bintan resorts. Mall has many restaurants offering local cuisine at economical prices, spa, departmental store etc. Free shuttle service is available for pickup and drop at regular intervals. Although many of the shops in the mall are still unoccupied, you can visit this place for a different experience. The day we visited, there were very few visitors in the mall, and it was like a movie set with jazz music filling the air and lights all over. We had a very different experience, which I will share in my next blog. Apart from the mall you can also visit Lantern Park, which is unique and will be of special interest to the kids. Try these unique paddling cars decorated with lights called odong odong or enjoy the 3.5km-long beachfront with white sand and azure waters.
3) 500 Lohan temple – or Vihara Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, a recently opened Buddhist temple in Tanjung Panang. There are over 500 life-sized, human like (Lohan) statues – each unique and different from the other. The expression on each statue is different.Temple has a huge entrance with a gigantic statue of Buddha. After climbing few stares you reach the main temple, decorated with bright red lanterns etc. We loved spending time in this Calm and peaceful place. Again being a weekday there were only handful of visitors. It’s a beautiful site for photography.
4) Sengarrang – situated at a short distance away from Tanjung Panang is a unique ancient Chinese village built on the stilt along the coast .The rows of old wooden houses supported by the wooden logs have a very rustic appeal to it. A walk across this unique age-old colony of fishermen’s is a unique experience.Sengarrang also has some ancient Chinese temples, which you should not miss.
Tian Shang Miao – Also Popularly known, as Banyan tree temple is a Century-old temple sitting under a massive banyan tree. The Banyan tree temple showcases the marvel of nature where the branches and the roots of the century old Banyan tree has curled itself around the temple forming a peculiar structure.
Vihara Dharma Sasana (temple) – This ancient temple was built to give thank for the safe sea passage of the early Chinese settlers. Temple showcases the co-existence of Gods and Dragons in Chinese mythology. The temple complex houses many ancient temples by the Sengarrang port including Marco temple, Sun Te Kong Temple and Tay Ti kong Temple.
Don’t forget to carry mosquito repellent with you when you visit Sengarrang as the temple is full of mosquitoes and we had a tough time there.
5) Penyengat Island – Situated 15 minutes of motorboat ride away from Tanjung Pinang coast, Penyengat Island has a historical significance, dating back to the 18th Century, when it was established as a fort of the Sultanate of Johor–Riau. Today the island is one of the tourist attractions in Bintan.The Grand Mosque of the Riau Sultanate, near the harbour is one of the landmarks. This tiny island is also home to the ‘tombs of the sultans’, a common stopover that follows on after a visit to Masjid Raya. Unfortunately we could not visit this Island due to shortage of time.
Apart from these there are many more attractions as well as adventure activities that one can enjoy in Bintan depending upon the time available.
Have you already visited Bintan? Do share your favorite attraction or activity in Bintan. In my next blog I will share our 3 days itinerary.
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Hie madhu..need some help from you.regarding blogs.can you help me
Hi sure. Do let me know what help you need ?
Are you a full time blogger or free lancer.or perhaps you just write for fun..just wanted to know how can I earn writing blogs.i asked u specifically because I like your blogs.
Lets connect on instagram @madhuonthego chat or facebook madhu sharma
Sure.thanks
Lovely post about a place I have never heard of! I could really see myself here enjoying the culture and one of those drinks!
Ha ha you should definetly visit then and specially visit the floating bar 😊
Bintan looks like an excellent place to visit with so many things to do and see. Never heard of it before. Thanks for the detailed information and awesome photos!
Thanks so much. It is indeed a nice place.😊
I never knew about this, looks like such a peaceful place! And a great idea to get to from Singapore. Thanks for the info!x
Me wither. It was really nice and relaxing !thanks so much
I have never heard of this place before. Looking at your wonderful photos, I see a great place and culture. Thank for sharing this.
Thanks so much . Even never knew about it few weeks before.so it was really nice to ex0lore a new place
Bintan looks like a beautiful, relaxing, tranquil place. I am originally from Thailand but I now live in England and I miss these type of beaches,
Yes bintan is so relaxing and nice.i love beaches too. Probably you should plan a visit 😊
I think I’m in love with this place. Reading your post for second time and I like it even more now 😊
Thank you for sharing 💕
Thats so nice of you and i am really glad that you liked it so much. Hope you get to visit soon 😊
Such a lovely travel photos! I’m from Singapore so been to some parts of Bintan quite few times already but never been to Nirwana Resorts as there’s much more to explore in Bintan. I shall consider Nirwana on my coming short getaway. 🙂
Thanks so much Farrah. Yes i loved the fact that nirwana offered many activities.
Your photos look so pretty from there! Such a great weekend getaway!
Thanks so much Andrea 😊
Bintan Island looks wonderful! I’ve only been to Bali in Indonesia, but it looks like I need to visit here too. Lovely photos too!
Thanks.yes its really nice and relaxing.though bali is still my favourite😊
Incredible island! I didn’t even know about this place let alone it’s close proximity to Singapore. Sounds like a perfect weekend getaway 🙂 Now if only Singapore was so close to me .. ha!
Thanks Richa. Even i dint knew about it before. But whenever you visit Singapore.. u can plan for a visit to bintan 😊
I am planning to be in Singapore for months next winter. Have thought about Bintan for a weekend. 500 Loohan and Tian Shang Miao look interesting.
Yes you should visit its nice and different from singapore 😊
That floating bar looks amazing! I’ve never heard of Bintan before so it’s great to learn about new places to visit.
Thanks yes it was beautiful. I loved the experience of floating bar
Bintan- I didn’t know that this place even existed
Wonderful post and love the picture of 500 statues of Lohan
Thanks Mayuri 😊 it was indeed a discovery for me too
Being from Australia I can’t believe I’ve never visited Indonesia! So many amazing places including this one that I also had no idea existed. So excited to check it out when I eventually visit.
Never heard of Bintan! Looks amazing though. Also, I just googled it and wow its sooo close to Singapore. Good to know for my Southeast Asia trip next year! 🙂
Thanks michelle. I am glad you liked it. Hope you get to visit soon
Indonesia has been on my list, but just added recently. Singapore seems like an obvious destination, but Bintan sounds incredible! I would love to travel by sea from Singapore – sounds like a great trip!
This is the first time I am hearing about Bintan, Madhu. I have been to Indonesia but I missed visiting Bintan. I guess I have one more reason to explore Indonesia again! 🙂
Thanks lydia..actually for me too it was forst time i heard about Bintan. Probably you should plan and visit 😊
The 500 lohan temple seems really interesting — I’ve never seen anything like that before. And the beaches look beautiful. I’m not a huge fan of resort-y places, though. Are there any parts of the island where you can stay in more low-key accommodation?
Thanks yes its really nice. You can get low key accomodations at the capital town tanjung panang.. where more of local culture can be experienced
I like that they had the lines in the sand like you would find in a Zen garden. The island definitely has a plethora of options to try. The lantern garden looks very inviting. We would definitely enjoy seeing all the temples with the different architecture. The Banyan tree temple would be most intriguing to learn about in my opinion.
I like your story
Thanks so much
I had no idea that the islands were so close to Singapore. I absolutely love Singapore, but after so many visits, the attractions are starting to feel a little stale. This is so cool that I now know I have options to visit neat islands only an hour away. Thank you so much for the suggestions!
Hey Jen.. i am glad that you found it useful. Hope you like the island and get to visit soon 😊
Out of all the awesome things to see and do, I think I’d put visiting the temple first! Ive seen a few photos before and it must be so amazing in person to visit up close!
Thanks Zoe. Even i liked the temple best. It was unique and very peaceful.
That beach looks insane… the white sand ! I love the pictures of the temple, I really want to visit! I also think you look great with the elephant, such a cute picture
Thanks so much 😊 i hope you get to visit soon
Bintan looks beautiful! I would love to visit Singapore one day. This is so good knowing where else to go especially since I would think Singapore can get really busy. The infinities pools here look magical!
I do have to be honest though, riding Elephants are extremely bad or them. I would love to spend time with them instead of riding and would promote that 🙂
I couldn’t agree more on elephant ride part and thats why we fed them instead. I would definitely promote that !
Wow that beach and that resort look amazing. And you don’t have to convince me to have a drink in a floating bar!!
ha ha the bar was absolutely amazing 🙂
As soon as I read your heading I thought of the beer as well! Meanwhile, I’ve never been to Bali or drank Bintang, but I’ve seen lots of the t-shirts in Australia. Those beaches are absolutely gorgeous! And who can turn down a resort?
Thanks Katherine, beach was absolutely stunning ! Hope you get to visit soon !
I have heard about these Indonesian islands close to Singapore but, to be honest, do not know a lot about them. They definitely look more laid back than Singapore. If I visit Singapore, I think I would not miss the opportunity to visit. I am all for seeing new and different places. I am sure the place is affordable too!
If you are visiting Singapore and you have little time, for sure you should explore them, its worth visiting 🙂
Wow, this is so beautiful! It looks like the perfect place to chill and relax away from the city with still plenty of cool activities.
Sure it is ! 🙂
I have to admit, I’d never heard of Bintan before but this is definitely a good thing! As you say, it’s a far lesser known island and is a bit more of the tourist trail – my favourite kind of place! It looks beautiful 🙂
thanks Louise, i hope you get a chance to visit and enjoy Bintan soon 🙂
This looks lovely!
I am slightly embarrassed that one of my favourite noodle places in London is called Bintan, but i had no idea it was the name of a place! I should have quizzed the lovely owner more about it!
I really like the look of those beaches, and Sengarrang. What a cool place to explore!
thanks so much 🙂 probably the owner may be from Bintan. I had no idea about this place too. but its really nice. Hope you get to visit it soon !
I think she mentioned she was from Singapore, but she might have just been saying a place that she thought we’d know. Her food was gorgeous, so that makes me want to try food in the real Bintan!! <3
Great i think then you should plan a visit to Bintan soon 😊
Indonesia has soo many islands I can’t even track, but all of them look gorgeous. Can’t wait to explore some of them
Ya thats true !hope you get a chance soon
Your photos looks soo beautiful. I want to go there now… ha..ha.. have to remember to go there if I visit Asia inthe future
Thanks so much. So glad you liked them 😊
I didn’t know that a place named Bintan even existed. It looks really lovely, the beaches especially.
Thanks so much.its a hidden gem 😊