We have finally reached the post-pandemic period, and I think that there was a destination that people have been really interested in reading about – Batam!

Taking the Ferry from Harbourfront to Harbour Bay

The last I’ve been to Batam was in..2019. Finally after two years, we managed to do a short 4D3N trip from in Oct 2022 (Thu to Sun). We booked a two-way return trip via Horizon Fast Ferry directly via the website (which was the cheapest compared to using other third party websites), and because it was docked at Harbour Bay.

Just collect the tickets at the counter about an hour before departure, and you are all set.

A quick recap: Harbour Bay only serves one ferry company, so it is definitely not as crowded as dropping off at Batam Centre. It is also about a 10 minute drive to Nagoya. The ferry is fully seated with no tables, and is quite clean. Collect your return tickets (if you already planned in advanced) before leaving Harbour Bay.

Harbour Bay itself had also completed their renovations, so it looks super sleek and swanky, including some bubble tea shops, a Guardian, and a big modern-looking Starbucks! It is now a comfortable place to hang out during the last few hours of your trip!

Immigration

	Departure from SG	Arrival to SG
Bag Check in	You can check in your luggage at the counter beside the gate, if you’d like. There was no queue. Hassle-free process. Once the ferry is docked at Harbour Bay, do take the luggage out with you from the ferry so you do not need to wait for the bags for a long time after passing immigration.	There is no bag check-in at Harbour Bay, but there will be helpers (their staff) to help carry your items from the gate. They will follow you all the way from immigration to the boarding area to the ferry, and help you load your luggage.
Covid-19 measures	You just need to download the Pelindungi app, and fill up the vaccination certificate. But we didn’t really use the app in Batam at all. This should be done as early as possible because the approval process takes at least 2 weeks on average. We were supposed to scan the QR code using the app before queuing up for the immigration when we reached Harbour Bay. However, it didn’t work because the app needed data roaming, and everyone else also weren’t able to do so. It created a bottleneck, so we ended up not scanning the check-in QR code.	You just have to fill up the ICA online form before arrival.
Wheelchair priority experience	Wheelchair users will be able to use the priority lanes. At the boarding area after the immigration counters, the staff kept a lookout for those who need assistance, and approached them. They asked to see the ferry ticket, and told us to head to the front counter for priority boarding. They had also reserved the seats nearest on the ferry nearest to the door for those who needs assistance.	Similar process as departure.

Itinerary

I made sure to check out some places that I haven’t visited before, apart from re-visiting my favourite hangouts. We also kinda out-grew some of our old hangouts spots. Overall, I would say the trip was still pretty cool and eye-opening!

Quick update in case you were wondering: Some malls like DC mall has closed down, while quite a lot of shops within existing malls like BCS mall and Nagoya Hill have closed permanently as well. Heard from my driver as well that Taman Wisata Habibie 100 Tangga was in bad condition too.

1. Grand Batam Mall

This is the latest mall, and it has a great range of things to do and eat. There are:

• Many restaurants and cafes (especially Japanese cuisine), and best part is, all the food that is not halal in SG is halal there (Sushi Tei, Genki Sushi etc) and sooo many bubble tea I crai
• A cinema – There were only two movie showings available. We watched Black Adam for only about S$4

• Arcade games aka Fun World – shoot some hoops, play with hockey pucks, dance, bowl, and go fishing. I seriously did not know the fishing game was so addictive. Also had a lucky hand by winning coupons at those random lucky game machines, and I definitely reccomend claiming the hair clips from here. They were unexpectedly so sturdy and comfy!

• There’s aslo a large play area for children called Kidzania.
• Supermarket!!!!
• A shop I bought items from was Colourbox. Apparently it is a local brand, while the quality is meh like H&M for some of its collection, there were still pretty cute in-trend clothes. And their dressing room was cute too.

Could hear Singaporean accents all around in this mall haha.

Address: Jalan Pembangunan, Batu Selicin, Kec. Lubuk Baja, Kota Batam, Kepulauan Riau 29444, Indonesia
Opening hours: 10am-10pm, Daily
Contact: +62 778 488 8800 

2. Bengkong Laut

Bengkong is in the same vicinity as the well-known Golden Prawn. There are also facilities like a futsal pitch, a water activity park, a badminton hall, and an adventure centre.

The place is now filled with very modern-looking cafes and bars. The one that I visited was the Level Up Floating Bar (more details in the food section below). It had a nice and relaxing ambience.

There was also another bar a few streets down Level Up with huge lights and live music. Spotted an indoor kids playground right in the middle of the restaurants and bars (very smart location).

But the best part about Bengkong Laut is…the super long pasar malam (night market) street!

You can find repeated stalls along the way, but it is really a long street. There is a wide range of food, from Indonesian food, to burgers, to corndogs, chicken, sushi, grilled food, and my facourite CORN! And the bubble tea stalls mostly include free pearls, priced at only 10,000 rupiah (S$0.90).

Address: Bengkong Laut, Bengkong, Batam City, Riau Islands, Indonesia

Opening hours: Daily, each evening

When you drive back to town, you will pass by this huge Bengkong pasar which sell fresh fruits and vegetables. It opens till 12am. It took up a pretty large area, so I was skeptical that all the merchants will be able to sell out, but apparently they do. It was pretty interesting to see a market that closes at 12am for fresh produce, because our local markets usually start in the wee hours after 12am until the sun rises, but this market opens after the sun sets till midnight.

3. Night Lights at Fave Hotel

If you head to the street along Fave Hotel at night, you can find countless people on the streets posing for photos with the street lights, locals and tourists. (I stayed at the opposite hotel, so I could observe the crowd at night). It is simple and pretty, and a nice place to hang out with friends and family since there is a plaza. There are some small rides for children too, and a kopitiam nearby which (I think) is 24 hours.

If you are lucky, you may also catch events at night. The week before we arrived, there was some small food fair, but we didn’t manage to catch it in time.

Address: Nagoya Thamrin City, Komplek Nagoya Thamrin Tower A, Jl.Imam Bonjol Lubuk Baja, Nagoya, Batam Island, Indonesia, 29444 

4. Viovio Beach

Viovio Beach existed many years ago, but because it was quite far out of town (even further than Barelang, at least an hour and a half from city centre). But better late than never!

The journey came with some pretty views, like the sea and the surrounding small islands when we crossed the bridges on the road. The green landscape were accompanied by hills, agricultural land, some military sites, small kampongs, and lush trees.

Right before reaching the beach, we had to drive up and down a steep hill that had no concrete path, with one lane roads, so do drive really slowly!

Interestingly, because Viovio Beach was so far out of town, it was also coincidentally located near a COVID-19 quarantine site (far bigger than Singapore expo) for the locals. My driver shared that they lived in a room with about 4 to 5 people, with shared facilities. So, they played soccer together everyday, because there was literally nothing much they could do there.

If you are planning for a beach day, this could be one of your options. We saw lots of Indonesians (eg a guy who lived in Jakarta, who came to Batam for a holiday with his mum).

There are lots of parking spaces and you have to pay an entrance fee of Rp15,000 (S$1.30) per person on weekdays. There are some pros and cons to this place:

Great Things	Ok, noted
Many different photo spots. These include wooden structures a bit in the sea (there is a conrete path to get to those wooden structures), a swing by the sea, some small cute structures along the beach, and this cool-looking two-storey pagoda of sorts with a vantage point.	The sand is nice, but the seawater is dirty.
Their gazebos are pretty, but you would have to rent it (since we were only there for about 2 hours, we quickly bought some drinks from them so they sorta allowed us to use the gazebo for a while, since there wasn’t a crowd yet at 12pm). There are some small unkept wooden seats around some trees which are free to use though.	The toilets are extremely basic (think kampong style), and is a shared communal space.
The glamping accomodation actually looks very pretty and comfy (comes with aircon too)! The staff was very nice – while my brother and I were going around taking photos, the staff allowed my mum and other visitors to take a look at the accomodation and allowed photos. The check in is at 4pm and check out at 11am.	There are paid water activities available, but it didn’t seem very exciting. So I wouldn’t go here for the thrilling factor, just to relax and destress.
There is a restaurant there, and live music and DJ at night! You can actually order a bbq which will be set up right in front of your glamping tent. Other facilities include a beach volleyball play area etc. There is also a small mangrove!	They are currently building new toilets beside the glamping area, and another resort of sorts at the end of the beach too.
You can also book other for other events like sunset dinner, wedding reception, and there is also a villa.

Glamping accoms looking real comfy:

Tip: Head over there in the morning and rent the gazebo, play in the sun and all, then you can rest and and enjoy the ambience for the rest of the evening in the accomodation after check in.

Address: Jalan Trans Barelang, Kelurahan Sijantung, Kecamatan Galang, Kota Batam, Kepulauan Riau
Opening hours: 9am-11pm, Daily
Contact:Vio Vio Beach website

5. Barelang Bridge

Still a crowd favourite, it is included in the list as an honorable mention.

A popular spot for locals, and you can spot many people having a picnic and taking photos on the bridge. The street food is still there, and it tastes amazing! Get those baby crabs and grilled corn!

Note: There is a small hill located beside the street stalls, where anyone can enjoy the view of the sea and Barelang fron a vantage point, but that part was closed for renovations.

Address: Q5MG+69M, Jalan. Trans Barelang, Sembulang, Galang, Kota Batam, Kepulauan Riau 29481, Indonesia

6. SP Plaza Area

This is about half an hour drive from town, but it is a very hot place. Some might say it is even better than Bengkong Laut. Every night after 5pm, there will be a pasar malam (night market) – stalls lined up on multiple streets, selling all sorts of local food and other cuisines at super affordable price. And everyone was really nice and friendly. The stalls were also quite clean.

Also spotted a few pretty cafes along the shophouses. And there is also a huge outdoor food court which sells bbq seafood, nasi padang and more!

It was a lot to take in. But if you want to do what the locals do, this is THE place. Everything is priced for the locals and you get to try food that the locals eat.

Nearby Landmark: SP Plaza and Top 100

Address:Jl. Letjen R. Suprapto, Tembesi, Kec. Sagulung, Kota Batam, Kepulauan Riau 29424, Indonesia

Opening Hours: Daily, each evening

Mumbai textile

Address: Jl. Letjend Suprapto No.4, RT.04, Tembesi, Kec. Sagulung, Kota Batam, Kepulauan Riau 29439, Indonesia

Tel: 081259900542

7. Kneipp Home Spa

To be honest, there are countless massage shops here and they are all generally alright. My family usually just looks for a cheap and clean place, so our driver reccomended this place to us. It was super affordable, and it wasn’t crowded. I always fall asleep during massages, this time was no different haha.

Address: Kompleks, Jl. Imam Bondjol Komp. Windsor Central Jl. Pembangunan No.16, Lubuk Baja Kota, Kec. Lubuk Baja, Kota Batam, Kepulauan Riau 29444, Indonesia

Opening Hours: 10am – 8pm daily

8. Masjid (Mosque) at HangFM HangTV

The fam planned to dontate food to the locals as part of our birthday celebrations. We ordered food from home-based businesses through our driver, and they helped to prepare a box full of snacks and water.

We decided to give the snack pack at one of the mosques there. During Friday prayers, there are always some food donations at this place, so they have an area for self-service distribution (actually, all mosques have this system la, in SG too). Based on Google, HangFM HangTV is a radio da’wah channel, which comes with a surau and an education centre.

Batam actually has quite a few big mosques and they are all quite pretty too.

Address: 4337+426, Unnamed Road, Baloi Permai, Kec. Batam Kota, Kota Batam, Kepulauan Riau 29444, Indonesia

9. Penuin Market

This is one of our usual hangouts. This time, we came back to borong (buy lots of) baju tidur, and also buy and bring home the amazing pisang goreng there. It sells out really fast, so our driver usually calls in advanced to order for us yay. The batter is super crunchy and still nice to eat when it is cold, and the bananas they use are as big as a person’s hand.

Penuin market is your typical wet market like in SG. But do bargain, cause they sometimes up the price for foreigners.

Address: Jl. Komp. Ps. Penuin Batu Selicin, Nagoya, Riau Islands Province 29444 Indonesia

10. Pasar Pujabahari

We also went to buy our keropok at the place we always buy from – Pasar Pujabahari. It is near Jodoh. (Interestingly, the big Macs has survived there for the longest time). You can also get jeruk and other dried food. I remember buying my knitting tools there too.

Address: Pasar Pujabahari, Lubuk Baja Kota, Lubuk Baja, Batam City, Riau Islands 29432, Indonesia

11. BCS Mall

BCS mall didn’t change too much thankfully. The cinema, VR store, karaoke, supermarket, the nasi padang stall, local snacks shop, Share Tea and (halal) Shihlin chicken are all still there yay. The only sad thing was seeeing the Mie Setan (Devil noodles) shop gone – RIP.

(But interestingly, at Bengkong’s Pasar Malam (night market), we spotted a Mie Maut (Noodles of Death), which sounded even more severe than Mie Setan :P)

Address: 42J6+R4W, Jl. Bunga Raya, Batu Selicin, Kec. Lubuk Baja, Kota Batam, Kepulauan Riau 29442, Indonesia

12. Nagoya Hill Mall

Nagoya Hill used to be the go-to mall for Singaporeans, but I think there are way lesser people than pre-covid. Some of the eateries and shops there didn’t make it unfortunately. Didn’t do much in the mall during this trip! Would suggest to skip this.

Address: Nagoya Hill Lower Ground level, Lubuk Baja Kota, Kec. Lubuk Baja, Kota Batam, Kepulauan Riau 29444, Indonesia

Food

Cafes

First and foremost, I must say this – they have absolutely leveled up their cafe game! The cafe concepts are almost as good as the cafes in South Korea. While the furniture may not be of super high quality, but the overall vibe, food and drinks are on par. I was very impressed, especially since the number of cafes surged from before the pandemic occured (I had a hard time looking for cafes previously). You can easily spot a cafe while driving along any street now, so we just dropped off whenever we spotted one. Here were those I visited:

There were a few cafes that I wanted to try, simply because of the fact that I love their shop name! It was closed, but the names were so cute (because of how I relate to the word), I couldn’t help but take a photo to remember it by.

Tip: Speaking of cafes, I guess one should try Kopi Kenangan (Memories of Coffee), which is a popular Indonesian-brand coffee shop. It has many branches in Batam too.

Japanese Food

Another interesting observation was the island’s love for Japanese food. They sell Jap food everywhere, even side by side in malls, with multiple same shops within a short distance away (e.g they had Sushi Tei at Grand Mall, but there was also a Sushi Tei building on its own opposite that street). Best of all, they are all Halal ^^

Sushi Tei

Wished we also had the stomach for some Genki 😥

Local Food

And of course, how can we not mention the tasty Indonesian sate/satay! We tried the sate at the Warung Sate kendal Ibu Hj. Warti. The shop is quite clean, and the sate was tasty! In Indonesia, they usually eat sate with either the usual peanut sauce, or with cili kicap (soy sauce with chilli). Somehow, with cili kicap is always nicer! Also managed to get jus alpukat there (this precious drink is so hard to get at times cause they always run out fast).

As we were eating, a lady stepped off from her motorcycle parked right outside the shop, turned on a portable speaker attached to her bike, and started singing with a mic. Live music just for you (and the other patrons at the restaurant)! In my opinion, it is an innovative and efficient way to earn some tips. Just tip them on your way out.

We do have another favourite sate, which can be found along the streets in front of Nagoya Hill or at Ibu Joko.

Address: Jl. Bakal Edukits, Sungai Panas, Taman Baloi, Kec. Batam Kota, Kota Batam, Kepulauan Riau 29444, Indonesia

Nasi Sunda

We usually make Nasi Sunda at this particular shop our first stop for most of our Batam trips. Bascically, it is a buffet line, where you pick and choose what you like. They charge you by the items you pick. So even if you take a smaller or larger portion of that lauk (dish), you get charged the same.

Snacks

My favourite – Corn. In all forms. Most of the time, I love the cup corn with chocolate bits. But the grilled corn along Barelang Bridge is awesome too.

Also tried:

• Kerak Telor (Egg balls) – I think it’s just eggs fried in egg waffles form.
• Tahu Crispy (Fried Tofu) – It’s literally what it says, and they will sprinkle your choice of seasoning over it (eg cheese, bbq, chilli etc). Best to eat when hot though, it was way too hard when cold.
• Bakso Kecil (Small Bakso) – it’s something like lok lok where you pick your sticks, and then they will grill and dip it into sauce. but the sauce is super spicy.
• Sosis (Sausage) – similar to above

They sell all sorts of chicken parts, including the head!

Western and Other Reccomendations

MUST TRY – Holycow! Steakhouse By Chef Afit

Oh my gosh this place was so so good!! They sold like premium cuts that is quite difficult to find that’s halal in SG, plus it’s wagyu. No regrets getting it, super delicious.

Address: Grand Batam Shopping Centre #03-05, Jl. Pembangunan 29444 Batam Kepulauan Riau ·

Bobaking + Shihlin

Address: BCS Mall, 42J6+R4W, Jl. Bunga Raya, Batu Selicin, Kec. Lubuk Baja, Kota Batam, Kepulauan Riau 29442, Indonesia

Transport

One new update: There are now designated pick-up spots for grab and gojek. However, I haven’t actually seen where the taxis queue at now.

It is also normal to see people doing various things on the road whenever there is a red light. This could be from selling snacks or newspapers, dressing up as a character, playing music, singing and performing etc in front of the vehicles. These are one of the ways that they try to earn some money.

Can you imagine under the hot sun with masks and a costume on, mostly barefooted on that heated concrete while looking at strangers?! I think there is no harm in opening your heart and your wallet a little to support them. So my family always prepares some loose change for such occasions.

In conclusion, Batam is still a hot place to visit!

All photos in this post belong to Umi.