Visit Batam, Place for Your Everyday Excitement

Visit Batam, Place for Your Everyday Excitement. Batam is an island and an also a city in Riau Islands, Province of Indonesia, known for its free trade zone area as part of the Sijori Growth Triangle, located 20 km (12 mi) off Singapore’s south coast. The 715 km² (276 miles²) island has a population of 949,775 (June 2010).

VISIT BATAM – GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION

Batam is located at east of Karimun and Bulan Island, west of Bintan, north of Rempang, and south of Singapore. The Riau Strait (Selat Riau) separates Batam and Bintan. Batam has Tropical rain forest climate with average temperatures between 26-32°C.

The biggest community on the island is Nagoya. Other main communities include Sekupang, Jodoh, Sungai Panas, Batam Centre, Baloi, Batu Ampar, and Bengkong.

The main ports on Batam are Batam Centre International Ferry Terminal, Sekupang International Ferry Terminal, Waterfront City International Ferry Terminal, Nongsapura, Harbour Bay International Ferry Terminal and Telaga Punggur. The main city of Nagoya is now served by Harbour Bay (Jodoh), replacing the old Batu Ampar ferry terminal.

Batam Center Ferry Terminal has the most frequent ferry connections to/from Singapore and Johor Bahru. Sekupang, with ferries from Singapore is best used for those catching domestic connections to the Sumatra mainland and the Karimun Islands. Waterfront City and Nongsapura mostly serve adjacent resorts while Telaga Punggur is the main ferry terminal for boats to and from Bintan.

• To/From Singapore: Ferries departing from the Harbourfront Ferry Terminal go to Batam Centre, Sekupang and Waterfront City (Teluk Senimba) while ferries from the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal serve Nongsapura.
• To/From Malaysia: Ferries link Johor Bahru with Batam Centre. Ferries also operate between Batam Centre and Tanjung Belungkor in Johor.

Hang Nadim Airport is the island’s airport, and has the longest runway in Indonesia ; Jakarta is the most important destination, in addition to direct flights to Medan and Kuala Lumpur.

Beginning in the 1970s, the island underwent a major transformation from a largely forested area into a major harbor and industrial zone. The island’s economy benefits from being close to Singapore, and, with lower labour costs and special government incentives, is the site of many factories operated by Singaporean companies.

Shipbuilding and electronics manufacturing are major industries on the island; there are also several resorts and tourist destinations on the island.

At the end of 2010 almost 58 percent of foreign tourists came from Singapore, followed by Malaysia at 13 percent. Most of the foreign tourists entered Batam through Singapore using ferry services as Batam has limited international flights.

The Waterfront City area of Batam is on the western side of the island. There are several attractions & activities available in this area, such as water & sea sports activities, a fishing pond, go-kart racing track, a football field, as well as a beach for swimming or playing with the kids.

There is also a cable ski park, Jet Ski, para sailing and banana boats for the adventurous. Down at the Barelang Islands, connected to Batam by a series of 6 bridges, there are many good beaches, as well as an old Vietnamese refugee camp, that was occupied for 20 years by Vietnamese boat people, and has now been restored as a tourist attraction.

The site is quite overgrown in places by the jungle and takes around 1hour to drive to from Batam Centre. However, on entering the site there are several colonies of macaque monkeys by the road side. This is also a favorite route for cyclists.