Singapore Cycling - Bintan
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Bintan was my best discovery of 1998. It is amazing how you can experience a real Indonesian and nearly untouched countryside atmosphere so close to Singapore and devastated Batam. I admit, people have tried their best to spoil it with bauxite mining near the airport, with the development of industry at Loban (near Tg. Uban) and the beach resorts in the northwest corner. But riding along Trikora beach, strolling over the market area in Tanjung Pinang, or just watching daily life in a village along the road, is a refreshing experience. Bintan is sparsely populated and making nice rides involves rather long distances. But the roads are excellent. Why is it that I have NEVER seen any touring cyclist there but myself during the five years that I regularly visit Bintin with my bicycle?
Access to Bintan
Apart from a twice daily (workdays only) ferry to Loban, Bintan can be reached from Singapore via Tanjung Pinang and Bandar Bentan Telani. The latter is a modern terminal, created solely for getting to the Bintan Resorts area, nearby. See the ferries section for more details. There is no car ferry. From Batam, there is a regular ferry service to Tj. Pinang from Telaga Punggur. From this place, there is also a bum-boat ferry service to Tg. Uban, at the far west end of Bintan. Check-in procedures and more information about Tanah Merah ferry terminal is given in the section ferries.Bandar Bentan Telani
A modern and efficient looking terminal in the middle of nowhere. There is not much more to say, only that the ferry company requires you to check in 2 hours (yes, TWO hours) before departure. This is quite a nuissance if you have only one day to enjoy Bintan and in practice, it's not that strict. But I can't give you guarantees on that. One other thing that needs to be said about the access to Bintan via Bandar Bentan Telani: it's very expensive ($33 for a single trip plus $5 for the bicycle).Tanjung Pinang
Things are less formal and less upmarket in Tg. Pinang, than in Bandar Bentan Telani. On arrival, take care of your bike yourself. On departure, to buy your ticket or get your boarding pass, you can use the services of a few agencies who have an office right behind the gate where you enter the jetty area. If you want to do it yourself, you have to go downtown, which is only at a few hundred metres distance. Each ferry company has it's own office and they are all close together on the Jalan Merdeka, near the clock tower. Only Penguin has an office in the street leading north from the clocktower. There are two piers, the northern one is for Singapore. You take your bike all the way yourself, climbing up the stairs, going through immigration. Then you find a chaotic departure hall (at least on Sundays) and it is just a matter of taking notice (look for other passengers with the same type of boarding pass) to find out when you lower down another (small) staircase to get to your ferry.Tanjung Uban
For a real local ferry experience, take the crossing to/from Batam in Tanjung Uban. There is place for your bike on the roof of the bum-boat that serves this connection. There is nothing to explain about the boarding procedure.Tours on Bintan
- Trikora Beach 111 km.
The ride starts at the Bandar Bentan Telani terminal (B.B.T.t.) or at one of the resorts. Take the road to the east, promising called 'East West Highway' (but will end after 11 kms if you try it out). After 4 km, turn right, following the sign 'Tanjung Pinang'. This wide road with well maintained shoulders gives the impression you are still in Singapore and I can't blame you, because you are still in the Bintan Resort area, which looks more like Singapore than Indonesia. At 12 kilometres you pass a gate and enter real Bintan. Turn left. You pass a number of nice villages and at 33 km from B.B.T.t., almost 1 kilometre after km-stone 46 (=dist. to Tg. Pinang), turn left (no sign; small asphalt road). Now, keep on going. By the time you think you reached the end of the world, at 48 km from B.B.T.t., the sea appears and you find yourself on a beautiful coast. Turn right, to the south. After pedaling 6 kilometres along the coast, you reach the Trikora 4 beach area, with a nice sandy beach and stalls for drinks and food. For the next 23 kilometres, the road stays along the beachy coast and you have wonderful seaviews at several locations. Never deviate from this road; only 11 kilometers before Tg. Pinang you come to a junction where you turn right.
- Trikora Beach loop, 128 km.
The ride starts and ends in Tg. Pinang. Take the (only) road out of town, direction east. At 11 km., just before the Royal Palace Hotel, turn left. The road is still busy and you might wonder where the promised quiet roads of Bintan are. But that starts at 25 km from Tg. Pinang, continue straight to head up north (turning right leads to Trikora). You pass a number of nice villages and shortly after km-stone 45 (=dist. to Tg. Pinang), turn right (no sign; small asphalt road). Now, keep on going and you may have noticed, the rest is identical to tour 1, see above. It may be worth mentioning that you save a lot on ferry fares with ride no. 2 compared to ride no. 1. On the other hand, the first ferries from Singapore arrive late in Tg. Pinang, so it may be difficult to do the loop in one day. There are plenty hotels in Tg. Pinang.
- the combined Batam-Bintan tour, 62 km.
This ride starts at the Nongsapura ferry terminal on Batam. From the terminal, start to the left, in eastern direction. At the first junction, go straight on, instead of following the signs which all urge you to turn right. After about 15 km you reach a T-junction, turn left. When, some 5 km further on, you have to make another choice, turn left again. Soon you will reach Telaga Punggur; you can't miss the ferry terminal. Take the window at the far right to buy a ticket to take the ferry to Tanjung Uban. That village may be worth strolling around, it's a typical village mainly built on wooden piles. Take the (only) road out to the east (there is another road going south east, leading to Loban industrial area). At 24 km from Tg. Uban you reach Kampong Bulan, where you turn left (passing the gate to enter the Resort Area). This road ends after 8 km, where you turn left to find B.B.T.t. or the hotel, if that's what you're after. In the latter case, you might have to turn right instead at the last junction. NOTE:
It doesn't require much fantasy to plan a more-days tour by combining ride no. 3 with ride no. 1, staying overnight in one of the Bintan Resort hotels. Also, there is probably budget accommodation available at Trikora Beach.For an organised biking holiday on Bintan, consult the Detour Outdoor website of Eco Adventure Travel.
Another suggestion for a biking holiday involving also other Riau islands, is taking the ferry that connects Tanjung Pinang with Galang on the Barelang highway, Moro and Kundur. Find a time schedule for this ferry in the ferry section
