3D2N Batam Itinerary

Here to share a short 3D2N itinerary to Batam, Indonesia, if you're looking for a city/country nearby Singapore to chill and on a budget. 

Because I overspent on my bf's birthday present, I decided to spend my remaining budget on planning a "staycation" in some part of his "origins". (he's born in Jakarta, Indonesia, but he has never been to Batam!!! actually I also la HAHA) 

A mini trip like this which our expenses + hotel + ferry tickets prolly could add up to a price equivalent to a night in Singapore's higher-end hotels. I rather spend my money on the former so..

Day 1

-Ferry

Few ferry carriers like Batam Fast Ferry, Sindo Ferry, Pacific Ferry, Prima Ferry so on and so forth, each with different schedules, departure and destination points. 

Do not be too eager to buy and remember to check as some timeslots would have discounted rates (my return tickets had - but discounted ones are non refundable) so it only cost $74 SGD for to and fro tickets for two pax, each pax around $37 inclusive of all taxes and charges!!

We were almost late for our ride because we didn't know we had to print out paper tickets from the counter from our e-ticket online but luckily managed to rush just in time before the boarding gate closes (which is not too bad, 15 mins before departure hahaha)

Took Batam Fast from Habourfront Center Ferry Terminal, most people will choose to depart from this terminal in Singapore to Batam.

Reach an hour in advance to print the tickets to avoid rushing for our ferry like us!! We were so shocked when the guy refused our passports and said we needed to print these out thus we ran like hell LOL.

Our destination was to Batam Centre, about a 45 mins ride, located at the city of Batam. Other ferry ports are Harbour Bay, Sekupang, Nongsapura and more, choose at your convenience depending on where your resort/hotel is located at! To spend our time wisely, we took a morning ferry.

Selfies with the LOML

wrote a card including our cheesy itinerary for him

the insides are personal~

AND WE ARRIVED!

Ticketing area at Batam Centre

1st stop - Mega Mall!! 

Located right opposite Batam Centre, got a walkway bridge on the second storey, if you don't wanna cross the road.

While waiting for our bfast cum lunch place to open, we spent some time in Timezone Arcade. William & I didn't date anyone in Secondary school before so now we can relieve the old times LOLZ

Warung Cobain

Mega Mall Batam Center Upper Ground Floor

10 am - 10 pm

Wanted to try some authentic Indonesian food and I saw this in some blog reviews. Top 16th on tripadvisor. A few outlets located at different malls including Nagoya Hill Mall.

So empty cos we were kinda early hahaha

Chose most of their signature dishes. Chicken was a little dry IMO.

Their signature chili thing was goood.

Indonesian peanut sauce satay style

Don't rly fancy the raw Indonesian veg that William likes 

(but he say here the food soso only LOL. Compared to the capital city of Jakarta, obviously.. bf has high taste.)

More ikan chili cos chili never goes wrong.

All these + teh for $7.90 SGD. No complains LOL.

Some indonesian hot dessert which they were selling which had william's only approval!! Forgot what this dessert is called.

- Accommodation

Da Vienna Boutique Hotel

Jl. Pembangunan, Nagoya, Kota Batam, Kepulauan Riau, Indonesia

Wouldn't mind staying here again if I'm ever returning to Batam city area. Location wise, you'll have to cab to the malls, but price wise, it was a relatively new and affordable hotel which cost about $50++ SGD per night!!!

I would want to stay at Montigo resort the next time I'm in batam tho (located further away located on the beaches around Nongsa area) but Montigo's villa seem to be more worth it if shared among two couples as there are two rooms in the villa. But how to spilt to see who gets the better room? hahaha

quite grand and huge hallway for a boutique hotel heh

cosy space for 2 nights!

attempt at trying to pose on the hotel bed..

Craving for the Indonesian style Martabaks we had in Jakarta, I decided plan this in our itinerary because bf loves martabaks!!

Martabak 818

Ruko Nagoya Paradise Centre Blok H No. 2

(annoyed to write the formal address because we walked a tedious 1.2 km in the heat when there was another outlet of Martabak 818 in a 1 min walk distance next to the hotel da vienna we were staying at!!!)

Komplek Park Blok B no. 19

(this is the 2nd address nearer our hotel.. just saw it on google!! ~.~)

both opens at 3 pm

decided to order the huge size ($19 SGD) for instagram purposes consisting of flavours like Nutella, Ovomaltine, Cadbury, Hershey's, Skippy, Toberone Cheese, Kinder Bueno and Kitkat Greentea which was impossible to finish without feeling grossed out as its all too much for two people!!

But William says this tops as one of his fav food he had in the batam trip tho its more towards sweets compared to the savoury ones in Jakarta.

Walked through Nagoya Citywalk which vicinity should be explored during the night time where stalls for BBQ food and street hawkers would be set up behind the mall!!

Finally at Nagoya Hill Shopping Mall, one of the leading mall in Batam that we came thrice or twice in three days hahaha.

Food street section on level 1 when you walk in the main entrance with loads of restaurants including A&W, Pizza Hut, KFC and many Indonesian restaurants to choose from!!

Studio 21, reminds me of our Bali stranded days where we spent our time chilling and catching movies.

dirt cheap movie ticket priced at S$2.70 each lol WHAT

love studio 21's XXI movie cafe, had some nice mojito.

Bella Italia

Komplek Harbor Bay City Walk No. 16

Jalan Duyung, Batu Ampar, Batam, Kota Batam

Kepulauan Riau 23424, Indonesia

Cabbed to the 1st ranked Italian restaurant in the whole of Batam and I'm pretty sure it deserves multiple visits if I ever went back to Batam!! Didn't expect the italian food to taste nice here tbh hahaha

Mushroom soup was good. Never goes wrong. (60,000 IDR)

Had their chef recommended pizza Bella Italia (112,000 IDR) topped with Tomato Sauce, Mozzarella Cheese, Beef Ham, Mushroom & Egg. Find it so-so cos the star has got to be the pasta here!!

Capellacci Ai Funghi (105,000 IDR) 

Each Capellacci has stuffed mushrooms and overall this pasta dish was just so good it makes me fantasize on what other pastas they offer. A must order!!

Since Bella Italia was nearby Habourbay area, we decided to settle at a chill place for drinks at De' Patros Cafe.

Long stretch of bars around that area for seafood, sheesha or drinks.

kinda annoyed I didn't bring any mosquito repellent with me tho at this point of time... please bring if you're heading to the alfresco areas especially..

Day 2

first & last day of eating our hotel's bfast hahaha..... food were okay lo. No complains for the hotel price.

went back to our rooms to prep and I'm wearing Kylie's 22 shade on my lips which kinda looks like her Mary Jo K shade tbh.

Failed day 2 because after this, we cabbed all the way down to Turi Beach Resort like 40 mins cab ride or longer just to take a nice couple photo at the famous Turi Beach Bridge 

(image from google because we didn't even manage to walk close to it despite coming all the way) 

Because the hotel forbidded tourists who wasn't the hotel guest into their private beach 

(I didn't know)

They asked us to pay around 40 SGD each for entrance fee or spend a minimum sum at their Island Bar which wasn't even open.. No way Imma spend this money just for a picture on a normal looking bridge.. And maybe the only bridge in Batam pftt* LOL.

Rezeki Seafood Batam

Pantai Batu Besar, Jl. Haji Muhammad Saleh RT. 01/ RW. 02

Batu Besar, Nongsa, Kepulauan Riau, Indonesia

Decided to forward our lunch plans for affordable and good seafood in Batam where they won't over charge tourists and Rezeki is a place with good reviews!!

Teh and orange coconut

Kangkong~

Fried Sotong which a unique batter was used

Quite dope Kepiting Cabe, Indonesian chili crab & here they use a kinda sweet and special sauce which had our approval!

and last but not least, William's favourite - Fish in Gelam Yucam sweet sauce!! The sauces they used for both their crabs and fish were really unique and tasty!

Spent 60 SGD in total for all these only!

some ootd outside Rezeki since none on the bridge hahaha

:*

cutiessss

Back to Nagoya Hill Shopping Mall and I had Sour sally located outside their food court. 

(all the food court food looked so goood too but I was too full heh)

sour black froyo which was so good!

Bakso Lapangan Tembak Senaran Jakarta

William saw many Jakarta indonesian food franchises here in Batam and Bakso was one of them!

Had their signature Bakso campur mie (which stands for meatball noodles soup) and the broth was so flavourful!! Throw some spicy green chili in there and its almost perfect. Super appetising dish!

delicious looking flatlay~

-Snacks

BEST brand of peanuts you'll simply have to buy in Batam!

and this Hotsa Krekers BBQ shitz is savory yet sprinkled with sugar which bought from the supermarket was so good as well

ended our night with beers and drinks in our room as its more comfortable than getting bitten by mozzies hahaha

Day 3

Yong Kee Istimewa Soup Seafood

Kepri Mall, Ground Floor Kepri Mall, 

Jl. Jenderal Sudirman, Simpang Kabil, 

Kota Batam, Riau, Indonesia

Bfast was this Yong Kee Fish Soup restaurant ranked top 5 in Batam's TripAdvisor, popular eatery among the locals!

Their signature Tom Yam Seafood Soup (44,000 IDR)(S$4.70) was seriously to die for! The tom yam base was so creamy, rich and tasty it was different from all the tomyam soup bases you can find in SG!!

Slice Fish Soup (33,000 IDR)(S$3.50) was not too bad as well but we both preferred the tom yam one!

Will definately recommend Yong Kee RM when you guys come to Batam!:) We ordered one of the sides, seen in the picture below, which was a deep fried baby sotong dish which was tasty as well! Super sweet & crunchy!

Caffein Cafe

Nagoya Hill Superblock, Jalan Teuku Umar, Lubuk Baja Kota,

 Lubuk Baja, Batam Kota, Kota Batam, 

Kepulauan Riau 29444, Indonesia

Cafe hopped to a cafe popular for its cakes and coffee located nearby Nagoya Hill Mall

(Pretty much chilling everyday in Batam thus we caught two movies in three days there, so a short 3D2N trip here is sufficient)

Ordered a cheesecake & some berry yogurt cake and they both tasted alright, not super duper nice kinda standard but good enough for a visit.

 Caffein Cafe has a wide variety of cakes to choose from. The drink concoction we ordered was alright as well.

 Overall a good place to chill and have some cakes if you are in the vicinity!

Despite being super full still, after our movie, we decided to have our last meal before departing for our hotel and ferry at 

Pempek Citra

Jl. Teuku Umar

No. 09-02, Nagoya Hill Food Street, Batam

Kepulauan Riau, Indonesia

Since the shop is called "Pempek" - are Indonesian fishcakes that are made with fish and tapioca. They are served with vinegar sauce. The one I tried in Bali was so good when my bf first introduced this dish to me thus I wanted to visit Pempek Citra in Batam to see the differing standards.

Pempek Campur (34,000 IDR)

 Consist of different varieties from long shaped to ball shaped, skinned or egg filled. These dipped or drenched in spicy vinegar sauce can be so good! William often mentioned that the pempek from Palembang (a city in Indonesia) has the best pempeks. The ones we had here was prepared a little differently from the ones I had in Bali but still tasted quite tasty!

Ordered a mie noodle soup version with non-fried pempeks there as well!!

hoped you enjoyed the simple trip :D

annoyed while taking selfies LOL

Oh damn, I almost forgot about this restaurant we were chilling in Mega Mall while waiting for our ferry arrival timing!

Cause I just wanted to have a bubble tea or some drinks but they had so many menus in this restaurant we ended up...

ordering some desserts (some fried banana which was meh)

and steak because it was soooo dirt cheap hahaha but not very nice also la HAHAHAH. 

I swear I almost died from overeating this trip hahaha

and thats all for my simple recommendations for a short trip to Batam~

Shag faces coming back to shitapore in the ferry 

compared to before we were going to batam hahahaha. 

For me, overall, Batam is a place i'll go to once only? Its not that bad but i rather travel to further places by planes. I'll make an exception for Montigo Resort if I ever return ^.^