A weekend in Bintan, the island that gives you an hour back

Bintan is an hour behind Singapore, which is the best thing anyone can say about a Saturday.

Book Bintan when you want a resort weekend with a bit of island in it: one lazy day by a pool, one day out, and the dusk mangrove boat in between. Most Singaporeans know it as the Lagoi resort strip and never leave it, which is understandable and sells it short. Bintan Resorts says the island is about two and a half times the size of Singapore, mostly forest, hills and beach, with around 300,000 residents, and it was a trading post on the old spice route. The compromise is time: a Friday-to-Sunday trip covers the pool or the island properly, rarely both, so choose before you board.

Getting there is the easy part. Bintan Resort Ferries sails from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal to Bandar Bentan Telani in about 1 hour 10 minutes, with several departures a day and an extra morning sailing on Fridays and Saturdays. Bintan is an hour behind Singapore, so a morning boat lands you before lunch with time to spare.

Before you board

You'll need a passport with at least six months' validity. Indonesia's embassy lists Singapore citizens among the nationalities who can visit visa-free for up to 30 days, and that stay can't be extended. Since October 2025, every visitor also has to fill in the free All Indonesia e-Arrival Card online within 72 hours before arrival. Bintan Resorts says it takes about two and a half minutes and you show the emailed QR code at immigration. Use the official site or app. The resort operator warns that third-party sites may charge you.

Lagoi: the easy weekend

The north coast is where the resorts are, and the trick is matching the resort to the trip. Bintan Resorts points couples towards villa resorts with private pools such as Banyan Tree Bintan. Families go to Club Med and Nirwana Gardens. People who want to sleep under canvas without really roughing it go to Natra Bintan's glamping tents. There are four championship golf courses, and the BINBIN shuttle bus links the resorts.

For noise and splashing, head to Treasure Bay. Its Crystal Lagoon covers 6.3 hectares, and Bintan Resorts bills it as the largest man-made seawater lagoon in Southeast Asia. Chill Cove next to it has a 7.5m slide and a slip-and-slide course. Anyone who grew up with East Coast's Big Splash will feel at home. There's also an off-road ATV trail through the jungle. No licence is needed, but turn up early for the briefing.

Mangroves at dusk

Book this even if you do nothing else. Mangrove boat tours run through the river forests in the day, when guides point out mud lobsters, macaques, kingfishers and silver leaf monkeys. Night versions add fireflies and, on a clear evening, stars. Wildlife doesn't come to order, so treat it as a slow boat ride where sightings are a bonus.

Tanjung Pinang and Penyengat

The island's capital, on the south-west coast, is the other Bintan, with markets, temples and traffic. From Tanjung Pinang a pompong, the local water taxi, crosses to Pulau Penyengat. The Masjid Raya Sultan Riau there is said to have been built with egg whites in the mortar. The island is also tied to Raja Ali Haji, the poet behind the first monolingual Malay dictionary, which Bintan Resorts credits with laying groundwork for Bahasa Indonesia. Nearby, Senggarang, a stilt village over the water, was the island's first ethnic Chinese settlement and has an old temple wrapped in banyan roots. Stay in town for dinner: the Rimba Jaya night market and the island's seafood joints serve gonggong, the local sea snails, plus chilli crab and fish soup.

When to go

April to October is usually the drier stretch; check the forecast. The north-east monsoon runs roughly November to March and makes the sea and the sky less reliable. Pick one cultural outing and one lazy day, and you'll come home having actually seen Bintan rather than just its sun loungers.

Good to know Bintan Resort Ferries sails from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal to Bandar Bentan Telani, and timetables change by day of the week, so check brf.com.sg before you book. Complete the All Indonesia e-Arrival Card on the official site within 72 hours of arrival, and carry a passport with at least six months' validity.