Getting Around Tanjung Pinang
Tanjung Pinang is the capital of Indonesia's Riau Islands province, a historic Malay city on the southern side of Bintan Island, guarding the mouth of the Bintan River. It also includes smaller islands such as Dompak and Penyengat. For a visitor, the good news is that the central city — including the old part of town, which is built on stilts — is small enough to explore on foot. Beyond the centre, you have a handful of practical options: taxis, motorcycle taxis, minibuses, and small boats to the nearby islands.
On Foot
Central Tanjung Pinang is compact and walkable. If your plans are limited to the old town and the immediate centre, you can comfortably get around without any vehicle at all. Once you want to reach places further out — such as Bintan Mall, Bestari Mall, Bintan Center, Trikora Beach, the open-air "Akau" restaurant, or the Buddhist Kelenteng Senggarang temple — walking is no longer practical and you will want to take a taxi or another form of transport.
Rail, Metro and Tram
Tanjung Pinang has no rail, metro, or tram network. There is no train service on Bintan Island, so none of these modes are available to visitors. Getting around relies entirely on road vehicles, ferries, and small boats.
Buses and Minibuses
Public buses do exist in Tanjung Pinang, but they are seldom easy for visitors to use: stops are rarely marked, drivers generally do not speak English, and there is no printed information available about routes. For most foreigners, taxis are the easier choice for reaching places outside the centre.
A more usable form of public transport is the minibus, known locally as angkutan kota or angkut. These operate on fixed routes, carry six to eight passengers, and charge per person according to the distance travelled. Within the city the fare is fixed. To get off, simply shout "pinggir" or "kiri" to the driver. Angkut also shuttle between the town and the long-distance bus terminal.
For travel further afield on Bintan, buses and taxis link Tanjung Pinang with the port of Tanjung Uban at the northwestern end of the island, where speedboats connect to Telaga Punggur on Batam. The bus terminal itself sits outside town, and angkut provide the connection between the terminal and the city. From the port of Kijang, where Pelni ships dock, bemos and taxis run to Tanjung Pinang.
Taxis and Ride-Hailing
Taxis are the easiest way for foreigners to move around outside the central area. Two practical rules apply. First, only take taxis from the main road. Second, agree on your fare firmly before boarding, as drivers expect to bargain — this avoids problems later. Fares are affordable once a price is settled, and a longer trip out to Trikora Beach is still inexpensive by foreign-visitor standards. "City Taxis" charge extra if you ask to leave the urban area.
Motorcycle taxis, known as ojek, are also widely available and wait to ferry passengers around. Treat these as more of an adventure option than a conventional one, and note that they are not necessarily safe.
Boats to the Nearby Islands
Small boats are the way to reach islands within the city's administrative area, and they are part of everyday local transport rather than a tourist excursion.
- Penyengat Island: Regular boats cost a small per-person fare and depart from a small alley at Jalan Pos. You may have to wait for the boat to fill up before it leaves. Hiring your own boat is possible but much more expensive.
- Senggarang: Boats leave from Jalan Pelantar I, with a small one-way fare per person for a small boat. As with Penyengat, expect to wait for the boat to fill, or bargain beforehand if you hire your own.
- Kampung Bugis: Boats depart from Jalan Pelantar II.
Penyengat is worth the short crossing for its old ruler's palace, royal tombs — including the grave of Raja Ali Haji, author of the first Malay grammar book — and the old vice-royal Masjid Raya, which is still in use.
Arriving by Air
Tanjung Pinang is served by Raja Haji Fisabilillah International Airport, located east of the city centre. The airport handles a limited number of flights, none of them international. Domestic carriers connect it with Jakarta, Batam, Pekanbaru, Dabo, Letung, Matak, and Natuna.
The easiest way from the airport into central Tanjung Pinang is a fixed-price cab. Fares elsewhere on the island cost roughly twice as much as the airport-to-city run.
Many international visitors reach Tanjung Pinang by air indirectly. The neighbouring island of Batam, reachable by ferry from Tanjung Pinang, has a larger airport with flights to more destinations and a few international services from Malaysia. The most common route for international travellers, however, is to fly to Singapore and take a ferry across. If you are connecting to a flight out of Singapore, you must be on the ferry to Singapore at least four hours before your flight's departure time. Note that Bintan is one hour behind Singapore, so factor that into your schedule.
Arriving by Ferry
The Sri Bintan Pura ferry terminal, at the southern end of Jalan Merdeka, is the main passenger port of Bintan and handles all domestic and international services from the city. It is a visa-free entry point for most ASEAN citizens and a growing number of EU countries, and it is also a visa-on-arrival port.
Direct ferries run from Singapore's Tanah Merah ferry terminal, with several departures daily on Penguin, IndoFalcon, and Wavemaster. Crossings take about two hours. Regular shuttle buses link Tanah Merah with Changi Airport. Again, remember the one-hour time difference when reading schedules.
An alternative routing from Singapore is to take a ferry from HarbourFront to Batam Centre, then a taxi to Telaga Punggur, and from there another ferry to Bintan. Less frequent connections also run from Stulang Laut port in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, and from other Riau Islands. From the Bintan Resorts in the north of the island, Tanjung Pinang is reachable by speedboat, though connections are not frequent.
One practical tip: especially on weekends, reconfirm your onward ferry tickets as soon as you arrive. Large resorts can usually handle this for you if you ask when booking. If you are travelling independently, note that you cannot reconfirm at the ferry terminal itself — you must go to the relevant travel agent, and none of them are located near the port. IndoFalcon's agent is next to the Laguna Hotel, while Penguin's agent is in Bestari Mall.