Batam Forum

Visiting Batam

home-visiting

Batam Island isn't that nice enough but most important things there are cheap and the people are nice to treat too compare with Singaporean.
*45 mins ferry ride
*1 SGD = 6540 INR
Only spent about 400,000 INR for accomodation, food and shopping

Living & Working

home-living

Owning property in Indonesia is not as straight forward as in the West; if you are still new here, better to rent in an area closer to Nagoya for year or two until you have a better feel for the place and learn from those who got here before you.

Business in Batam

home-business

Practical business operations information on related expenses investment issues, including visa, corporate administration, tax, office lease, minimum wage, salaries, logistics and shipping as well as water, electricity, telephone and other tariff.

Governing Batam

home-governing

Current affairs; topics about the latest trends in governing the affairs of Indonesia in general and Batam in particular.

welcome

Thank you for visiting the Batam Forum...

Have you moved to Batam Island from another country?

Are you thinking about making Batam your new home?

Want to meet others like you and discuss immigration, property, sport, socialising, food, cars, insurance, laws, taxes and anything related to Batam?

BATAM BASICS - 2 Minute Primers

Departing Singapore - Stepping Ashore in Batam - Hotels - Eating Out - Entertainment

Air

Batam is accessable by air from Jakarta (10x daily) and Kuala Lumpur (3 x weekly).

Ferry

Batam is accessable by ferry from Singapore (40 x daily), Johor (15 x daily) and parts of Sumarta (4 x daily).

Visa

If you do not already have an Indonesian visa in your passport, bring US$25 in cash (US currency only please) to pay for a 30 day tourist visa. Your passport is supposed to be valid for 6 months.

Harbor Bay F.T is 10 min from Nagoya

Only "Wavemaster" Ferries operate between Singapore Harbor-Front and Batam Harbor Bay (which is 5 mins from Nagoya.). Batam Fast and and Penguin Ferries will bring you to one of Batam's four other ferrry terminals: i.e. Batam Center, Nongsa, Waterfront or Sekupang. See map below :

From Singapore ::: The first ferry departs at 7am; the last at 9pm. (Spore time)

From Batam ::: The first ferry departs at 6am; the last at 8.30pm (Batam Time)

Batam time is 1 hour behind Singapore time

The ferry trip takes one hour (not 45 minutes).

Departing Singapore for Batam

Guide

DECIDE WHICH FERRY COMPANY (i.e. choose which terminal you wish to arrive in Batam.)
CHECK IN LARGE BAGS AT THE PORTER SERVICE COUNTER.
- Don't trust the porter service to put your bag on the boat, check yourself that your bag was loaded on board.
CHANGE MONEY
- Get some rupiah (about US$100 worth) (for the Batam taxi and starter money)
- Get US$25 (to pay for the 30 day tourist visa - in US currency.)

* Batam's Harbor Bay Ferry Terminal is 10 minutes from Nagoya.* Decide which ferry terminal you wish to arrive at* The Wavemaster Ferries check-in counter at the SporeHarbourfront FT brings you to Nagoya.* Harbourfront FT check-in counters are on the 3rd level.* Singapore Harbourfront FT Departure area is on the 2nd level - same as the Porter Service (called Ferry Baggage Check In).* Immigration Counters at Singapore's ferry terminals are woefully undermanned.* Allow plenty of time for long queues

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