Eating my way through Batam in 24 Hours

Last Updated on 5 July, 2024

Can you visit Batam in 24 hours? It’s possible! Batam is an Indonesian island less than an hour away from Singapore by ferry. Other than Malaysia, Batam is probably the next easiest place for a quick day trip from Singapore without flying, and the island is immensely popular with Singaporeans who want a cheap, easy holiday with minimal travelling.

Ask any Singaporean what they associate with Batam and you’re likely to hear: cheap seafood, or that it has an A&W because we are obsessed with curly fries and root beer floats for some reason.

I must confess that I never thought too much about Batam. It just seemed too close to home, and I’m always thinking about going further or somewhere less common, so it was never quite on my radar as a must-visit spot, same as its larger cousin Bintan Island.

So when I was invited by the DFS Singapore folk to take a quick jaunt to this little island that I visited just once before as a child, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Batam was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be, even if we spent just about 24 hours in Batam.

A large part of by Batam awakening is due to our super-knowledgeable guides – Tony from WOW Getaways who told us everything we wanted to know about Batam (seriously he was a bit of a walking encyclopedia), and local Batamian foodie Chandra aka Batamliciouz who brought our group around his home town and showed us some truly delectable local dishes.

Read on for my 24 hours in Batam guide covering how to get to Batam and what to eat.

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How to get from Singapore to Batam

We took Majestic Ferry to Batam from Singapore’s Harbourfront Ferry Terminal, also known as Singapore Cruise Centre. The journey between Batam and Singapore is about 45 minutes and we disembarked at Batam Centre.

From Singapore, you can head to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal in the East to take the ferry to Batam Centre as well, but if you want to head to Sekupang in the south of Batam, then you only have Harbourfront as an option.

Round trip tickets for Majestic Ferry from Singapore to Batam were S$49 including terminal fees when I checked, though you can get cheaper prices from other ferry services that start from around S$25, but I have to say that the Majestic Ferry boat was pretty swanky and quite a new and nice boat. If you are not too picky about it, I was on BatamFast and I thought it was pretty decent.

And DFS shoutout because they sponsored this trip after all – they opened a new Duty-free outlet in the ferry terminal boarding area at Singapore Ferry Terminal in Harbourfont, so if you are heading to Batam with your friends, it’s a good time to pick up your necessary choices of poison. Make sure you finish your booze overseas as you can’t carry it back into Singapore!

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Where to eat local Food in Batam

As I mentioned above, all I really knew about Batam before is that people went there to eat cheap good grub, so I was pretty lucky to meet one of the best people to tell you all about Batamian food.

Chandra is better known as Batamliciouz, a local guy who’s a one-man repository about all the food there is to eat in Batam. No matter where you decide to stay or visit in Batam, it’s likely that Chandra knows all about it.

Follow him on facebook and instagram for the latest updates – this guy looks like he’s eating awesome food all the time. Batamliciouz even has its own seal of approval – look out for the Batamliciouz stickers at the stall to know if it Chandra has been there and given it his thumbs up.

What I’m saying is that this dude will be able to tell you all about what’s good to eat in Batam, much better than I will ever be able to, but in the meantime I’ll tell you about the places he brought us to and what I thought about them. I’m not much of a foodie but I did enjoy the local recommendations from someone who knows his territory inside-out. Also, he made us eat so much. I feel full just thinking about my time there.

Batam’s Local Food Stalls

Street food is of course one of the things to eat here in Batam, including local Batam specials that you don’t really see in other parts of Indonesia or even nearby Singapore. Chandra brought us to Acia Ikan Bakar which is a fairly accessibly location in Nagoya that’s not too touristy. We had zi char – a whole bunch of home-styled dishes for sharing and we got to try something called Cha Kue, which is a dish you can only get here in Batam.

How to get there: Acia Ikan Bakar – Inside Batam Park Complex, Nagoya-Batam.

Batam’s Hipster Cafes

I’ll be frank – I never thought that Batam was a cafe sorta place, but should I really be so surprised given how many Singaporeans come here and how much we love our hipster cafes? We visited a cool cafe called Chemistree with whimsical decor and lots of space, perfect to hang out in on a hot day. It’s like I fell into hipster heaven.

And ladies, watch out for the glass floor on level 2 – Super fun for your selfies and daring each other to walk on, but precarious if you are wearing a skirt.

How to get there: Chemistree Cafe – Jalan Raja H. Fisabililah No 12B – Batam Center

Batam’s cheap kelong seafood

We couldn’t leave Batam without sinking out teeth into some amazing seafood. Chandra brought us to Kopak Jaya 007 for some good ol’ seafood on a traditional kelong, one of those wooden houses perched above the water. I really enjoyed the food here – seafood is totally my jam – the salted egg crab and the cheese crayfish were pretty awesome.

How to get there: Kopak Jaya 007 – Inside Tiangwangkang Old Settlement before Barelang bridge

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Things to do in Batam (in between meals)

We were only there for 2 days, and a large part of that time was spent getting to and then chowing down on all that food. We did take a little detour to go see the Barelang Bridge and enjoy a bit of a cruise on the water. The idea was to go take a closer look at the surrounding mangrove swamps, but the water was a bit too choppy for the little wooden boats that we would need to take, so we ended up just swanning about the boat and enjoying the view.

The Barelang Bridge is actually the collective name of 6 different bridges that connect the surrounding islands Batam, Rempang and Galang – which incidentally is why it’s called Ba-Re-Lang. The bridge we were closest to was the Tengku Fisabilillah bridge that connects Batam and Tonton island. The Barelang Bridge is pretty popular for avid cyclists, and kinda reminds me of a mini version of the Shimanami Kaido in Japan.

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Where to stay in Batam

Most people who head to Batam like to do stay in a beach resort, but we spent a night over at the inland Radisson Golf and Convention Centre Batam. It’s a pretty swanky hotel with lovely rooms, and what I loved most was the balcony view overlooking the golf course and hills.

Do you have any tips for Batam? I only spent such a short time there, do share what other interesting things you can check out there!

This trip to Batam was sponsored by DFS Singapore.

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Looking for more nearby trips around Singapore? Check out this post about its much larger cousin Bintan, a more exclusive private island resort nearby called Telunas Resorts, or see other interesting spots in Indonesia like Belitung or Flores.