✨Fully vaccinated travelers no longer need to take a pre-departure test. All travelers are to fill the arrival card with the dates and type of vaccine etc..
✨From Singapore, Malaysia and the surrounding ASEAN countries? You can can enjoy visa-free travel to Batam for a maximum of 30 days. If you're a citizen of another country, you should check the relevant entry requirements - there is a visa on arrival.
✨Batam Island is 1 hr behind Singapore, so remember to reset your watch so you don't lose any time!
There are 2 ferry terminals in Singapore - Tenah Merah and Habourfront. As with airlines, there are different ferries which you can choose for your trip. For ours, we took the Sindo Ferry from the Habourfront Ferry Center.
The Habourfront Ferry Center is about a 4-5 minute walk from Vivo City Mall (Habourfront MRT Station).
Journey to Batam
Our Sindo ferry departure was at 9:30am, but we arrived there at 7am to have breakfast and wait for departure. There's a Macdonald's which opens at 7 am. When we arrived, the shops were not open yet, but as time trickled by more shops were open and people started streaming in. A pair of return tickets on average is around S$75-85.
Since it was just a 2 day 1 night stay, we did not have any check-in luggage. That made the process much faster. If you have luggage for check-in, similar to the process they have for flights, you'll have to check it in. Overall, it was a pleasant ride.
Boarding was relatively quick, and the queue was fast moving from the Singapore departure side. The whole journey to Batam took about an hour. The ferry was air-conditioned and clean. There was even a refreshment corner. Before we knew it, we had already arrived at Batam Center.
Immigration too about an hour from the time we alighted the ferry, waited in line and got our passports stamped. They actually paste a QR code sticker for the arrival stamp instead.
Journey back to Singapore
The journey back to Singapore was straight forward and simple as we had our return tickets with us. If you missed out buying the local snacks or souvenirs, you would be able to get it at the Batam Center before you head back to Singapore.
Our departure was for 4:10pm, and by the time we passed immigration and got our passports stamped (this time it was really a stamp) it was time to head back to Singapore. We arrived in Singapore about 6ish in the evening.
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| A sneak peak on the views on both ferry journeys |
So there you have it, the experience we had when we went to Batam. Hope it inspires you to go out and explore and have fun!
Let us know in the comments below which Batam Ferry Terminal is your ideal drop off location and why!
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