SMALL GROUP: Batam Day Trip with Ferry, 1-hr Massage, Shopping and Seafood Lunch

We went to Batam, Indonesia by ferry from Singapore which was an hour on the water each way. When we arrived in Batam we met Johnny, our tour guide for the day. He took us for breakfast then to the Maha Vihara Duta Maitreya Buddhist Temple, the Barelang Bridge, and then to a wonderful fresh seafood lunch on the water . Next up we visited 70 degree Fahrenheit koffie where they produce fresh coffee beans, a Polo Shirt factory, minature houses depicting each style from different parts of Indonesia, Secret Layers a cake maker, and finally to a spa where Lisa and I received a wonderful Indonesian massage before returning to the port for the ferry ride back to Singapore. It was a long but memorable day for our first trip to Indonesia.

My friend and I had a great time on our visit to Batam. Dian, our tour guide made sure of that. I cannot say enough about the sea food lunch and not to mention the massage, which was out of this world. All the other places we visited only helped to make the trip perfect. A superb day it was.

There is not much to see in Batham, but is ok if you want to have an Idea of Indonesia. Just 1h boat from Singapore, you can experience a different reality. The local tour guide was very nice and keen to accommodate customers needs. I suggest to skip the first stop and increase the time for massage, massage was the part I personally most enjoyed about the trip! :-)

This tour should just be marketed as -shopping, lunch, shopping, massage- that is all it is. The company ran 2 overlapping tours, which left a part of the group alone while the other part had their activity - mainly shopping. Stop 1- shopping at outlet, mini house visit Stop 2- more shopping Stop 3 - bridge (nice view) Stop 4- lunch (very nice) Stop 5- coffee tour that was basically a “used car salesman, rapid fire” pitch to buy coffee Stop 6 - temple visit (horrible!!) Stop 7 - massage (and shopping for those who weren’t getting a massage) Notes - there is a LOT of driving. Tour guide should offer cultural points along the way. Driving in silence is not fun. Temple was the worst. I have been to several and the lack of respect for others while worshiping and the cult like presentation- horrible! So, if you like shopping and a good massage, tour is for you. Otherwise just a very long day

Its worth if you have to spare one whole day dedicated for this. the place is good to know the flavor of mixed indonesia-singapore culture. However the food and massage are worth i feel. the places to visit in the itinerary are not so great including the bridge. still if you have time, you can have a look.

We were met by our tour guide and immediately taken to a rubbish strewn carpark to take a photo of the "Welcome to Batam" sign. From there we were taken to the coffee "factory". This appeared to be a warehouse rather than a factory as there was nothing to see - no coffee was being roasted or ground, just people standing around waiting for tourists. We were given a cup of coffee and a lengthy spiel about their product and felt obliged to buy some coffee before we left. Our next stop was at a run down shopping mall to a very basic supermarket, which had nothing we wanted to buy. Then we were taken to the Barelang bridge to take photos. Our next stop was a a very run down and dirty fishing village for lunch. The tidal area under the houses was strewn with rubbish and showed how much of a problems pollution is on and around this island. The food was placed on our table with no explanation of what it was and we were not offered any drinks although other tables were given coconuts to drink. For non seafood eaters the food consisted of an omelet, some green vegetables, rice and some deep fried unpleasant dish that was supposed to be chicken but did not taste like any kind of chicken I had ever eaten. Next stop was at a Buddhist temple followed by a cake shop where we were offered a tiny piece kek lapis on a toothpick. The shop had run out of cakes to sell, so there was nothing to purchase, Next door was where we had our massage - we all paid extra for an extra 30 minute massage making 90 minutes total, but the massage would have struggled to have been for one hour. From there we declined to go to a Polo shirt store, but taken to a shop which sold batik products. After that we dropped off at a large "megamall" which curiously had a lot of empty space, to till in time until the ferry left for Singapore. The tour guide's commentary was mostly inaudible throughout our journey and she was nowhere to be seen while we were having lunch. We were given a bottle of water at the start of the tour but were offered nothing else to drink or taken anywhere where we could purchase a drink for most of the day. The only toilets we could find were at the Buddhist temple. It was an interesting way to see part of the island, but did not appear to be value for money.

Overall this is an average experience. The Ferry trip is nice and comfortable. The island of Batam is not a typical tourist island; city scenery is not driven by tourism. Lunch was very disappointing, especially since Batam is known for cheap seafood dishes; the serving was very little and it was difficult to find meat in the small crab dish we got. The visit to the temple was okay, but we seemed to have spent too much time there. The massage experience was probably the best part of this deal. The visit to the cake place was a fiasco; it was just a store that sold the cake. The coffee factory was interesting but it was more really meant to be a crash course in the different bean styles and then a sales opportunity. The tour guide did an excellent job though. I believe this experience could become an excellent one if these issues are somehow improved.

I quite enjoyed this trip but my advice is do not add the transfer option as it did not arrive for us and also for other group members. I called the number provided but the guy that answered was very unhelpful and said he’d never heard of me or my booking? Paid for taxi to harbour front myself and collected the ferry tickets at 7.45am. Enjoyed the seafood lunch and massage. Our guide was friendly and helpful. Viator have since refunded me for the transfer, no problem with there.

We received advance notice about what to expect once we arrived in Batam. We had a wonderful guide standing with a sign to welcome us. She did a WONDERFUL job of taking us place to place. Great overview of the area.

Loveley trip, A lot of activities for a very small price. Massage was great, the coffee factory was a really good ideea, the seeafood meal was very good and plenty. A must do. You cannot get much more for that price.