Singapore Expats

Can anyone recommend a nice hotel in Batam for a family of 4 (kids aged 12 nad 9) for 1 or 2 nights?

Try the Holiday Inn or the Harris. Don't expect to find very much to do outside the hotel grounds...

http://wikitravel.org/en/Waterfront_City

Am really looking forward for some great times over in Batam too. Any recommendation on family things to do there?

Went to Batam for 1 night and 2 days. Stayed at Batam View Beach Resort which had very good service. It was a nice break and the kids did some watersports and played on the beach which is all on site. Batam is still not very developed so not really a lot to do. Went to Town Centre on 2nd day for shopping. Cheap compared to Singapore. Be aware that the visa on entry has gone up from US$10 to $25 if you are not Singaporean, so the return ferry ticket is around the same price as the visa.
Happy Holidays.

Need advice and help wrote:Went to Batam for 1 night and 2 days. Stayed at Batam View Beach Resort which had very good service.

Had a good time at this place. Not much outside the hotel grounds though. Another point - taxi's are as rare as rocking horse sh*t when you return to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal - except for hugely expensive limos. Recommend you to pre-book and let the driver know your ferry time.

Has anyone stayed in the standard or deluxe rooms - what are they like? I had a look at this place and although I'd like to stay in a villa, they're too expensive. Do they do interconnecting rooms (our kids are a bit old now for us all to bunk up squashed in one room)

batam view beach resort is pretty much set up for familys and they are friendly too, dont leave the resort though there is nothing to do, we went to the mall and it was full of really bad fakes.

BigSis wrote:Has anyone stayed in the standard or deluxe rooms - what are they like?

We stayed in std room and it was fine. can't remember about adjoining rooms we didn't have the kids with us.

Sorry to hijack the thread but does anyone have any recomendation's for Bintan?

Yah - don't go to Bintan Lagoon. F & B is charged at Sing prices + - and by Sing prices I mean Clarke Quay level, not your local food court. It's isolated and almost impossible to get anywhere else on the island.

Beware of tempting offers - once they have you there, your pockets will be emptied rapidly.

berkshire_yorkie wrote:

BigSis wrote:Has anyone stayed in the standard or deluxe rooms - what are they like?

We stayed in std room and it was fine. can't remember about adjoining rooms we didn't have the kids with us.

thanks, if we think about going, I'll ring and ask them.

Sorry to hijack the thread but does anyone have any recomendation's for Bintan?

the Mayang Sari is quite a nice place if you like the more rustic looking, on the beach chalets. It's part of the Nirwana group.

Berkshire-yorkie is right though, it's really expensive, all those Bintan resorts places are and there's nowhere else to eat (apart from some tourist designed Bintan resorts village which isn't very good) so you're stuck with their inflated prices. However, for just 2 nights or something it's not too bad. We have also stayed at Bintan Lagoon and I much preferred the Mayang Sari place.

There are other places to stay there though that aren't part of the Bintan resorts - look on Trip Advisor.