Bintan Island

Bintan is the largest of the Riau islands and it functions as two places. The northern coast holds the Bintan Resorts zone, developed from the 1990s as a joint Indonesian-Singaporean project with its own ferry terminal, golf courses, hotels and a self-contained arrangement in which many visitors arrive from Singapore, stay behind the gates and leave without seeing the rest of the island. The rest is Tanjung Pinang, the provincial capital and an old Malay port with a Chinatown, markets and the Penyengat island crossing; the Bugis and Malay settlements; mangrove rivers with firefly trips; and bauxite mining scars from decades of extraction. Trikora on the east coast has quieter beaches with local warung rather than resorts.

What you actually see

• A gated resort zone - the northern coast built for Singaporean weekends.
• Tanjung Pinang - the old Malay port town, Chinatown and provincial capital.
• Mangrove rivers - firefly trips and boat routes behind the coast.
• Bauxite scars - the legacy of decades of mining across parts of the island.

When to go

All year; drier February to October. Two days.

Honest expectations

The resort zone is separated from the island and priced in Singapore terms. Beaches outside it are more modest. Mining damage is visible in places. Ferries from Singapore are the usual arrival.

Nearby

Penyengat island is off Tanjung Pinang; Batam is west.