Karimun

From MaxTravelz

Karimun is a small island in the Riau Islands province of Indonesia. It is also the name of a group of islands and regency (kabupaten) to which it belongs.

Karimun is located just off the east coast of Sumatra, guarding the southern entrance of the busy Straits of Malacca. It lies west of Batam and to the southwest of Singapore and is the furthest west of the Riau Islands.

Its proximity to Singapore has made the islands quite affluent and busy. Its main town, Tanjung Balai is a bustling port town with a lot of commerce, boosted by tourists from Singapore and Malaysia. There is unfortunately a downside to the bordertown boom. Like Batam and Bintan, Karimun is a favourite haunt for males from Singapore and Malaysia looking for cheap sex, often with underaged girls.

Contents 1 Get in 1.1 Visa 1.2 From Singapore 1.3 From Malaysia 1.4 From the other Riau Islands 1.5 From the Sumatra mainland 1.6 From other parts of Indonesia 2 Get around 3 See 4 Do 5 Buy 6 Eat 7 Drink 8 Sleep 9 Get out

Get in

Visa

For details on visa requirements for visiting Karimun, please see the Indonesia page. Karimun's Tanjung Balai port is designated as a visa-free and visa-on-arrival entry point.

Karimun does not have an operational airport, so travellers' only option is to get in by boat. Karimun has good ferry connections with Singapore and Kukup in the southwestern tip of Johor, Malaysia as well as the other Riau Islands and the Sumatra "mainland".

From Singapore

Penguin (Tel: +62-777-324300 in Tanjung Balai; +65-62714866 in HarbourFront) and Indofalcon (Tel: +65-62783167 in Harbourfront) ferry companies operate ferries between Tanjung Balai and Singapore's HarbourFront Centre. Between them, they run four trips on weekdays (From HarbourFront: 0750, 1120, 1420 and 1825. From Tanjung Balai: 0715, 1015, 1400 and 1700), increasing to six trips on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays (From HarbourFront: 0750, 0950, 1225, 1420, 1625 and 1825. From Tanjung Balai: 0715, 0945, 1130, 1315, 1530 and 1700). From Singapore, tickets cost S$43 return before Indonesian port taxes or Rp110,000 one-way before port taxes from Tanjung Balai. Journey time is about one and a half hours.

Please note that the two companies' code-sharing agreement allows you to board any ferry at Tanjung Balai for the return leg to Singapore only if you hold a return ticket that was purchased in Singapore. If you buy your ticket in Tanjung Balai, you can only board the ferry of the company from which you buy the ticket.

From Malaysia

Several companies operate frequent ferries between Tanjung Balai and Kukup in the southwestern part of Johor.

• Fast Ferry Ventures (Tel: +60-7-6960988 in Kukup) depart 'Kukup at 0830, 1000 and 1530 daily except Friday when there is no 1000 departure. From Tanjung Balai, ferries depart at 1145, 1330 and 1630 except for Fridays when there is no 1145 departure. Tickets cost RM40/60 one-way/return.
• MV Ocean Indoma ferries leave Kukup at 1145 and 1700. From Tanjung Balai, ferries leave at 0930 and 1430.

From the other Riau Islands

Numerous companies offer ferry services to/from Bintan, Batam and the other Riau Islands.

• To/from Batam: Regular ferries link Tanjung Balai with Sekupang domestic ferry terminal on Batam. Some of these ferries originate or are heading out to the Sumatra mainland or from Kundur Island.
• To/from Bintan: Ferry company Arena operate regular ferries between Tanjung Balai and Tanjung Pinang, the main town on Bintan. The ferries also stop at Sekupang on Batam when travelling to or from Tanjung Pinang.
• To/from Kundur Island: The Miko Natalia 3 links Tanjung Balai with Tanjung Batu, the main town on Kundur Island several times daily. Tickets cost Rp. 46,000 one-way before port taxes. Journey time is over one hour, longer if stops are made at islands along the way. Some ferries from Batam which stop at Tanjung Balai continue to Tanjung Batu. They also stop by on their return leg to Batam.

From the Sumatra mainland

From other parts of Indonesia

Get around

See

Do

Buy

Eat

Drink

Sleep

Get out

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