| Pangkil Island is – despite
its relatively close proximity to Singapore - in Indonesia.
We will offer you as much help as time and resources
permit, but it is the responsibility of the group organiser
and/or individual guests to get themselves to Bintan
(a big Indonesian island near Singapore) and through
Immigration (ie you will probably need a Visa).
As the experienced Pangkil guests know, at the end of
the day, the journey is pleasant and straightforward.
FERRY BASICS
By far the majority of our guests arrive from Singapore.
It is also possible to arrive from Batam (another
Indonesian island with an international airport) or
even by ferry from parts of southern Malaysia. There are two main passenger ports in Bintan:
- Tanjung Pinang (“TP”), is the largest town on Bintan and has an efficient - if scruffy - international ferry terminal). This is the ONLY pick-up point for Pangkil guests.
- The Bintan Resort Ferry Terminal is officially known as “Bandar Bentan Telani”. This area is also know as “Lagoi” and will be familiar to anyhone who has ever visited the Bintan Resorts. We DO NOT pickup from Lagoi. If you want to come via Lagoi our Operations Manager can arrange one or more taxis for you. The cost is S$60 for a one-way journey to the south of Bintan to our Pangkil jetty. It is S$65 to our Suka Island jetty which is a little further.
Note that the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal (“TMFT”) is the departure point in Singapore. We recommend,
in order of preference, the following journeys from
Singapore to Pangkil and back:
OUTBOUND: TMFT to TP | INBOUND: TP to TMFT
This route offers the shortest end-to-end journey time. Visas On Arrival (VoA) ARE AVAILABLE in Tanjung Pinang. We strongly encourage you to use this port.
OUTBOUND: TMFT to Lagoi | INBOUND: TP to TMFT
VoAs can also be obtained in Lagoi (for most nationalities). Whilst the ferry journey is shorter, the disadvantage is that the road trip from Lagoi takes a LOT longer, AND you will need to pay S$60 per taxi to get from Lagoi to the south of Bintan. For large groups we will not allow you to use this port as the VoA lines on a Friday night could add an hour to your journey or more. YOU WILL NEED TO GIVE US A GOOD REASON WHY YOU WANT TO USE THIS PORT. One-way tickets ONLY to Lagoi should be bought. Pangkil will then need to buy your one-way return tickets from TP and invoice you on the island.
OUTBOUND: TMFT to Lagoi | INBOUND: Lagoi to TMFT
The overland journey back to Lagoi after a weekend in Pangkil is LONG! Trust us – you don’t want this option. If you insist, our Operations Manager will organize taxis for you from the south of Bintan to the Lagoi end. The cost is S$60 per taxi and you will need to pay this directly, in SGD cash, to the taxi company.
FERRY COMPANIES: SINGAPORE TO TANJUNG PINANG
There are three ferry companies operating this route. They are all generally quite reliable. Penguin and Falcon code-share, ie a ticket booked on one, can - suject to availability - be transferred to the other. Wavemaster is not part of this system. You'd think that in 2010 you could book tickets for any of these operators online. You'd be wrong. You'll have to work the phones or faxes, although Penguin is very responsive on email. Some take credit cards. Some don't. We recommend that you try and book a month or so before Indonesian or Singapore public holiday weekends. For 'normal' weekends a few weeks before is fine. Having said that, they don't always let you book more than a week or two out. Their primitive booking systems don't seem to be able to handle it. In short, if you feel like you're getting the runaround than (a) Don't panic - it's them not you and (b) Work with our Operations Team if necessary to secure tickets. (c) If you use Wavemaster on one of your legs and Penguin or Falcon on the other leg, then you WILL have to ask our Operations Manager to book your Indonesia to Singapore leg and reimburse us. For bizzare reasons we don't understand, it is not possible to book and pay for an Indonesia to Singapore leg even if you're standing at at their counter in Singapore.
The information in the timetable below is valid as of June 2010 but the ferry companies tinker with the timetable a few times a year, so if in doubt phone them up and check.
| PENGUIN |
- |
07:00 |
| FALCON |
08:50 |
10:10 |
| WAVEMASTER |
09:20 |
11:30 |
| PENGUIN |
12:30 |
14:00 |
| FALCON |
15:00 |
16:00 |
| WAVEMASTER |
15:30 |
16:30 |
| PENGUIN |
18:20 |
- |
| FALCON |
- |
- |
| PENGUIN |
- |
07:00 |
| FALCON |
08:50 |
10:00 |
| WAVEMASTER |
09:20 |
10:25 |
| PENGUIN |
10:20 |
13:30 |
| FALCON |
13:10 |
14:00 |
| WAVEMASTER |
13:30 |
14:25 |
| FALCON |
17:10 |
18:00 |
| WAVEMASTER |
17:30 |
18:30 |
| PENGUIN |
18:20 |
- |
| FALCON |
- |
- |
FERRY COMPANIES: SINGAPORE TO TANJUNG PINANG
Brief contact details and notes are as follows:
PENGUIN
+65 6542 7105
Ferries are OK. Penguin takes credit cards. Click Here for the Penguin Website
FALCON
+65 6542 6786
Untidy ferries – but quick. Don’t take
credit cards.
BERLIAN/WAVEMASTER
+65 6786 9959
Very new, Australian-built ferries. Clean and fast.
Don’t take credit cards.
FERRY COMPANIES: SINGAPORE TO LAGOI
As mentioned previously we don't recommend that you come in via Lagoi. But if you do, there is only one ferry company operating from TMFT
to Lagoi. It is Bintan Resort Ferries (BRF). It is
a monopoly and hence more expensive at peak periods.
Their ferries are excellent. The last ferry to Lagoi
goes at 20:00 (8pm). We STRONGLY recommend that you
don’t catch this one, especially on a Friday
as the visa queues will be long. You will only get
to Pangkil at around midnight. We recommend the 17:00
(5pm) ferry or earlier.
Their website allows online bookings and is at: www.brf.com.sg. Their schedule is currently shown here but this link dances around periodically, so let us know if we need to update it.
ADVANCE FERRY BOOKINGS
The ferries aren’t always full and it is possible
to book a few days ahead in some cases. However ferries
to Lagoi (especially late on Fridays), and all ferries
on - or a few days before - major Indonesian OR Singaporean
public holidays can book out up to a month or more
before the departure date. We strongly recommend you
start looking into the ferry situation as soon as
you’ve booked Pangkil. As a minimum you need
to start making reservations for your group a month
before the trip to Pangkil.
JOURNEY INFORMATION
TANAH MERAH FERRY TERMINAL
All ferries for both Lagoi OR Tanjung Pinang leave
from the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal (TMFT) which is
near Changi Airport. DO NOT go to the World Trade
Centre. DO NOT go to the Changi Ferry Terminal (which
is close to TMFT, but has ferries to Malaysia). You
should be at the TMFT at least 45 minutes before departure.
The directions to get to TMFT are as follows: Leave
the ECP (the main highway) at Exit 2A. Follow the
Changi Coast Road past the SAFRA golf course. Turn
right into the Tanah Merah Ferry Road, just after
the turn-off to the SAFRA Country Club.
JOURNEY TIMES
After your trip on one of the public ferries, you’ll
be met at either Lagoi or Tanjung Pinang. If at Lagoi there will be a taxi driver with a sign of some sort. If TP, it will be by one or
more of our staff members. We have a blue 25-seater
bus which will often be used for the land leg of the
journey. For small groups, we will sometimes hire
one of the local Kijang Taxis (A Kijang is an Indonesian-produced
four-wheel drive vehicle). You will then be escorted
over land to the southern port, also (confusingly)
called Kijang. You will pass the military airport
on the way which is called … you guessed it
… Kijang!
We own our own jetty near Kijang. Unfortunately for
a number of complicated reasons we cannot use it at
the moment. Boarding our launch takes place at a jetty
owned by a big industrial site. It’s not pretty,
but is safe and cuts down on the launch trip to the
island.
Approximate journey times are as follows:
| PUBLIC
FERRY |
1 ½
TO 1 ¾ HOURS |
SLIGHTLY LESS THAN 1 HOUR |
| BUS OR TAXI |
½ HOUR |
1 ½ TO 2 HOURS |
| PANGKIL LAUNCH |
½ to ¾ HOUR |
½ to ¾ HOUR |
| DEPARTING PANGKIL |
2 HOURS BEFORE
FERRY |
3 HOURS BEFORE
FERRY |
The end-to-end journey from Singapore to Pangkil
via TP is about 3 hours (The current record is 2 hours
& 40 minutes). Via Lagoi it is about 3 ½
hours. Note that the return trip from Pangkil can
take a little longer as we have to build in some buffer
time to ensure that you do not miss your public ferry.
You will have to leave Pangkil at least 2 hours before
the departure time of your public ferry (if from TP)
and 3 if you’re leaving from Lagoi. Please note
that our staff will tell you when to leave our island
paradise, but are naturally not very ‘pushy’.
It is ultimately the Group Organizer’s responsibility
to make sure all of their guests have settled the
collective bill, packed and boarded the launch with
time to spare.
OTHER
PANGKIL CHARGES
A single return trip for the group (on the Pangkil
bus and Pangkil launch) is included in the basic island
charge. We are happy to cater for additional arrivals
and departures, however these are charged at SGD200
per trip (regardless of how many people there are
in that sub-group).
ADVANCE NOTICE
We ideally need 72 hours notice of final group numbers
and specific arrival times. Return journey times can
be sorted out with our Customer Service Manager on
the island. The departure times for return trips via
Tanjung Pinang can be changed (providing it isn’t
a public holiday) with relative ease. The Bintan Resort
Ferries tend to be full on Sundays and this will be
harder to do.
ONE-WAY TICKETS
FROM TANJUNG PINANG TO SINGAPORE
If you need one-way tickets from TP to Singapore then
let us know and our staff will purchase the tickets
in Tanjung Pinang and add the cost to your final invoice on Pangkil.
LOCAL TIME
IN INDONESIA
Indonesia (at least Bintan, Batam & Pangkil) is
1 hour behind Singapore. This region is GMT+7. Singapore
is GMT+8. As such, all ferry departure times from
Bintan will be quoted in local time by the ferry companies.
So for example:
- If you leave TMFT (Singapore) for Lagoi at 08:00,
you will arrive at around 08:00 (assuming a 1 hour
ferry trip time)
- If you leave Tanjung Pinang for TMFT at 18:30,
you will arrive in Singapore at about 21:10 (assuming
a 1 hour, 40 minute ferry trip)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
From our extensive list of FAQs:
You don’t need to worry about
…
being met in Bintan
…
but you might want a few snacks for the journey …
…
and Tanjung Pinang is very safe
You can
arrive from Batam …
…
and we don’t have check-in and check-out times
as such.
You
will need to plan your departure from Pangkil to meet
a ferry …
…
and if you’re catching a plane, Changi airport
is surprisingly close …
…
and best of all there is no cost for our bus on Bintan
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