Many people will feel skeptical when they first arrived in Batam island. This is a very little island, what can we do here? Does they even have any attraction? Does they have any good food to try? Well, fortunately, they have! Here is a list of what you can do in Batam island.
1. Amazingly Huge Range of Cuisine in Batam in the Morning
So you have just arrived in Batam, and you are arrived in the morning, at 8 AM. What can you do? The first thing that come in mind if we are in the situation is looking for breakfast. Morning coffee also helps to enhance your morning! Here in Batam, you can find a lot, and we mean a lot of coffee shop here. We usually call them kopitiam. Every kopitiam in Batam offers a various foods and drinks.
We recommend you to come to the Pasar Mitra, located near Politeknik Batam. There, you can find all kind of food that you may consider. From a simple noodle to a complete set of steamboat. If you happen to like a Chinese cuisine, you can consider Ciang Hau kopitiam. There, you can find a lot of food, and our recommendation is their chicken rice. You can find our review here Nasi Ayam Hainam Ciang Hau.
2. Fairly Cheap Electronic Gadgets
Batam is famous with their cheap gadgets among local tourists. While this is true, the price difference is not that high. Nevertheless, you can find some gadgets with 5-10% cheaper than the retail price at another city in Indonesia. You can find a huge range of laptops, digital cameras, smartphones, and any other accessories.
We recommend you to visit Lucky Plaza, located near Nagoya Hill Mall. They open their store from 9 AM to around 8 PM everyday. You can always haggle their offer to get their best price. We strongly recommend you to check the usual retail price before deciding to buy any item at Lucky Plaza. A little pre-caution never hurts!
While you may busy finding out your wanted gadget here, you can also grab a lunch or brunch near Lucky Plaza. We haven’t found delicious restaurant so far around Lucky Plaza. But, if you feel hungry, you may try to visit Soto Medan just the opposite side of Lucky Plaza, in Kopitiam Medan. Read our review very soon also in this site.
3. Shopping Paradise
This is maybe a little strange, but for an island as small as Batam, we have many malls scattered around the island. If you come to Batam by ferry to Batam Centre terminal, you will immediately find Mega Mall Batam Centre in front of the terminal. They also create a direct bridge that joining the mall and the terminal. If you stop at Harbour Bay, you will also find the Harbour Bay Mall immediately. You can also visit Nagoya Hill and BCS Mall to name a few.
Here, you can find a trendy but cheap items. They offer a huge range of price level here. You may find a clothes that only costs you less than IDR30,000, but you can also find a clothes that costs you more than IDR500,000. Your choice and also depends on your skill in haggling! They also offer cosmetics stuff, accessories stuff, bags, purses, etc.
You may forget the time when you are inside the mall. If you feel hungry, you can always find a lot of food stalls and restaurants inside the mall. We compile a fairly amount of reviews for four most visited mall’s food stall.
For Mega Mall Batam Centre, our recommendation restaurant is Bakso Lapangan Tembak.
For BCS Mall, our recommendation restaurants are Ayam Penyet Ria and LaVedas.
For Nagoya Hill, our recommendation restaurants are Soto Lamongan Cak Sam and Gadeno New York Pizza & Steak.
For Kepri Mall, our recommendation restaurants are Grand Duck Restaurant and Resto Sunda Saung Dina.
4. Seafood Bonanza!
Good news for you seafood lovers, you can find your lovely seafood everywhere, scattered around every edge of Batam island. From fisherman traditional restaurant into a high-class restaurant, you can find it all here. They have various range of price. We personally haven’t tried all of the restaurants. So, as for now, we can only give you one review, Barelang Seafood.
BD still have a lot of restaurants in our list about seafood restaurants in Batam. Be sure to check our page regularly, and we will give our quick update in this post as soon as possible. BD also very eager to eat a lot of seafood, honestly!
5. Nightlife in Batam
As night falls, the fun is just begin! Are you looking for a private party? Or do you want to go clubbing? Or maybe, you expect a jazzy night, with elegant food and white wine? Refresh yourself with some glass of beers? Live entertainment with beautiful singer, good food, and a cozy place? You can find everything in Batam.
We managed to give you a comprehensive information about Batam nightlife later, so just follow our social media accounts like facebook or twitter, and get ready when we launch our very own site about Batam nightlife.
Whatever you may do at night, you can also get a late-night snack. Our recommendation are sate ayam (chicken satai) and martabak manis (sweet martabak). They are located near Nagoya Hill, also very near to some bars in Batam. You can find our review here Sate Madura Umar.
Even though Batam maybe just a small island, but this island is very lively and vibrant. It can offers you a complete set of entertainment from day to night, you just have to know where. We hope this information will be useful for you and have fun in Batam as we always do!