24 hours Ultimate Fun in the Sun at Bintan Lagoon Resort

Singaporeans love a good short and relaxing weekend to get away from their hectic lifestyles. All of us have the tendency to visit neighbouring countries to escape from our usual bustling city life. Just 75 minutes of ferry ride away from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal brings you directly to the doorstep of Bintan Lagoon Resort. This is the only resort on Bintan Island that has its private jetty with immigration officers stamping your passports so you have the luxury of breezing into the resort without waiting impatiently in queues at Bintan’s main ferry terminal.

9am (Singapore time) – Board the ferry at Tanah Merah

Obtain your ferry boarding passes at the Mozaic Ferry counter at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. The direct ferry only departs to Bintan Lagoon Resort two times per day, punctually at Singapore time 9am and 4.10pm. Due to the one-hour time difference, we took the 9am ferry and arrived at Bintan Lagoon Resort at 9.30am Indonesian time. Check-in to the resort only starts at 3pm so we recommend you leave your luggage with the reception/concierge before you begin exploring the resort.

10am (Indonesia time) – Guided Bike Tour
11am – Archery
12pm – Buffet Lunch at Fiesta Restaurant

After leaving your belongings with the reception/concierge, take a Guided Bike Tour around the resort to orientate yourself. Believe us, the resort is so huge that you need buggies to move around. After working out your leg muscles, channel Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games and aim for the bull’s-eye in a game of Archery! These two activities will fill up your morning, after which, you’ll have worked up a good appetite for buffet lunch at Fiesta restaurant.

2pm – Relax on the hammocks
3pm – Check into your room
3.30pm – ATV
4.30pm – Jetski
5.30pm – Snorkel

Take some time after lunch to digest your food and relax on the huge hammocks at the lobby of the resort before checking into your rooms/villa at 3pm. You should settle down quickly so that you can move on to other thrilling activities that will guarantee an adrenaline rush! You can start off with All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) that brings you along the seashore and into a “jungle” where you can spot monkeys and monitor lizards if you’re lucky.

Bintan Lagoon Resort doesn’t just offer land activities. If you love the sea, indulge in some sea sports after your ATV adventure. Go for the Jet Ski ride and accelerate like a daredevil. It’s wonderful to taste the salty waters while feeling the wind gently brush past your cheeks. If Jet Ski isn’t enough to satisfy your love for sea sports, you can opt to snorkel, surf and kayak. All these activities will keep your busy till your hunger pangs kick in during dinner time.

7pm – Pre-dinner drinks at The Terrace

We recommend pre-dinner drinks at The Terrace before treating yourself to a good seafood feast at Nelayan Restaurant that’s on the beach. Savour fresh seafood on the terraces of the restaurant, overlooking the majestic South China Sea and listen to the waves crash against the seashore.

7.30pm – Dinner at Nelayan Beachside Restaurant

We had the Deluxe Surf & Turf (RP425,000) which features grilled beef, lamb, fish and the best of all – grilled squid! It is served with your choice of baked potato or rice and sautéed vegetables. The grilled squid tasted so tender and full of flavours we wished we could have more. It was simply grilled to perfection! Besides, remember to try the different types of chilli sauces offered at their “chilli sauce counter”. Some were tangier while some packed a really good punch! We also had a Grilled Lobster (RP180,000/100grams) which we thought was alright but could be done better. We found it to be a tad on the blend side. You can opt for the lobster to be steamed-cooked Chinese-style as well.

9pm – Sky Lanterns or Fireworks
10pm – Party away at Silk Nightclub or enjoy an in-room massage

When you’ve finished a satisfying dinner, you can make wishes and personally see your sky lanterns float off. You can even request to purchase fireworks and put them off into the sky yourself. If the night is still young for you, head over to Silk nightclub for a round of drinks. However, if you’re already feeling the exhaustion of the day’s activities, you can book their 24 hours in-room massages and slowly drift off to sleep.

8.30am – Breakfast buffet at Fiesta Restaurant

Wake up feeling refreshed the following day and squeeze in a morning swim or dip in the resort’s gorgeous swimming pools before heading for buffet breakfast at Fiesta restaurant. Choose to sit at their patio, overlooking the swimming pools and beach while savouring a delightful breakfast spread. We enjoyed their beehoon, especially when paired together with chicken ngoh hiang and a fried egg done sunny-side up.

9.30am – Shop at Plaza Lagoi shopping mall or Pujasera village

Unwilling to leave Bintan without some “souvenirs”? Approach the friendly resort staff to help get a transport to bring you to either Plaza Lagoi shopping mall that’s 10 minutes drive away or Pujasera (village) that’s 20 minutes drive away. You can get popular traditional local delicacies such as kueh lapis and tidbits. We recommend Pujasera’s Bintan Layers Cakes (kueh lapis) that are freshly baked at 4am daily. Besides the original version, they offer coffee, prunes, pandan, cinnamon, chococolate, cheese and mocha flavours. Look out for the shop house of kota sebong block 907 no.2.

Guess what we bought? IndoMie Mi Goreng potato chips! It can only be found in Bintan and not other parts of Indonesia! We bought one packet from the resort just to try and it was so good that the chips were sold out when we went back and wanted to buy more. Having searched high and low, we finally managed to find the chips at a provision shop in Pujasera and sorry everyone, we bought everything that the shop had!

11.30am – Pack your belongings and check out of your room
12.30pm – Check into your ferry back to Singapore

The check-out time is at 12noon. The direct ferry returning to Singapore from Bintan Lagoon Resort leaves at 1pm and 5.10pm from Saturday to Thursday and 11.45am and 5.10pm on Friday. Now it’s time to plan your short weekend getaway!

Bintan Lagoon Resort is an ideal getaway for leisure and golf and even has the biggest convention centre in Bintan Island to hold corporate meetings. The resort has 470 contemporary rooms, suites and villas, complemented by an impressive range of 12 dining options. We stayed in a Deluxe Sea Facing Room which consisted of a king-sized bed and a “sofa” that’s large enough to be a bed, as well as, our own furnished private balcony. There’s also a leisure centre with a gym, children’s play room, karaok and massage.

Note: This is an invited trip by Bintan Lagoon Resort.