Tanjung Pinang: ferries, seafood and the old sultanate

Tanjung Pinang is the capital of the Riau Islands province and the ferry hub of the archipelago. Boats leave from here for Batam, for the villages on the coast, for the resort island of Bintan and for Penyengat, the tiny island that was once the seat of a sultanate. The town itself is a working Malay port, with a market, a fishing harbour and more seafood restaurants than a town of its size has any right to.

It is not a resort town and does not pretend to be. The waterfront is concrete and cargo, the traffic is steady, and the best buildings are the mosque, the old government offices and the Chinese shophouses behind the market. But it is a good place to spend a day, and it is the natural base for Penyengat and the southern coast of Bintan.

The harbour and the pelantar

The pelantar is the wooden boardwalk along the waterfront where the seafood restaurants sit over the water. You choose your fish, crab or prawn from tanks and buckets, agree a price, and they cook it grilled, steamed or in a sauce. It is the best eating in town, especially at sunset, when the harbour lights come on and the ferries stop running.

Behind the pelantar is the old town, a grid of lanes with shophouses, coffee shops and a market that sells dried fish, textiles and the small snacks that Riau is known for. The market is busiest in the morning. Walk it slowly: the town is small, and the pleasure is in the details rather than the sights.

Pulau Penyengat

Penyengat is the reason many people stop in Tanjung Pinang at all. The island, about two square kilometres, was the capital of the Riau-Lingga Sultanate in the nineteenth century, and it holds the yellow Masjid Raya Sultan Riau, the tombs of the sultans and the grave of Raja Ali Haji, the poet and scholar who wrote the Gurindam Dua Belas.

Boats leave from the town jetty throughout the day and the crossing takes ten or fifteen minutes. On the island you walk: the mosque, the tombs, the old palace foundations and the lanes of stilt houses. It takes half a day at an unhurried pace. Go early, before the heat and the day-trippers, and take water.

Around the town

The Raja Haji Fisabilillah monument and mosque, north of the centre, commemorate the eighteenth-century warrior who fought the Dutch. The mosque is modern and large; the monument has a view over the coast. Neither is a major sight, but they give you the shape of the town and its history.

Further out, the beaches at Trikora are an hour up the east coast, and the mangrove river at Sebung is on the way. Most people use Tanjung Pinang as a base and do these as day trips. The town also has a good museum, the Sultan Sulaiman Badrul Alamsyah museum, with textiles, weapons and objects from the sultanate.

Arriving and moving on

Ferries from Batam take under an hour; from Singapore, the crossing is longer and less frequent than to Lagoi. The airport, Raja Haji Fisabilillah, has flights to Jakarta and Batam, among others. The ferry terminal and the airport are both a short drive from the centre, and taxis and ojek are easy to find.

If you are heading to Penyengat, go in the morning; if you are heading to Batam, avoid the Friday afternoon rush, when the ferries fill with weekenders. The town is compact enough to walk, but the heat is fierce by midday. Do as the locals do: start early, rest after lunch, and come out again for the evening.

• Eat seafood on the pelantar at sunset.
• Take the ten-minute boat to Penyengat in the morning.
• The market is best before nine.
• Use the town as a base for Trikora and the mangroves.
• Book ferries ahead at weekends and holidays.

The sultanate and the Bugis

The Riau-Lingga Sultanate was one of the great Malay maritime states, controlling the trade routes through the strait and the islands that fed them. From the early eighteenth century the real power was held by Bugis viceroys, the Yang di-Pertuan Muda, who commanded the fleets and the ports while the sultan reigned. The British and Dutch both courted and fought them.

The 1824 treaty between Britain and the Netherlands divided the Malay world, and the sultanate was split between a Johor on the British side and a Riau-Lingga under Dutch influence. The court moved to Penyengat, where it became a centre of Islamic scholarship and Malay letters until the Dutch abolished the sultanate in 1911.

That history is buried under the ferry terminals now, but it is not far down. The museum, the mosque, the monuments and the tombs on Penyengat are the visible remains. The rest is in the language, the food and the names of the streets, and in the pride the town takes in being the capital of a province that looks outward to the sea.

Questions people actually ask

How do you get to Pulau Penyengat from Tanjung Pinang?

Small boats leave from the town jetty throughout the day and the crossing takes ten to fifteen minutes. There is no fixed timetable worth relying on; boats go when they are full. Agree the price before you board, and keep the return in mind, as the last boats leave in the late afternoon.

Is Tanjung Pinang worth staying in?

Yes, if you want an ordinary Indonesian town with good seafood and easy access to Penyengat, rather than a resort. Hotels are cheap, the ferry terminal is close, and the beaches at Trikora are an hour away. It is also the most convenient base for the southern Riau Islands.