Riau: the sultanate, the river and the peat forest

Riau produces a large share of Indonesia's palm oil, pulp and paper, and that fact dominates how outsiders see the province. It is also a Malay heartland with a written history older than most of Europe's, a river system that carried trade for a thousand years, and a coastline facing the Malacca Strait that is closer to Singapore than to Jakarta.

This is not a beach province. It is a place for people who like empty roads, wooden palaces, river towns and food that has not been adjusted for tourists. Three days is enough for the highlights, and you will probably have most of them to yourself.

Pekanbaru: oil money and Malay food

Pekanbaru grew on oil in the 1970s and still has the wide roads and scattered blocks of a boom town. The airport, Sultan Syarif Kasim II, is named after the last sultan of Siak, and it sits close enough to the centre that a taxi is short and cheap. Most travellers pass through in an afternoon. Give it one night and eat properly.

The local cuisine is Malay rather than Minangkabau, and the difference matters. Gulai ikan patin is a pale, sour coconut curry built around river catfish, eaten with rice and a plate of ulam, the raw herbs and leaves that cut through the fat. Mie sagu replaces wheat noodles with sago, which gives them a springy, almost glassy texture, and tempoyak, fermented durian, turns up as a condiment in almost every warung.

The other Pekanbaru landmark is the An-Nur mosque, a vast white building with onion domes that looks like it was ordered from a catalogue and assembled at twice the size. It is best at dusk, when the lawns fill with families and someone is always flying a kite. Entry is free outside prayer times; dress accordingly.

Siak Sri Indrapura and the last sultanate

The road east from Pekanbaru to Siak takes about two and a half hours through acacia plantations and small Malay villages. The town itself is quiet, built along the Siak river, and its reason for existing is the palace: Istana Asserayah Hasyimiah, a yellow confection of Moorish arches, Dutch brickwork and Malay roofs, completed in 1889 for Sultan Syarif Hasyim.

The palace is now a museum, and the collection is a reminder that this was a real state with international treaties, not a folkloric curiosity. Look for the komet, a hand-cranked gramophone that reportedly played the Indonesian national anthem for the first time in the region, and the royal crown and Qur'an kept in a glass case. The last sultan, Syarif Kasim II, declared for the Indonesian republic in 1945 and handed the state over; the family is still respected locally.

Walk from the palace to the river. The old wooden shops along the waterfront are fading, but the coffee is good and the pace is the point. If you have time, continue to the tomb complex and the small mosque behind the palace, both of which are still in use.

Muara Takus and the Kampar river

Muara Takus is the largest Buddhist temple complex in Sumatra and one of the least visited major archaeological sites in Indonesia. It sits beside the Kampar Kanan river, about three hours from Pekanbaru, in a village of wooden houses and rubber smallholdings. The main stupa is brick, weathered to the colour of the soil, and the site is attributed to the Srivijaya or pre-Srivijaya period, roughly the seventh to thirteenth centuries.

There is no visitor centre worth the name, no queue and no ticket booth that is always open. You walk in, take your shoes off at the cordoned areas, and stand in a clearing that was a religious centre when Europe was still building mud castles. The river beside it is brown and slow and full of fish.

Getting there without a car is the hard part. Public transport runs from Pekanbaru to Bangkinang and then onwards, but the connections are slow. A car and driver for the day, combining Muara Takus with the Kampar river towns, is the sensible option.

Peat, pulp and the haze

Riau's defining landscape is not forest or beach: it is peat. Layers of partly decomposed plant matter, metres deep, store enormous amounts of carbon and water. When they are drained for plantations and then burn, they smoulder underground for weeks and produce the haze that periodically closes airports across Sumatra and Singapore.

Tesso Nilo National Park was created to protect a block of lowland forest and its Sumatran elephants, and it has been under pressure from encroachment ever since. Kerumutan, further south, protects a large peat swamp. Neither is a straightforward tourist destination: infrastructure is minimal, wildlife is shy, and a visit requires a guide and a realistic understanding of what conservation looks like on the ground here.

If you want to understand the province rather than just photograph it, ask your hotel or a local NGO about a short visit to a peat restoration site. It is not a safari, but it explains why the landscape looks the way it does, and it is more honest than pretending the forest is intact.

The islands: Rupat, Bengkalis and the Malacca coast

The province includes a long stretch of the Malacca Strait coast and a string of low islands. Pulau Rupat, off Dumai, is the most accessible: ferries cross from Dumai in under an hour, and the island has quiet beaches, fishing villages and almost no tourism infrastructure. Pulau Bengkalis, reached by ferry from Dumai or by road bridge from the mainland, is a river-and-strait town with Dutch-era buildings and a strong Malay identity.

These are not resort islands. Expect simple food, basic rooms and a lot of motorbike traffic. The reward is a coastline that feels like Sumatra did before the plantations, and water that is warm, shallow and full of small fishing boats. Bring cash and patience.

What it costs

Riau is cheap, with Pekanbaru the most expensive place in it. A mid-range hotel room in the city runs IDR 350,000 to 600,000; in Siak or on Rupat you can pay half that for a clean fan room. A car with driver for a day trip to Siak or Muara Takus is usually IDR 700,000 to 1,000,000, fuel included.

Food is inexpensive and excellent. A plate of gulai patin with rice costs IDR 25,000 to 40,000 in a warung, and a full meal for two rarely passes IDR 120,000. ATMs are reliable in Pekanbaru and patchy elsewhere, so withdraw before you leave the city.

When to go, and how to move

Riau is hot and humid all year, with the driest months roughly February to September. The wet season brings short, heavy afternoon storms rather than all-day rain, but it also brings the risk of haze from land clearing, which can reduce visibility and affect flights. Check the air quality forecast before booking a trip in the August to October window.

Distances are long and public transport is slow. Pekanbaru is the hub: fly in, rent a car with driver for the Siak and Kampar loops, and use the city as a base. For the islands, Dumai is the ferry port and is a four- to five-hour drive from Pekanbaru.

• Day 1: Pekanbaru — An-Nur mosque, Malay food, market.
• Day 2: Siak Sri Indrapura — palace, riverfront, tomb complex.
• Day 3: Muara Takus and the Kampar river, back to Pekanbaru.
• Optional: two more days for Dumai, Rupat and the strait coast.

Questions people actually ask

Is Riau worth visiting for tourists?

If you like history, river towns and food, yes. Siak and Muara Takus are genuinely interesting and almost empty. If you want beaches and resorts, Riau is the wrong province; go to the Riau Islands instead.

How do I get to Muara Takus?

The site is in Kampar regency, about three hours by road from Pekanbaru. There is no reliable public transport to the gate, so a car and driver for the day is the practical option.

Can I see orangutans or tigers in Riau?

Tesso Nilo has elephants and other wildlife, but it is not a visitor-friendly park and sightings are not guaranteed. For reliable wildlife viewing, go to Bukit Lawang or Ketambe instead.

Does haze affect travel in Riau?

Sometimes, especially from August to October when land clearing fires can blanket the region. It is unpredictable; check air quality and flight status a few days before you travel.