Bintan tourism
Tanjung Pinang City Tour: Six Stops and the Order to Visit Them
Tanjung Pinang was the seat of the Riau-Lingga Sultanate long before there were resorts at Lagoi, and a city tour here is about history, two places of worship and a night food market — not shopping. From the resort area it is an hour each way, so this is a full-day plan — and the order of the stops matters more than which stops you choose.
What a city tour here is, and what it is not
Tanjung Pinang is not part of Kabupaten Bintan — it is a separate city in the south of the same island, and the older of the two. The Riau-Lingga Sultanate was ruled from Pulau Penyengat, just off its harbour; the Chinese trading community that built Senggarang and the rows of shophouses came later, and most of what visitors see in a day is one of those two histories standing side by side.
What it is not is shopping. There are markets and shophouses, but do not cross the island expecting a mall day. The city's appeal is precisely that it is lived in — a mosque built in 1832 is still the Friday mosque, and dinner is eaten at plastic tables in a car park that only comes to life after dark. Guests looking for air conditioning and brand names are better off taking the ferry to Batam.
The practical shape of the day: an hour to an hour and a quarter each way from Lagoi, two of the six stops across the water by a boat that leaves when it is full, and one that only opens once the light has gone. That is why this page is a sequence, not a list. Start with the island, finish with the food, and the middle will sort itself out.
The shape of the day
The figures that apply to the whole route rather than to any single stop: how far it is to get there, how long the day runs, and the crossing the first two stops depend on.
Getting there
60–75 minutes from Lagoi
10 minutes from the Sri Bintan Pura ferry terminal
The full route
9–11 hours
From your Lagoi hotel and back again, six stops, including a proper lunch. Take the full day, or choose one of the three shorter versions below.
The crossing
15 minutes each way
Pompong — small wooden boats — from the pelantar to Penyengat and across to Senggarang. They leave when full rather than to a timetable, the fare is cash, and it is best to ask for a life jacket rather than wait to be offered one.
Area
Kota Tanjung Pinang
All six stops are within Kota Tanjung Pinang, which is a separate city and not part of Kabupaten Bintan — worth remembering when reading an address or giving one to your driver.
Open in Google Maps
Three ways to shorten the day
Six stops means a full day from the resort area. If you do not have that long, cut from the middle, not from either end — the island needs the morning, and the food market only exists at night.
The full route
9–11 hours
All six, leaving Lagoi around eight and getting back around seven in the evening. Penyengat and Senggarang before lunch while the boats are running, lunch in town, the temple and the shophouse district through the afternoon, the waterfront at sunset and Akau after dark. It means a lot of time in the car, and it is the only version that leaves nothing out.
Half day
5–6 hours
Penyengat, the temple and the shophouse district, back in Lagoi before dark. This version keeps the parts you should not miss and drops the two that only work at their own time of day. If you have small children with you, this is the one to choose.
Evening only
4–5 hours
Leave the resort around three, stop at the temple while it is still open, then the waterfront for sunset and Akau for dinner. No boat and no island, so it is the shortest day with the least time in the car — and dinner really is the best thing in this city.
Six stops, in the order of the day
Not ranked best to worst. The order follows the clock: the boats need the morning, the temple is more comfortable once the sun is off its courtyard, the waterfront only comes into its own at sunset, and the food market does not open until dark.
Pulau Penyengat
The sultanate's island, fifteen minutes from the harbour
1 / 6
- Area: Tanjung Pinang Kota
- How to get there: Across by pompong
- Time to allow: 120–150 minutes
A small island at the mouth of the harbour that was once the seat of the Riau-Lingga Sultanate and, for a time, a centre of Malay learning — the language that later became Indonesian was standardised through works written here. The Masjid Raya Sultan Riau, from 1832, still stands above the jetty in yellow and green, and according to local lore it was built with egg white in the mortar. Around it are the royal tombs, including that of Raja Ali Haji, and the ruins of the old palace and fort in the scrub behind. Get around the island by bentor — a motorcycle rickshaw — hired by the hour at the jetty, as walking in the midday heat is too much for most people.
What you will find
- Masjid Raya Sultan Riau, built in 1832
- The royal tomb complex, including Raja Ali Haji's
- Palace ruins and Benteng Bukit Kursi
- Bentor for hire by the hour at the jetty
Senggarang: Vihara Dharma Sasana
A Chinese village over the water, and a temple inside a banyan's roots
2 / 6
- Area: Tanjung Pinang Kota
- How to get there: Across by pompong
- Time to allow: 60–90 minutes
Across the bay from the town centre, a village of stilt houses over the water reached by plank walkways, with a cluster of temples at the end. The one everyone comes to see is the old temple whose walls are embraced by the roots of a banyan tree growing right through it — three hundred years old according to the villagers themselves, and like nothing else on the island. Vihara Dharma Sasana next door is the active temple, with its own courtyard and views back towards the harbour. It is peaceful, not staged for visitors, and that is exactly its charm.
What you will find
- The banyan-root temple at the end of the plank walkway
- Vihara Dharma Sasana and its courtyard
- The village plank walkways over the water
- Views back towards the harbour
Good for
Those who enjoyed Penyengat; less suited to anyone unsteady on plank walkways
Vihara Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva (Kelenteng Patung Seribu)
Stone arhat statues climbing a landscaped hillside at Air Raja
3 / 6
- Area: Tanjung Pinang Timur
- How to get there: The car stops right outside
- Time to allow: 45–60 minutes
The temple pictured on this site's tourism page, and the stop that most often surprises guests: rows of life-size stone arhat statues climbing a landscaped slope, with a white Guan Yin standing above them and the main hall at the top. It is fifteen to twenty minutes inland from the town centre, which is why it comes after lunch on this route rather than being paired with the two temples across the water. It has its own page here, with opening hours, etiquette and what is in the complex.
What you will find
- Rows of stone arhat statues
- The Guan Yin statue above the courtyard
- The main hall and the garden behind it
- Free entry; donation box near the hall
Jalan Merdeka dan Pasar Baru
Old shophouse streets and markets, five minutes from the jetty
4 / 6
- Area: Tanjung Pinang Kota
- How to get there: The car stops right outside
- Time to allow: 45–60 minutes
The blocks behind the waterfront are the old Chinatown — two-storey shophouses, most still trading, a wet market that gets going before dawn and a dry market open all day. This is the stop least arranged for visitors and the one that best shows the city as it really is: kopitiam breakfasts, dried fish, fabrics, gold shops, and an otak-otak stall that has occupied the same doorway for decades. Half an hour on foot is enough, and the streets are narrow enough that the car is best left at the waterfront.
What you will find
- Jalan Merdeka and its shophouse blocks
- Pasar Baru, wet and dry
- Kopitiam breakfast and otak-otak
- On foot; leave the car at the waterfront
Taman Laman Boenda (Gurindam 12)
The waterfront park, and the only place in town to wait for sunset
5 / 6
- Area: Tanjung Pinang Kota
- How to get there: The car stops right outside
- Time to allow: 45–60 minutes
Taman Laman Boenda in the Tepi Laut area, where locals come out in the late afternoon: a wide waterside promenade lined with the verses of Gurindam 12 — the work by Raja Ali Haji that is the city's literary landmark. There is a mosque at one end, snack carts at the other, and the whole stretch faces west towards the harbour. It is a place to stroll and sit rather than to see something, and at six in the evening it is the best place to be in Tanjung Pinang.
What you will find
- Gurindam 12 verses along the promenade
- Sunset over the harbour
- The mosque at the end of the waterfront
- Snack carts and the evening crowds
Akau Potong Lembu
A car park that becomes the city's dining room after five
6 / 6
- Area: Tanjung Pinang Kota
- How to get there: The car stops right outside
- Time to allow: 60–90 minutes
By day it is a car park. Around five it fills with stalls and plastic tables and becomes where Tanjung Pinang eats: grilled seafood, gonggong — the local sea snail you pick out with a toothpick — otak-otak, mie tarempa, sup ikan and dozens of other dishes. Order from whichever stalls you like and they bring it to your table. It is noisy, cash only and not air-conditioned, and it is the stop guests remember long after the rest of the day has faded.
What you will find
- Gonggong, the local sea snail
- Grilled seafood, ordered stall by stall
- Mie tarempa and sup ikan
- Opens around five; cash only
Areas, time allowances and crossing times were compiled in September 2026 from each site's Google Maps listing, the Dinas Pariwisata Kota Tanjung Pinang destination list, and our drivers' trip logs. The time allowances reflect how long our drivers actually wait, not how long a place could keep you, and the crossing varies with sea conditions and how quickly the boat fills. This page does not list pompong fares, bentor rates on Penyengat or prices at Akau: all three are cash, all three change, and a wrong figure only leads to an unnecessary argument. This is also just one of several possible routes — guests with particular interests only need to tell us, and we will rework it.
What to prepare before you go
Dress for two places of worship
The mosque on Penyengat and the temple are both still in use. Shoulders and knees covered for everyone, shoes off where requested, and the mosque has wraps at the door for anyone not covered enough. Preparing costs nothing, and it is noticed.
Bring cash, in small notes
The pompong, the bentor on Penyengat, parking, the market and everything at Akau are cash only. Cards are for the malls, and the ATMs are in town, not at the stops. Break your large notes before you cross.
Dinner is at Akau — do not fill up early
Nothing at Akau Potong Lembu is open during the day — until about five it is still a car park. Plan a light lunch in town and save your appetite for the evening. This is the stop guests talk about once they are home, and usually not the one they expected.
Avoid Friday midday
Friday prayers empty the shops and fill the mosque on Penyengat from around eleven until one, which is the wrong time to be wandering through either. Move the island to first thing in the morning, or the whole day to another date.
One driver, one car, a full day in Tanjung Pinang
Tell us the date, how many of you there are and where to pick you up. We will arrange a car big enough for your group and a driver who knows the city — including where best to leave the car to explore the shophouse district, and which pelantar actually has boats going to Penyengat.