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Bintan
45 minutes from Singapore by ferry. An indonesian island with great beaches, some old growth jungle and lots of resorts to wile away an weekend at.
Batam
The more industrialized and less touristy neighbour to Bintan. Known for night life and shopping but still has some nice places to stay.
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Melaka
A historic Malaysian town, about a 4 hour bus ride away. Shopping, dining and new cultural things to poke around at.
My vote is for Melaka, only because I love new cultural experiences. You are going to be beach jaded after your time there, but you can never get enough culture.
ReplyDeleteBintan FTW!
ReplyDeleteI say for a quick weekend (3 hours by coach) a good place is always Melacca.... have a few blog posts on our trips there, one being:
ReplyDeletehttp://leonefabre.blogspot.com/2009/02/colorful-rickshaws-of-melaka.html
The Johor Peninsular ... thru Woodlands and head NE towards DESARU and the beaches.
Or Koti Tinggi....
Bintan caters for the Singaporean, all resorts one after the other and no culture at all!
Batam is by far more interesting ... cheap shopping etc, though the beaches at Bintan are better ... well you can't have it all. :-)
With Batam you need to stay up around the Nongsapura end of the island and go shopping into Batam Centre. Half the price compared to Singapore.... and you can also buy the 'fake' perfume, but you would be very hard pressed to know the difference ... all for $6.00 a bottle!
It takes 35 mins by ferry to get to Batam or one hour to Bintan.
Here is a blog post on a trip I did recently (to Batam) with a couple of friends, there are links in for other parts of Batam too:
http://leonefabre.blogspot.com/2010/08/relaxing-weekend-for-mala-and-sylvia.html
Singapore is so close to many places you can fly to for a weekend!
Thank you Leone, it's so great to see your experiences. Out of curiosity do you do Malaria tablets for trips to Batam or Bintan? I've been advised on some websites but I know a lot of locals don't bother.
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