How to get to Bawah Reserve

Getting to Bawah Reserve couldn't be easier.  If you are coming via Singapore we handle the travel details for you as part of your transport fee. We organise the arrangements and escort you along the journey. Here is how it works from Singapore:  Journey to Bawah Reserve 

Whilst Singapore is the start of the journey for many of our Bawah Reserve guests, there is always an option to travel via Jakarta, Bali or other destinations in Indonesia.  This involves you booking your own flight from Jakarta (or elsewhere) to Batam Hang Nadim airport (BTH) - where we will meet you and escort you for the rest of your journey on the 80 minute amphibious plane flight to Bawah Reserve

Singapore to Bawah: 

A driver from our preferred, outsourced car service will pick you up in Singapore at a pre-
arranged location; this can be a hotel, a private home or straight from an incoming flight at
Singapore Changi Airport. The driver will take you to Singapore’s Tanah Merah Ferry
Terminal, where a Bawah Reserve travel host will be waiting to greet and accompany you on
a short ferry ride to Batam, Indonesia. From there, it’s a 10-minute drive to Hang Nadim
International Airport, where you board our amphibious plane for a gloriously scenic 80-
minute flight to Bawah Reserve.

Most trips from Singapore start around 7am; this ensures you arrive at Bawah in time for a
leisurely lunch.  On the return to Singapore, travellers will arrive back in Singapore around 16:45pm. This can vary so please confirm with our reservations team before booking flights into and out of Singapore.

Jakarta/Indonesia to Bawah:

Organise a flight on one of the many carriers that operate the Jakarta - Batam route - Its a 1hr 45 min flight.  If you want to travel the same day to Bawah you will need to arrive by 8:00am - currently, Lion Air has a daily direct flight at 6:00am arriving at 7:45am which is ideal.  You may also opt to spend one night in Batam and we will collect you via private car from your hotel at 8:00am the next morning. 

Where is Bawah Reserve?

Bawah Reserve is in Indonesia - fast becoming the new top travel destination, Indonesia was recently voted the number one country in the world to visit by the readers of CNTraveler:Condé Nast Traveler Readers Choice Awards 2019.

Bawah is situated in the lesser known Anambas - part of the larger Riau Island province, the Anambas Islands are a small chain of islands located between peninsular Malaysia and the island of Borneo – roughly 300 kilometers from Singapore.   The area comprises around 250 islands, of which only 10% are inhabited by some 50,000 people. Terempa, the administrative capital, is located a few hours by boat from the Reserve. Bawah means “below” in Bahasa Indonesian, a moniker chosen to fit our resort’s position at the bottom of the Anambas Island archipelago.

The Anambas

Despite the potential for coastal tourism, the Anambas Islands remain largely undeveloped.
Perhaps due to its remote location, the region hasn’t been as deeply explored as other parts of
Indonesia. Historically, little has been written about the Islands. The first known record was
an account in the 1820s by Hyacinthe Yves Philippe Potentien, baron de Bougainville, a
French naval officer and son of the legendary French admiral and explorer. He was the first
European to explore the Anambas Islands, and his logbook, recounted in The Greatest Works
of Jules Verne, described an area with shallow soil and mountains separated by ravines but
without a fresh water source.

Though the region was on a shipping trade route between Southeast Asia and China,
Bougainville’s written description of a land inhospitable to agriculture may be the reason why
the Anambas Islands is what it is today – a remote isle outpost, rarely visited by tourists, with
beautiful, verdant mountains surrounded by clear waters and vibrant untouched reefs.

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