The Riau Islands are a major gateway into Indonesia because of good ferry links to nearby Singapore and Malaysia. For detailed visa information, please see the Indonesia page. Many of the seaports in the Riau Islands and the main airport on Batam are visa-free and visa-on-arrival points of entry. Please see the pages for the individual islands or cities on the visa status for a particular port.
By plane
Batam's Hang Nadim Airport BTH is the main airport in the province and fields flights from various Indonesian cities. Riau Airlines provides connections with cities in the Sumatra "mainland" such as Pekanbaru, Palembang, Jambi and Pangkal Pinang in Bangka-Belitung province, while other airlines like Garuda-Indonesia, Sriwijaya air, Merpati, Kartika Airlines, and Mandala Airlines fly to other cities like Medan, Jakarta, Surabaya, Makassar and Banjarmasin. See the Batam and individual city pages for details on connections.
As for international connections, Riau Airlines operates flights every Friday and Sunday between Batam and Johor Bahru in Malaysia. Check the Batam and Johor Baru pages for more details.
Bintan has a smaller airport called Raja Ali Haji Fisabilillah Airport at Kijang near Tanjungpinangwith flights From Jakarta By Sriwijaya airlines or Riau-airlines From Jakarta and Pekanbaru
By ship
Ferries are the main way to get to the Riau Islands. Check the individual island or city pages for details.
From Singapore: Frequent ferries connect Singapore with Batam and Bintan. See pages of the two islands for details of ports served by the ferries. Ferries also link Singapore with Tanjung Balai on Karimun Island and Tanjung Batu on Kundur Island. Note that Tanjung Batu is not listed as a visa-free or visa-on-arrival point of entry, although visa-free nationalities seem to not have any problems entering via this port.
From Malaysia: Frequent ferries link Johor Bahru with Batam and Bintan. Ferries also run between Kukup in the south western part of Johor state, and Tanjung Balai on Karimun Island. As of mid 2007, a ferry service has been planned for Batu Pahat in Johor and Tanjung Balai on Karimun but has not taken off yet.
From other parts of Indonesia: Numerous ferries link Sumatra mainland cities such as Pekanbaru, Dumai, Palembang, Kuala Tungkal in Jambi and other smaller ports with Batam, Bintan, Karimun and other islands. Ships belonging to Indonesia's passenger shipping company Pelni call at Bintan's Kijang port, Batam's Sekupang domestic ferry terminal and the Natuna Islands, linking them with Jakarta, Medan, Pontianak and other major ports.