Singapore to Batam ferry

At a glance

Overview

Batam is the closest Indonesian island to Singapore — a fifty-minute to seventy-minute ferry across the strait, not a flight. It is the cheap, quick island break: spas, seafood, golf and outlet shopping, done in a day or a weekend. If you want resorts and beaches instead, that is Bintan, a different terminal and a different boat — see the Singapore islands guide before you book.

All the Singapore-side sailings now leave from the new HarbourFront Ferry Terminal at 5 HarbourFront Avenue, part of the Singapore Cruise Centre that opened in July 2026. It is about seventy metres from the old terminal, above the same MRT and mall, so a lot of directions online still point at the old door — go to the new one.

Representative departures

A published timetable, not a live seat board — times are the operators’ own and change without notice. Singapore sailings leave from HarbourFront Ferry Terminal. Times are Singapore time (UTC+8); the Indonesian side is one hour behind.

What you actually pay

The number an operator or an aggregator advertises is the base fare. On top of it sit a Singapore passenger departure fee, a temporary fuel surcharge, and — leaving Batam — a Batam terminal fee. BatamFast and Majestic fold all of that into one published figure; Sindo advertises a low base and adds the fees separately, which is why its "from S$28" and its real cost are two different numbers.

Prices below are the operators’ own published figures, last checked on 31 August 2026. The fuel surcharge is labelled temporary by the operators — confirm it is still in force before you travel.

• BatamFast — S$43 one-way, stated all-inclusive (ticket, surcharge and both departure fees).
• Majestic — S$43 one-way, stated to include the Singapore departure fee, Batam terminal fee and surcharge.
• Sindo — S$28 base + a S$10 Singapore departure fee + a S$6 fuel surcharge, so roughly S$44 in practice.
• Horizon — around S$43 is the retail figure, but Horizon does not publish an economy fare on its own site, so treat it as indicative, not official.
• Indo Falcon — no reliable public fare; check directly with the operator.
• A return trip lands in the region of S$76–80 all-in on the operators that quote inclusive fares.

Which operator to pick

For HarbourFront to Batam Centre — the busiest, most useful terminal — BatamFast, Sindo and Majestic all compete, and on real all-in price they land within a few dollars of each other. Pick on the departure time that fits your day, not on the headline fare.

Horizon is the one to know about if you are heading for the Nagoya side: it runs HarbourFront to Harbour Bay, a different Batam terminal closer to that district. And a quirk worth knowing — BatamFast and Sindo interline on some sailings, meaning a ticket sold under one brand is physically run by the other. It is the same boat, so do not book "both" expecting two options.

The time zone catch

Batam runs on Western Indonesia Time (WIB, UTC+7), one hour behind Singapore (UTC+8). The crossing takes roughly fifty minutes to an hour — almost exactly the size of the time difference — so the Batam arrival clock reads within a few minutes of the Singapore departure clock, and on the shorter sailings it can even read earlier. Nothing is wrong; the hour you would expect a journey to add is cancelled by the hour you gain crossing the zone. Set your phone back an hour on arrival and forward an hour coming home, and read every schedule in the zone of the terminal you are standing in.

Passports, check-in and boarding

This is an international crossing, so a valid passport is required — six months of validity is the usual rule — and your visa position depends on your nationality; check it before you travel. At the terminal you exchange your ticket for a boarding pass at the counter, then clear departure immigration before you board, and arrival immigration on the far side. Give yourself the same buffer you would for a short flight: get there in good time, and enter the name exactly as it appears on your passport when you book.

Questions travellers ask

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