Anambas Islands
Anambas is reached by a small number of infrequent ferries from Bintan and Tanjung Pinang (the Batam crossing is suspended), a fortnightly Pelni cruise ship, and two small airports whose flights are cancelled outright by haze and heavy weather; once there, pompongs and speedboats between Siantan, Jemaja and the outer islands run on their own schedules and a missed one can mean days waiting for the next.
- Researched
- 28 September 2026
- Reviewed
- not yet
- Ways of moving
- 10, 23 sources
- Not confirmed
- 8
- Fares seen
- 2026
10 ways of moving, each with its rule
We confirmed eight ways of moving to, from or around Anambas Islands: five by water, two by air and one under your own steam, from 23 sources. Two entries are not a service at all but a rule that decides whether travel happens: a permit, a closure, a border, a season or an authority's say-so. One of them runs only on demand or when the seats are full, so there is no timetable to show; the rule is written where the timetable would be. Two need a phone call or a message before you turn up.
The fares were seen in 2026; a fare from an older year is a floor, not a price. Eight fares carry no year, because they could not be confirmed and the field says so. We rate 1 of the 10 high confidence, our own judgement of the sources. The entry was checked on 28 September 2026, and ends with eight things we could not confirm.
By water
Bintan (Kijang/Tanjung Pinang) – Letung – Tarempa fast ferry
Bintan to Letung (Jemaja) then on to Tarempa (Siantan), about 7-9 hours total
Buy a printed booking confirmation online or through an agent, then present it at the ferry counter at the Bintan terminal before departure; the counter issues the paper ticket. Boarding closes at the port and a return sailing from Anambas tends to arrive in Bintan after the last Singapore boat has left, so plan an overnight in Bintan either way.
- When
- Departs Bintan every Monday, Wednesday and Friday; returns from Anambas every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. No crossing on Sunday
- Takes
- About 7-9 hours depending on weather and sea state, with a stop at Letung before the final hop to Tarempa
- Fare 2026
- US$40 one-way, quoted on the operator's site as current in 2026
SeasonReported as running year-round on paper, but weather cancellations cluster in the November-March north-east monsoon. BookingOnline through anambasferry.com or by phone/WhatsApp to the agency; pay and collect the physical ticket at the terminal counter. Run byA private ferry operator sold through the Anambas Ferry booking agency.
KM Sabuk Nusantara (Kemenhub subsidised PSO route), Tanjung Pinang – Anambas
Tanjung Pinang to Anambas, a government-subsidised pioneer route separate from the private fast ferries
This is the Kementerian Perhubungan's PSO ferry, not the tourist operator's boat. Ask at the Tanjung Pinang harbourmaster's office or Pelni agent for the current Sabuk Nusantara schedule, since sailings are set month to month and are the first cancelled when the sea gets rough.
- When
- Reported as roughly fortnightly; a February 2020 sailing was turned back mid-route by 6-metre swell and the next departure was pushed from Thursday to the following Sunday pending calmer weather
- Takes
- Not stated in the source found
- Fare
- Not confirmed
SeasonNorth-east monsoon swell (reported December-February in the source found) is the stated reason for turnbacks and delays. BookingAt the harbour or through a Pelni/ASDP agent; not sold online. Run byOperated for the Ministry of Transport (PT Pelni operates several Sabuk Nusantara hulls under charter).
KM Bukit Raya (Pelni), Kijang – Letung – Tarempa – Natuna – Midai – Pontianak
Kijang port on Bintan, calling at Letung and Tarempa on the way out to Natuna, Midai and Pontianak, returning to Tanjung Pinang by a different routing
A large passenger cruise ship (KTV lounge, canteen, first/second/economy classes and sleeper cabins), not a fast ferry - book at a Pelni office or agent in Kijang/Tanjung Pinang. Monthly schedules are republished by Riau news sites closer to sailing dates.
- When
- About twice a month according to the booking agency; an older Wikivoyage account describes a fortnightly-feeling two-week round trip that touches the islands roughly four times a month - the two figures do not fully agree and neither is dated precisely, so check the current month's published schedule
- Takes
- Up to about 20 hours from Bintan to Anambas; a 2017-era fare example quoted roughly 30 hours Pontianak to Tarempa
- Fare
- Varies by class (first, second, economy) and point of origin; no current fare could be confirmed from a source that names a year
SeasonYear-round schedule, but subject to the same monsoon-season disruption as the other Anambas ferries. BookingPelni ticket office or agent at Kijang/Tanjung Pinang, or through the private ferry agency's inquiry form. Run byPT Pelni.
Tarempa (Siantan) - Letung (Jemaja) speedboat
Tarempa to Letung, the main inter-island hop between the two most populous islands
Ask at the Tarempa harbour for the Letung speedboat; departures are announced by word of mouth and at the jetty rather than posted online, and locals increasingly coordinate seats over WhatsApp.
- When
- About three times a week, per Wikivoyage
- Takes
- Around 2 hours
- Fare
- Rp125,000, undated in the source (Wikivoyage does not give a year)
SeasonSlower and more likely to be cancelled in rough seas during the north-east monsoon. BookingNone formal - buy at the jetty; ask locally about WhatsApp groups for seat coordination. Run byIndependent speedboat owner-operators.
Pompong charter to outer islands and beaches
From Tarempa or Letung out to the uninhabited outer islands (Bawah, Durai, Penjalin, Ayam and the many beaches not reachable by road)
Pompongs are the slower, cheaper, diesel-powered wooden boats found tied up at the jetty in Tarempa and Letung; faster petrol speedboat taxis cost more. Chartering the whole boat, rather than waiting for a scheduled run, is how most outer-island and beach trips are actually done - ask at the jetty or through your guesthouse, since there is no listed operator or timetable.
- When
- On demand - no fixed schedule for a charter
- Takes
- Varies by destination
- Fare
- Around Rp500,000 for a charter trip, undated in the source
SeasonRougher and less reliable in the north-east monsoon; a missed or cancelled boat with no scheduled alternative can mean a multi-day wait for the next one. BookingNone formal - negotiate at the jetty or through a guesthouse. Run byIndependent boat owners.
Rules, permits and closures
Batam – Anambas ferry: suspended
The former fast-ferry link from Batam to Letung and Tarempa
The brief's premise of a working Batam ferry does not hold: the operator's own Batam route page carries a standing notice that the service is off. Anyone routing through Batam should use the Bintan or Tanjung Pinang crossing instead, or fly.
- When
- Not running
- Takes
- Not applicable
- Fare
- Not applicable
SeasonSuspension has no stated end date on the page. Run byThe same operator that ran the Bintan service.
North-east monsoon and dry-season haze: what actually stops boats and flights
All sea and some air routes to and around Anambas
Two separate, unrelated hazards ground transport here and travellers conflate them: the November-March north-east monsoon raises swell that has turned back a Sabuk Nusantara sailing mid-route (6-metre waves, February 2020) and is cited by the private ferry operator as its main season of cancellation; separately, dry-season land and forest fire smoke (kabut asap) drifting from Sumatra can cut visibility at Letung Airport below the roughly 5 km minimum airlines require, cancelling flights outright even in calm seas - documented as recently as September 2026. Ask locally, or check BMKG's marine and air-quality bulletins, before counting on either a boat or a flight in either season.
- When
- Not applicable
- Takes
- Not applicable
- Fare
- Not applicable
SeasonNorth-east monsoon swell: reported December-February. Haze: reported September 2026, tied to the regional dry-season fire season. Run byBMKG (weather) decides sailing/flight go-ahead in practice; airport and ferry operators make the final call.
By air
Letung Airport (Bandara Letung, Jemaja) - Wings Air and Susi Air
Batam (Hang Nadim) and Tanjung Pinang to Letung Airport on Jemaja
Book Wings Air through Traveloka or the airline's own channels for the Batam route; the Tanjung Pinang route is flown by Susi Air as a subsidised pioneer (perintis) service, sold at a fixed government-set fare rather than a market one. Fog and wildfire haze both ground flights here: airport management cancels outright once visibility drops under the ~5 km safety minimum, most recently for a full day in September 2026.
- When
- Daily Wings Air rotation Batam-Letung reported in April 2026; the earlier operator page describes only 4 flights a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday) - treat the day pattern as unconfirmed and check current timetables
- Takes
- Not stated in the sources found
- Fare 2026
- Wings Air Batam-Letung (ATR 72-600) was reported at Rp1.5-1.6 million per person before jumping to about Rp1.8-1.9 million in April 2026 industry-wide amid a fuel-price spike; the subsidised Susi Air run was unaffected at Rp608,000 from Tanjung Pinang and Rp556,000 from Letung
SeasonCancellations cluster in the dry-season haze months (reported September 2026) and in poor weather; the airport itself does not sell jet fuel, so aircraft arrive already fuelled. BookingWings Air through Traveloka or travel agents; Susi Air perintis seats are typically sold through the local UPBU office or its agents. Run byWings Air (commercial) and Susi Air (government-subsidised perintis route).
Matak Airport (MWK) - oil-company airstrip
Matak Island, serving the offshore gas fields; charter to Jakarta-Halim, plus some commercial service to Tanjung Pinang and Batam
This is a working airstrip owned and used by MedcoEnergi's offshore operation, not a public terminal you can simply book from a travel site. Wikipedia's airport entry lists a MedcoEnergi charter (flown by Travira Air) to Jakarta-Halim for company personnel, alongside a commercial routing to Tanjung Pinang and Batam that was flown by XpressAir; no current-year source confirming XpressAir still flies this route, or how a non-employee books a seat, could be found. Ask locally or through a dive operator based on Matak/Kiabu whether seats on the commercial flights are still sold to the public.
- When
- Historically about 6 flights a week to Tanjung Pinang and 3 a week to Batam by frequency rank, per an undated Wikipedia statistics table; MedcoEnergi's own charter frequency is not stated
- Takes
- Not stated in the source found
- Fare
- Not confirmed
SeasonNot stated. BookingNot confirmed for public passengers; MedcoEnergi staff and contractors are booked through the company. Run byMedcoEnergi (airstrip owner); Travira Air (charter); XpressAir (commercial, as of the source's undated statistics).
On foot, by bike, or otherwise
Scooter and motorbike hire in Tarempa and Letung
Within Siantan and Jemaja - the only on-land transport beyond a handful of government vehicles
Ask at your guesthouse in Tarempa or Letung; shops in the main towns rent scooters by the day. Hitchhiking, especially solo on the back of a bike, is reported as easy and common on the islands.
- When
- Available daily, walk-in
- Takes
- Not applicable
- Fare
- Rp100,000 per day, undated in the source
SeasonYear-round. BookingWalk in, or ask at your guesthouse. Run byLocal shops and guesthouses.
What we could not find out
8 things the researcher looked for and did not find, in their own words, with where to ask instead. None of this goes into the planner; it stays here until someone confirms it.
- 01
The docs/13-api-inventory.md entry for ASDP Indonesia Ferry (www.asdp.id, GET /rute/tujuan/<PORT>) has drifted: repeated fetches for TAREMPA, LETUNG and BATAM in September 2026 mostly failed the TLS handshake outright, and the small number that connected returned an HTML page titled 'The URL you requested has been blocked' (once) or an old-style fallback HTML shell with no route data (once) - never the plain JSON the inventory describes. This looks like a WAF now sitting in front of the endpoint rather than an auth or naming problem; TAREMPA/LETUNG/TANJUNG PINANG/BATAM as port names could not be confirmed either way because no request got past the block. Worth re-testing with a residential IP or checking whether the inventory's endpoint path has simply moved.
- 02
Whether the private Bintan-Anambas ferry is currently sailing as advertised (Mon/Wed/Fri) could not be confirmed from a source dated within the last year - the operator's own schedule page carries no visible last-updated date, unlike its Batam page which explicitly flags suspension. Confirm at the Kijang or Tanjung Pinang counter before relying on the timetable.
- 03
The Sabuk Nusantara PSO route's current fare and duration could not be found; the only dated source (2020) covers a weather delay, not the fare or schedule.
- 04
KM Bukit Raya's monthly frequency is stated two different ways by two sources (twice a month vs. about four times a month) and neither pins a year to the number - check the current month's published Pelni schedule rather than either figure here.
- 05
Matak Airport's public-booking situation is the least confirmed thing in this file. Wikipedia's undated statistics table names XpressAir on commercial routes to Tanjung Pinang and Batam, but no 2024-or-later source could be found confirming XpressAir (or any airline) still flies there commercially, or how a traveller who is not MedcoEnergi staff or a contractor would buy a seat. Ask a dive operator based on Matak or Kiabu, or MedcoEnergi's local office.
- 06
No fare could be found for the Tarempa-Letung Pelni/ASDP-style scheduled ferry separate from the private fast ferry and the PSO Sabuk Nusantara - only the pompong/speedboat and the two ferries above were confirmed.
- 07
The brief's framing of 'the Tanjung Pinang and Batam ferries' should be corrected: the Batam crossing is explicitly suspended by the operator, and the currently-advertised private fast ferry actually departs from Bintan (Kijang), not Tanjung Pinang directly, though Tanjung Pinang is Bintan's main port and travellers often describe it that way.
- 08
How booking by WhatsApp actually works for the harbour boats (which number, which operator) could not be confirmed from any source found - only that booking in general is informal and done at the harbour.
What the planner can route today
The options above live on the place page, not in the departure board: a boat that comes when you phone has no time to show. What the board can do for Anambas Islands is this.
- N
- Scheduled flightsnearest airport SIN is 298 km away
- Y
- Trains and coachesTransitous carries 1 timetable feed for this country, 0 with real-time
- N
- Ferriesno crossing within 25 km
- Y
- Driving and taxiOpenStreetMap roads; cab fare from the country band
- N
- Bike and scooter shareno share feed known
- N
- Cruisesno open itinerary source anywhere
Y routable now · F found, not yet implemented · N no source known. Nearest place with more: Kota Tinggi, 281 km.