We just spent a week on Bangka island, the neighbor and bigger brother of Belitung island in Sumatra.
Bangka is more than two times the size of Bali or Belitung, and it has lots of nice beaches with white sand, granite boulders, and no tourists. We didn’t see a single foreign tourist the whole time we were there.
You can also do excursions by boat to several sandbars and smaller islands in the area, and even though we saw a fair amount of trash on some of the beaches, which was sad, I’d say with better conservation they could be world class.
This travel guide for Bangka will explain how to get there, where to stay, and everything else you need to know before you go!
How To Get To Bangka
Bangka island is located off the coast of south Sumatra.
The main ways to get there are by flying to the city of Pangkal Pinang (PGK) from Jakarta, or taking a ferry from one of the neighboring islands (Belitung or mainland Sumatra).
Flights from Jakarta (CGK) take a little over 1 hour and they’re offered by multiple airlines with reasonable prices. There are also 40 minute flights from Tanjung Pandan (TJQ) in Belitung, although they’re not as common.
If you’re flying from Bali, you’ll need to transit in either Jakarta or Tanjung Pandan on the way to Bangka. You can shop for flights at Skyscanner.
The other option is the ferry from Belitung or Palembang, which is offered by Bahari Express. It’s cheaper than flying.
The ferry from Tanjung Pandan (Belitung) to Pangkal Pinang takes about 4.5 hours, while the one from Palembang (mainland Sumatra) to Mentok (northwest Bangka) takes about 3 hours, plus about 3 hours of driving to get to town.
How To Get Around
The main challenge in Bangka is getting around, because the island is just so long and spread out. It’s double the size of Bali or Belitung.
The good news is that the driving here is relatively easy, since there’s not much traffic outside of town, and the roads are mostly in good shape.
As with other places in Indonesia, you can get around in Bangka by renting a car or motorbike and driving yourself, or hiring a driver with a car.
I’ll share some contacts for drivers and tour guides later in the article. The prices are pretty reasonable.
For hotel transfers, there are always plenty of taxis available at the airport when you arrive in Pangkal Pinang, and the Grab and GoJek apps can also be used for short trips in the city.
Where To Stay In Bangka
Best Things To Do In Bangka
• Ketawai Island Trip
This island hopping trip is one of the most popular activities for local tourists in Bangka.
They use a small speedboat and the trip normally includes three places: Ketawai island, Pulau Panjang sandbar, and Gusung Asem sandbar.
Private trips or open trips are available, and you can start from Pasir Padi beach (near town), Kurau village, or other areas along the coast.
I joined a shared trip from Pasir Padi since that was the cheapest and easiest option. I’ll share the price and contact details later in the article.
Our tour group for Ketawai had about 15 people, and I was the only foreigner in the group, so that was a fun experience. All the locals were super friendly and I got lots of photo requests.
Our first stop was Pulau Panjang, which is less than 30 minutes by boat from our starting point at Pasir Padi. This sandbar is more than a kilometer long.
The name means ‘long island’ in Indonesian, and it’s a very pretty sandbar with clean white sand. We spent about 45 minutes here before moving on.
The second stop was Gusung Asem, an even bigger sandbar that took another 45 minutes to reach by boat.
This sandbar is almost two kilometers long! Again, I spent about 45 minutes on the island walking around, flying my drone, and wading in the water.
Next, we spent about an hour snorkeling at a nearby reef. The coral seemed to be in good condition, although it wasn’t as impressive as the snorkeling we did at Belitung.
Our last stop of the day was at Ketawai, a small, palm-covered island circled by a white sand beach.
There were lots of locals camping at the island, and sadly I saw heaps of trash inside the tree line as well.
Overall, this open tour was well worth the reasonable price I paid. I just hope they get more serious about keeping the islands clean.
To be fair, our tour guide did give clear instructions to our group not to throw any trash, and everyone seemed to follow the rules, so that was good to see.
Still, it’s hard to police this for everyone when there are lots of local tour groups coming and going every day, like there are here.
• Turun Aban Beach
This is a nice beach on mainland Bangka island that’s scattered with boulders, and it’s located near the Parai Beach Resort.
It’s about a 1 hour drive from Pangkal Pinang town.
