Swissotel, Lubuk Baja hotels

The northern peninsula of Batam Island in the Riu Islands province in Indonesia is home to the vibrant, modern city of Lubuk Baja, also known as Nagoya Batam. It is a business district of the island where entrepreneurs and global companies from Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia come to do their business. However, thanks to the vibrant night life, great shopping and a wide variety of restaurants, bars and local eateries, serving delicious, fresh food, it has become one of the main holiday destinations among Singaporeans and tourists from other neighbouring countries.

There are not many historical sites in Nagoya Batam, except three main temples - Da Bo Gong with many sculptures of gods and goddesses, the Buddhist temple of Vihara Budhi Bhakti, which was built to resemble a Chinese temple, and Baitussyakur mosque. The latest major attraction of the city is Ocarina - a newly built theme park, where visitors can relax on an artificial beach, go on one of the thrilling rides at the water park, and admire Shio sculptures.

The choice of restaurants, bars and cheap eateries in Nagoya Batam is large and varied. Very popular are so called pujaseras, which are very much like the food courts found in Singapore, or Thailand. They serve fresh local food at budget prices and are popular among young visitors and backpackers. The largest pujasera in Lubuk Baja is the Nagoya Hill Food Court, which can serve up to 400 people. Nagoya Entertainment District, also called NED, offers an excellent choice of Western restaurants, bars and night life.

Shopping is one of the reasons why so many people visit Nagoya Batam and visitors usually spend their time shopping at two main malls in the city - Nagoya Hill and Batam City Square, which show the latest movies and offer great deals on electrical goods and clothing. The former mall attracts those who like to buy clothes and accessories for a very low price and purchase local products at Hypermart, which offers specialties such as delicious crackers, known as keropok gonggong, and indomie, local instant noodles. City Square is the most crowded mall in Nagoya, mostly because of the karaoke and the arcade, which attract young locals.