Riau Islands is a province of Indonesia. It comprises the principal group of the Riau Archipelago along with other island groups to the south, east and northeast. In Indonesian, Riau Islands and Riau Archipelago are synonymous and are distinguished by the word for province, "Provinsi".
Some of the Riau Islands are within eyesight of downtown Singapore, while others are hundreds of kilometers away from anything. Because of this, the province offers many different experiences to a traveller. The luxury resorts on the north coast of Bintan and the much seedier towns of Batam are a short ferry ride from Singapore. Historic and ethnically-diverse Tanjung Pinang, the capital and largest town on Bintan, is further away but still easy to reach.
