A former winner of BBC One’s Race across the World has shared notes from his latest adventure – to a paradise island that is still off the tourist map.
Alfie Watts, who won the 2024 series of the hit travel show with his St Albans pal Owen Wood, posted shots of azure blue ocean and swaying palms to his Instagram account.
The avid traveller captioned one of the dreamy holiday images with the line: ‘I cannot believe more people don’t know about this place’.
Watts, who ended his triumphant reality show run by reaching Lombok in Indonesia, was back in the South East Asian country that helped shoot him to fame this week.
However, this time he was on an island that gets just 10,000 British visitors a year – small fry if you consider 17.8 million UK tourists make it to Spain.
He’d landed on Bindan Island, which has been dubbed ‘Asia‘s best kept secret’ by those who’ve already discovered its charms.
Sharing snaps of himself in traditional dress and jet-skiing around the island’s coastline, Alfie gushed about his latest pitstop.
The backpacker said: ‘From sea turtle conservation to some of the cheapest jet skiing in the world, I genuinely cannot believe more people don’t know about this incredible place!’
Winner of BBC One’s Race across the World 2024 Alfie Watts has been raving about the small island of Bintan in Indonesia, saying: ‘I cannot believe more people don’t know about this place’
The palm-tree strewn island is just a 50-minute catamaran ride from Singapore
He added that the island, which is just a 50-minute boat ride from international travel hub Singapore, ‘should ABSOLUTELY be on your travel bucket list!’
Although more than three times larger in size than Singapore, around 5.4 million fewer people reside on this island, with most of its 340,000 population centred around the capital, Tanjung Pinang.
Over the last few years, Indonesia has been promoting Bintan as its next big tourist destination after Bali.
The island has beautiful beaches for bathing and lush rainforests for trekking and its capital city is a lively metropolis to explore.
Other attractions included the mangrove forests of the Sebung River, hiking in Gunung Bintan, where you can spot rare breeds such as silvered leaf monkeys.
There’s also the option to take a boat to Senggarang, a Chinese fishing village with houses on stilts, which is home to a 200-year-old Banyan tree (a popular pilgrimage site for Buddhists).
Meanwhile Penyengat has old Dutch forts and palaces, and the Sultan of Riau’s Grand Mosque.
Alfie (left) and Owen Wood (right) were only given £1,100 each and challenged to make their way from northernmost Japan to the idyllic Indonesian island of Lombok on Race across the World
One of Alfie’s photos showed him spending time at a desert themed glamping resort close to Lagoi on the island
Why go? The island has beautiful beaches for bathing and lush rainforests for trekking
Tourists can swap Bali for Bintan, pictured, which has beautiful beaches for bathing and lush rainforests for trekking
Back in April, Alfie revealed his two favourite countries to MailOnline – Jordan and Malaysia.
The travel content creator said: ‘I took my Nan to Petra because she’d wanted to see it for her whole life, so that was really nice, and the whole feeling around the trip was just really positive.
‘The people in Jordan are just so friendly as well. And Malaysia is also a favourite, because it’s just a cheap paradise.
‘But my single favourite place in the world has to be Angel Falls in Venezuela.
‘They’re the tallest waterfall in the world, but they’re completely off grid, and a nightmare to get to.’
When it comes to his least favourite country, Alfie finds it hard to single one out, but he admits Cambodia was the country he ‘disliked the most’, having stopped there during Race Across the World.
Alfie said Cambodia was the country he ‘disliked the most’ – having stayed their during his time on the reality show
‘I just didn’t get along with it at all,’ he says. ‘I found the people quite unfriendly, and Cambodia is in southeast Asia, which obviously means that it’s surrounded by Thailand and Malaysia, which are so top that I just don’t think it comes close.
‘But a lot of people disagree, and love Cambodia, so I think I’m objectively wrong with this opinion!’
Another place many people love, but Alfie found to be overrated is Sydney.
He says: ‘Yeah, it looks all right, but it’s very expensive, and I just didn’t catch the hype. I was really looking forward to it, and it was just a bit average.
‘Everywhere felt like it was trying too hard, and the whole hipster thing was just coming across a bit too much.
‘I do need to go back and explore more of Australia though, because Sydney is the only place I’ve been.’
