Pangkal or Pengkal in the Malay language means center or beginning. It refers to the city’s role as the center of the tin mining industry also boasts pristine beaches. Pasir Padi Beach offers beautiful scenery of white sand and clear blue ocean waters. The beach is also a perfect site to watch the sun rise in the morning. At ebb tide, visitors can walk to the nearby Punan Island and bathe in its calm waters. Not too far from Pasir Padi Beach, about 2.5 km from here is the Tanjung Bunga Beach which offers beautiful scenery of a flat beach decorated with huge granite rock formations.

Pangkalpinang is the island’s largest city and capital of the Province of Bangka-Belitung Islands. Aside from its role as the center of the provincial government, economic, and commercial activities, Pangkalpinang serves as gateway for visitors.

The tin mining - industry drew Chinese workers and their descendants to the island, who brought their culture to root-down on Bangka, thus decorating the city of Pangkalpinang with visible Chinese nuances in its architecture and rituals. But besides its rich cultural heritage, Pangkalpinang also boasts some pristine beaches.

Culturally, Pangkalpinang is heavily influenced by Chinese culture.which began around 1770 when Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II of Palembang Darussalam Sultanate invited laborers from China to work at tin mining industries on Bangka and Belitung. Subsequently, Chinese laborers arrived from Siam, Malaka (in present day Malaysia) and the Southern part of China. Most are Hakka (Khek) ethnic descent from the province of Guang Xi in China, The migrants would soon marry locals, since Chinese authorities at the time forbade women from migrating with their men. Their intermarriage and their descendents call themselves: Peranakan Chinese.

Parai Tenggiri Beach, with huge boulders surrounding a small cove and an island jutting out into the sea, connected with the shore at low tide and other places; Matras Beach, Belitung, Lengkuas Island, Rambak Beach.

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