On the north-west coast of Malaysia, just a half an hour by plane from Penang lies Langkawi, a popular holiday destination for both domestic and international tourists alike. It was obvious upon arrival, this is where Malaysian families liked to spend their holiday time, with both affordable and high-end accommodation options overlooking clear waters and island vistas.
Travelling in rainy season up until now had only been a slight inconvenience and a sudden mid-afternoon downpour was not unexpected. However, in Langkawi, ‘The Jewel of the Kedah’, we learnt that you definitely have more fun in the sun.
We still made the most of our time here, even if there wasn’t quite as much time spent laxing out on the beach under a coconut tree as we would have liked. We explored the island, experienced the heights of the cable car, took sunset walks and morning strolls, enjoyed the duty free and of course found some delicious food. Here’s how we rolled.
Getting to Langkawi
Travelling from Penang to Langkawi was not a big journey and we learnt after booking our 2 hour ferry ride from George Town, that there’s also direct flights between the two islands, which is a short 30 minute travel time, and annoyingly even cheaper than the boat. We wish we’d never been told this by one of the friendly Penang locals, as the ferry was one of the worst we experienced. Comfortable enough, but for some unknown reason, more people than should have found the seas to rough and made use of the sick bags. Perhaps we should have known this was a common occurrence, when at the start of the ride they handed these round to passengers.
There was an upside however to catching the ferry, as the terminal is located in George Town, only a 5 minute walk from where we were staying at The Chambers. This made it super convenient to get to our early morning ferry, we even had time for a coffee and snack on our way. The airport would have been an Uber or Taxi ride away, which would have added to our travel cost. We’d rather spend that money on breakfast.
We booked with Super Fast Ferry online via Busonlineticket.com and with a couple of departures every day, getting to Langkawi was no problem. So if you have an aversion to flying, maybe try this option. Otherwise, fly. We use skyscanner to check for the best offers.
Arriving at the very fancy ferry terminal building in Langkawi, we grabbed a taxi to Pantai Cenang, the main hub of the island and where our hotel was located. You’ll find lots of drivers waiting for the tourists even before you exit the building. We took this option. While there are a few marked taxis on the island, we didn’t really take too much notice of those on the taxi stand. The rain was starting and we just wanted the safety of any car. Only regret was that we didn’t get a picture with the eagle monument outside the terminal. Fail. The journey from the Ferry terminal to Pantai Cenang is 20-30 minutes.
Where we stayed
Pantai Cenang is generally where visitors head, with the bulk of restaurants and accommodation options located here. You’ll find the exception to this, is the high-end resorts that are scattered around the island, often located on their own private beach. The beach at Pantai Cenang though is pretty enough and large enough to accommodate the many holiday-makers.
We chose a centrally located hotel on the beach-front, Malibest Resort. Don’t let the ‘Resort’ part of the name fool you though. It was more like a lower-range hotel with a few bungalows on the beach. I’m unsure if it was the location or the beachside pool, which let them use this title. While my description may not paint the hotel in the kindest of lights, when you get past the poorly signposted reception area and into the rooms, you may be surprised by the share space and above-average decor, even with a sea-view from the balcony, if you like.
While we didn’t love Malibest, on surveying the other hotel options during our stay, we think we did pretty good. The location was great. The pool, while it didn’t have much room for socialising was more than adequate and the beach was literally on your doorstep. We booked through agoda.com
Our Top picks for Langkawi
With three days and four nights on the island we didn’t leave ourselves too much time for relaxing, and as the weather didn’t really play ball we made the most of our time in ways other than working on our suntans (aka sunburn and freckles).
Duty Free Shopping
We still haven’t found out why, but Langkawi is a duty free haven and a chocoholics delight. The main road has a few large duty free shops on it, with the best ones located in the Cenang Mall.
Having not indulged on our favourite chocolate or New Zealand wine for a month or so, when the opportunity presented, we of course took it, spending too much money on Whittakers and Sav Blanc (if there is such a a thing). If you’re familiar with Whittakers chocolate, you’ll understand why, if you haven’t, you need to find it and try it. Now. Alcohol in the rest of Malyasia generally isn’t cheap, so make the most of the purchasing power in Langkawi.
Island Hopping
There are heaps of options to purchase from vendors on the main road of Pantai Cenang, or it’s probably just as easy to book an island hopping trip through your hotel like we did. While not big fans of group tours, our experience in the Gili Islands, gave us hope that this might be another cost effective and fun boat trip. We paid RM30 each for the day.
The boat trip we took is the busiest option, offering a pick up from your hotel to take you to one of the many boats, which leave early each morning. With 15 or so people on each boat we set off in the green sparkling waters and drove between the beautiful islands to each of the stops for the day. Thankfully our boat was one of the quickest to set off, meaning we were also the first to arrive at our first destination, Pulau Dayang Buntin Island and Pregnant Lake before the crowds swooped in and the heavens opened. The other stops included the eagle feeding ground at Pulau Singa Besar (Big Lion Island) and Palau Beras Basah for swimming, snorkelling and sunbathing.
While we weren’t overwhelmed by all of the destinations and the beach was a little crowded due to the influx of day visitors, we were kept entertained by the monkeys (hide your food and drink), enjoyed swimming in the clear waters and found the eagles circling above our heads pretty awesome.
There’s no denying that the landscape of the islands surrounding Langkawi are pretty incredible and are not to be missed, but the crowds of people and rubbish on the beaches left us a little underwhelmed. Lunch wasn’t provided on our tour, so make sure you take some snacks, although you can purchase some food and drink at two of the three stops.
Exploring the island on Motorbike
Given our experience of the island hopping trip of the previous day, we set off on our own adventure to explore the island, by motorbike. While you can arrange for a taxi to drive you around for the day, we tend to feel a little uncomfortable and restricted by someone waiting for us, plus motorbikes are more fun. There’s heaps of places to rent a bike from, we paid RM$30 for the day from one of the places on the main road in Pantai Cenang. The roads are pretty decent on the island and there’s not too much traffic to contend with.
We headed north on the coast road, passing the airport and stopped off at the Cable car. While we included this on our motorbike tour of the island, you could easily get a taxi if this is your end destination. From here we passed the entrances of several resorts and made our way to the north of the island, stopping at Pasir Tengkorak Beach at a place for lunch, Scarborough Fish and Chip Restaurant located in Tanjung Rhu.
After a couple of dead-ends and detours, we found ourselves at the gorgeous Tanjung Rhu Beach. You’ll probably first enter the grounds of the resort, be chased by a security guard and shown that the checkpoint further up the road is in fact the correct way to the beach (if your trip is anything like ours). The beach only had a few other people on it, and we could have easily spent more time here.
After a short but well-deserved swim, we headed back to Pantai Cenang, this time travelling the internal road route, passing more villages and little towns as we went. There’s not too many roads on Langkawi, but it’s best to ensure you have a map or GPS, as it’s big enough to get lost.
Sunset at Pantai Cenang Beach
While the close-by Pantai Tengah is a nice beach and much quieter, Pantai Cenang definitely seems to have more going for it, with the longest stretch of white sand we’d yet seen on our trip. During the day the beach is relatively quiet with water sport and dining options to be found. But it’s sunset that brings the beach alive, with every man and his dog appearing from goodness knows where. Sunset in Langkawi is out of this world and it’s really no surprise that the crowds flock to see it.
The best place to enjoy sunset is from one of the beach bars, such as Yellow Beach Café where you can nestle into a beanbag on the sand and sip a cocktail while you watch the yellow and orange hues of sunset fall across the evening sky.
Cable Cars and the Oriental Village
Proclaiming itself as the ‘steepest Cable Car in the world’ the trip up in the car, was a little harrowing to say the least. But the views from the top are spectacular and not to be missed. The Oriental Village is an odd shopping village at the entry point of the cable car. You can probably give most of the shops and dining options a miss and head straight for the line to go up the hill.
Once at the top of the peak, you have the option to also visit the sky bridge, which is pretty cool on it’s own, a bridge suspended high on the hills of Langkawi. There is an option to take a short ride down to the bridge, we used our feet, providing us with our exercise for the day and allowing us the excuse for an ice cream when we’d returned. You’ll have to pay extra at the top of the cable car for the priviledge to walk on the sky bridge, but it’s worth it. While the views clouded over while we were partaking in them, I think we got the gist of how beautiful the island is.
Eating and drinking
Pantai Chenang has lots of dining options. Although, not all are created equal. We weren’t overwhelmed by the options presented and it seemed that the more acclaimed meal options came with a hefty price tag, which we weren’t really into. We set our to find some tasty budget eats.
There was a bit of hit and miss, and we did end up paying a little more at some establishment than others. Click here to see our recommendations for eating out in Langkawi, then let us know what you think. Our pick of the bunch was Restoran Almaz for cheap and tasty roti and Yasmin Syrian restaurant, who fed the two of us enough to feed a small army. For a sunset drink, head to Yellow Beach Café right on the beach.