Anyone stayed on Langkawi, Malaysia?
 

Hi there, can anyone who has stayed on the island give me their recommendations on places to stay?

We have had a look at a few websites but the amount of accommodation available is quite incredible, so any advice would be welcome!

Nicky

Re: Anyone stayed on Langkawi, Malaysia?
 

Hello

We stayed on Langkawi for Christmas 2003, and in Kuala Lumpur for the New Year. We stayed at the Mutiara Burau Bay hotel which I can honestly say was completely excellent. The only thing I could fault it on was that it's restaurants were poor and expensive (with the exception of the breakfast which was excellent, varied and included in the price). For instance, a very average pizza was about £10. However on the second night there we found a great way round this. Right outside the hotel gates was a food stall with a few plastic tables where Malaysians gathered in the evenings to eat. The food there was delicious, fresh and cost £1 per head for 2 courses!! So you'll guess where we ate for the rest of our stay.

Here's a couple of piccies of the hotel from our stay.

Let me know if you need any more info.

Cheers

Buzzy

Re: Anyone stayed on Langkawi, Malaysia?
 

PM Scissors or GSB as they stayed on Langkawi when they emigrated to Aus last year!:)

Re: Anyone stayed on Langkawi, Malaysia?
 

The Datai and it's new neighbour on Datai Beach
Superb design,fabulous rooms, excellent food
There can be few better
World class.

Re: Anyone stayed on Langkawi, Malaysia?
 

I'd second Wellingtons recommendations there. If you have kids the new one (think its called the Andaman Datai or something like that) is probably better. If you're on your own, go for the Datai. Only downside to it is to get to the beach you go along a wooden walkway (only 50 yards or so) thru a mangrovey type area, and it was full of mossies when we were there. But don't let that put you off - the hotel is great.

The other one to think about is the Tanjong rhu, which is for my money, the best beach on Langkawi. Its a bit smaller, a bit more refined, and very nice. We were there once and Michael and Ralph Schumacher were on the next sunbeds, resting between the Australian and Malaysian GP's! Can't be bad if they shed some of their megamillions on it...

Re: Anyone stayed on Langkawi, Malaysia?
 

We stayed at the Berjaja resort - v nice and a few cheap restaurants nearby. Posts above are for the best hotels but they were out of our price range.

Enjoy your holiday

Re: Anyone stayed on Langkawi, Malaysia?
 

With the exception of my post, which was the cheapest hotel on the island!

Cheers

Buzzy

Re: Anyone stayed on Langkawi, Malaysia?
 

Thanks Hel - yep, the Datai and Tanjung Rhu look gorgeous but are hideously expensive and we can't afford them. I haven't looked at the Berjaja - I'll do that now - but I've been quoted £46per night for a beachfront bungalow at the Tanjung Sanctuary, which is 4star - that's the cheapest so far!

Nicky

Re: Anyone stayed on Langkawi, Malaysia?
 

Which hotel did you go with in the end? We are planning to stop in Langkawi en-route to Perth in November. Our daughter will be 18mths old then so looking for something suitable for families.
cheers

Ros

Re: Anyone stayed on Langkawi, Malaysia?
 

Hi Ros,

We were very happy with the resort we stayed at - it was the Tanjung Sanctuary, a lovely quiet resort on the North-West side of the island.

There are about 38 chalets, set into a bush-land. The rooms have a dining table and seating area as well as king-size beds and a private balcony - a little shabby in places but overall not too bad and a great size. There's a small swimming pool with great views over the bay and a really lovely private beach, which is sheltered and great for kids.

I'll PM you some info and a link to their website if you're interested. We would recommend hiring a car for a couple of days to explore the island, although the hotel will organise taxi's for you but the cost can mount up.


Nicky

Re: Anyone stayed on Langkawi, Malaysia?
 

Thanks Nicky for the feedback. Hotel sounds ideal. Did you take taxi from airport to hotel or did hotel collect you on arrival? Looking forward to hearing more.
Cheers from wet, wet, wet London.

Ros

Re: Anyone stayed on Langkawi, Malaysia?
 

Yep, there's actually a little 'taxi' desk just before you leave the arrivals terminal. You pay in advance, they give you a receipt and pop you into your taxi - all very civilised! The hotel will also organise taxi's for you using the same principal.

If you're staying more than a couple of days, it would be worth hiring a car as the resort is too far to comfortably walk anywhere. I'd advise caution if you use the hotel to organise it, as we did that and got ripped off. In retrospect, we wished we'd just sorted it out when we were at the airport as there are desks just by where you collect your luggage - they offer some reasonable deals, or the other option is to go into the main town, Kuah, where there are loads of operators.

Cheers (from an equally wet Yorkshire!)

Nicky

Re: Anyone stayed on Langkawi, Malaysia?
 

Thanks again Nicky!! By the way, found the website for those bungalows you recommended, they look superb. Bit alarmed by one testimonial though, a woman opened her balcony door one morning only to be greeted and swamped by the monkeys. She finished by saying they were actually harmless and great fun.
I think they might infact scare the living daylights out of our 20month old daughter..thats if they don't run off with her... Did you encounter these monkeys?

cheers,
Ros

Re: Anyone stayed on Langkawi, Malaysia?
 

Yep, but only from a distance - we were in a beachfront chalet which are alot higher up at the back, hence not so easy for monkeys to gain access to the balcony.

We saw two different types - the absolute adorable Langurs (see link below) http://www.ecologyasia.com/html-loc/langkawi.htm who seem to be tree-dwellers. They came through the trees behind our chalet a couple of times, and we were transfixed by the mothers with their tiny babies. The troupe were so quiet that, unless they call to each other, you wouldn't know they were there. We felt quite privileged to have been able to see them.

The ones the lady is talking about are all over the island - can't remember their name - but we didn't have any problems with them at the resort. We saw them sitting on the front porches of the chalets nearer the bay-side but we just ignored them and they didn't bother us. Trouble is, they have probably been encouraged by tourists feeding them, so I'd be very wary about letting children walk around with food in their hand - although this is something you'll need to be mindful of whereever you go on the island as the monkeys congregate at tourist spots! At the resort, we honestly only saw them a couple of times and they weren't a problem. Think the resort has taken steps to discourage the monkeys and they also ask guests not to feed them, encourage them etc.

Nicky

Re: Anyone stayed on Langkawi, Malaysia?
 

stayed at the holiday villa last year, its on the beach, restruant excellent and well priced across the road a lovely local restruant food excellent but soooooooo inexpensive, going back there next month on way the nz. hubby flying directly to wellington but kids and i are having 4 day break whilst he hopfully finds us rented. hope you have a good time. wendy