Hi...we just returned from a fabulous trip to Langkawi...so here it goes:
Took a morning Flight to Langkawi via Air Asia from KL...domestic trip and cheap flight. Rent a car at the airport for RM 60/day. The Perodua Myvi is a good drive. Make sure you have your hotel bookings if you flying peak season.
We checked in to Meritus Pelangi Beach Resort - a 5-star hotel and at the heart of the city...at Cenang (read: Chenang) beach. I recommend you stay near Cenang beach, if possible the same hotel. You have other hotels around too…Cenang beach road is like a street in Anjuna in Goa. Quite busy and lots to do. You have the Water Sports here, if you so desire. We’ve done it in Goa, so didn’t really burn our money there.
Everything in Langkawi will appear very cheap and attractive. But you need to decide what to spend on based on the amount of relaxation and activity that you wanna balance your vacation with.
Nov 22nd - The 1st day at Meritus, we just spent time at the resort beach and explored the resort. Studied the maps, had sea food at the nearby restaurants close to the hotel and drove around Cenang.
23rd – After the complimentary breakfast (which I never miss), we drove to the north-west of Langkawi for the Cable Car experience. Don’t miss this. It’s advisable to go in the morning, as by noon, it could get quite hot. We lazed a bit in the pool after breakfast and went post-lunch around 4pm.
To go to the cable car, you need to pass the Oriental Village. Good place to souvenir shop and eat. Don’t miss the Chicken Curry with hot breads. It’s part of their breakfast menu…but tastes yummy for lunch too. Have fresh juice in abundance, you will need it and it’s quite cheap.
At the cable car there are several observation decks. Be prepared to sweat it out in Langkawi…there’s lot of trekking at every tourist point. Dress to comfort.
So we spent time till evening and drove back to the hotel. Chilled and went out for dinner in Cenang. At Cenang, you will also find a lot of tour operators who could organize the Mangrove tour, Snorkeling and Scuba Diving, etc. Better to book tours from outside as you can negotiate better. Meritus also had their tour plans, but were easily 25% expensive.
Here we learnt that snorkeling was a day-long activity and you need a license to scuba-dive. I didn’t prefer to pay around RM 280 per person for just snorkeling and waste a complete day. So we chose Mangrove tour and Island Hopping for the next two days.
24th – Mangrove tour. The minivan comes to pick you up at 9am and takes you to the north-east of Langkawi. Here, you get transferred to a 12-seater boat. We were lucky to have a great guide. You will experience nature the closest in this tour. Again, Don’t miss this. From Fish Farms to Fish feeding to Eagle feeding to Bat Cave, there’s a lot of knowledge sharing here. You get to touch a Sting Ray. Sounds creepy and dangerous. However, we got back to the hotel by 3.30pm and slept. You could get quite tired. Then I dropped my wife for a Spa experience (Azun-Azun) while I spent the evening at the beach…eating street sea-food and capturing a lot of memories. Crashed early for Island Hopping next day.
25th – Island Hopping starts at 9.30am. Like the name goes, this time South of Langkawi…you are hopping 3 small islands. Frankly, if you’ve already juiced the Mangrove tour, Island Hopping can be avoided. But just for the sake of experiencing new photographic locations, we went for it. Island hopping was more like watching 100s of monkeys hopping. Dude, this place has monkeys in abundance. Make sure you carry your Jansport and nothing in hand…You Blink and it could be gone.
Island hopping finishes early. By 2pm we were back at the hotel and stepped out to drive all of Langkawi. We decided that we were done with all tourist destinations and didn’t wanna entertain ourselves with any shows or sight-seeing. We passed the Wildlife sanctuary, the crocodile farms, etc…but decided to just drive the day. It was drizzling and we stopped by for some late lunch. This time, sea-food gave way to Thai beef curry at a beachside restaurant after crossing the crocodile farm. Delicious. We ended the day with a sumptuous sea-food meal at a nearby restaurant called – Bamboo. The juiciest crabs fried and grilled fish with Thai rice.
26th – our last day in Langkawi. Spent the day in the pool, drinking beer requesting a late check-out. Drove to Oriental Village for some last-min shopping and came back to Cenang craving Indian food. Sat in Restoran Mumbai, funnily enough owned by an Egyptian. Had tandoori, mutton and naan…gulped by final can of Tiger Beer and headed to the airport for an evening flight to KL.
Hope this was helpful...enjoy!
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