Visit the Malaysian island of Langkawi to experience a top destination for divers and shoppers taking advantage of the island’s duty-free shops selling cheap cigarettes, alcohol and chocolate.

Langkawi island is often the first stop for travellers moving into Malaysia from the Andaman islands in Thailand. It is made up of 99 islands to the west of Malaysia’s mainland.

After spending a month travelling the islands of Thailand, we were not expecting much of a change in Langkawi island. However, we were surprised at some of the differences.

WHERE TO STAY IN LANGKAWI | FOOD AND DRINK IN LANGKAWI | THINGS TO DO IN LANGKAWI

Langkawi Nightlife

The biggest difference was the lack of bars and alcohol in general. With the exception of a few beach bars, there was not the choice that we had been used to in Thailand. A lot of the mini-marts don’t sell alcohol and the ones that do have little choice. I thought ‘Skol’ was a thing of the past but it is the popular ‘cheap’ beer here.

The majority of Langkawi’s people are Muslim so don’t expect a party island.  Ensure you are respectful to local traditions and cultures. The people are friendly and helpful and don’t mind if you choose to drink alcohol, as long as you do so in a way that is respectful.

Klook.com

How To Get To Langkawi From Koh Lipe

We had already booked a ferry to Langkawi online a month in advance as we had to show an exit point for our visa on arrival into Thailand. The ferry was scheduled to leave Koh Lipe at 10.30 but we had to be at customs 2 hours earlier to check in and have our passport stamped out.

As Koh Lipe does not have a pier, small boats arrived to take us to the main boat. The journey took approximately one hour.

In Langkawi, we had to have our passports stamped again, giving us 3 months in Malaysia without need of a visa.

Outside the pier, we were met with the usual throng of taxi drivers. We explained we had no money and they informed us we could pay in Thai baht. Instead, we turned left to a petrol station and found an ATM in the shop inside. There was no fee to use the ATM. We then took a taxi to our accommodation which cost 30 MYR.

Where To Stay In Langkawi

CLICK HERE FOR ALL ACCOMMODATION IN LANGKAWI!

These are some of the best budget hostels in Langkawi, according to user reviews. These are affiliate links to the Agoda web site. I found Agoda to be much better than booking.com in Southeast Asia. I receive a small amount for any bookings made through these links at no extra cost to you.

• Dar Yasmine Motel
• BONOBO Hostel Langkawi
• Natty Langkawi
• Sweet Monkey Backpacker Hostel
• Soluna Guesthouse
• Bed Attitude Hostel Cenang
• Two Peace House

RL Budget Accommodation

Sticking to our budget meant there were only a few options of a private room available and we chose to stay at ‘RL Budget Accommodation’ (map). The taxi driver had not heard of it so we had to direct him using Google Maps. It turns out ‘RL’ stands for ‘Rainbow Lodge’ which the taxi driver HAD heard of. On arrival, we were asked if we had booked ‘Rainbow Lodge’ or ‘RL’ and then sent to a different reception to check in at the cheaper ‘RL’. They seem to make a thing about pointing out the ‘budget’ part of the name, probably so people can’t complain.

Check in was easy enough and we were led to another guy who led us to our rooms without so much of a smile or a word. The room certainly was budget! We have stayed in some great places during our travels and usually spent around £10 per night. This was not up to the standards of most places. We don’t mind budget places as long as they are clean and finding hairs in the bed didn’t fill us with confidence. The bedding looks like it needed binning. It may have been clean but it looked terrible. There was nowhere for us to put our stuff other than the floor and the fan barely made a difference. There was no offer of our room being cleaned or towels changed. By the end of our stay, the beds stank as we’d been sweating on the same sheets for 4 days.

The hotel have defended themselves against complaints online by stating that these are the budget rooms and for more money, you can expect more comfort. I think that’s a poor excuse. It would only make small changes to improve the service provided to all guests, even those paying the least. A communal fridge? Fresh towels every 2 days? A bathroom door you can open from the inside?

Having said that, the WiFi was great and the on-site restaurant served great chicken curry rotis.

**********

We paid £30 for 4 nights in a budget double room with en-suite bathroom.

Click here to stay at ‘RL Budget Accommodation’.

Food And Drink In Langkawi

I wasn’t quite ready for the lack of bars on the island. We walked around for hours without seeing a single bar, only to discover a few on the beach.

Food was a different matter. We were looking forward to sampling some Malaysian food. We were expecting better to follow once we got on the mainland but this at least gave us a taste of what was to come.

Ah Chong Beach Bar Cafe

Of all the beach bars on Cenang Beach, this one was my favourite and not just because it was the cheapest (4.5 MYR for a can of Skol). They played some great music here which was a refreshing change from non-stop reggae, as we had been used to. Great views over the sea and perfect to watch sunsets. Map.

Armani Food Garden

This is a typical Malaysian restaurant where you help yourself from a number of dishes and they charge for whatever you choose. I had some great food here; deliciously spicy and flavourful. Joanna had less luck as some dishes that she was told was fish, turned out to be chicken. Map.

Art Cafe

Located in the Kuah area is this pretty cafe selling coffees, shakes and food. The surrounding streets have various art pieces on the walls. They have local artists’ work on display and for sale but it is not cheap! They do add on a 10% service charge so be mindful of that when choosing. Map.

Kasbah

Away from the main tourist area is this bar/restaurant that also offers basic accommodation. It seemed popular with young travellers. They are doing their bit to help with some of the environmental issues on the island. We had falafel and a vegan curry and both were delicious. Map.

Keladi Cafe

Small, local restaurant off the tourist trail serving traditional Malay food. There was only one guy working when we went so if it got busy, we might have had to wait. As it was, there was only us there so the food came out quick. Small menu and tasty food.

Maya Chill-out Bistro

Also offering accommodation, we came here for breakfast. Although egg fried rice and beef is not a usual breakfast. Most options on the menu were “only available tonight” and the restaurant was closed in the evening! The food was freshly made and we both enjoyed it. Map.

Rainbow

This was the restaurant in our accommodation. We ate here on the morning of our departure. I had a chicken curry and daal roti plate (yes, for breakfast) which was delicious. Cheap and basic, but very tasty. Map.

Roots Bar

The first bar I visited as I watched the sunset over the sea. A nice little reggae bar that sometimes has live music. Beer is 5 MYR for a can of Skol. Map.

Warung Pak Tam Corner

Our first Malaysian food experience came in this small restaurant that served Malaysian food to, seemingly, mostly locals. The food was cheap and decent, though my beef in red sauce was a little sweet. Map.

Things To Do In Langkawi

Langkawi is a relatively large island and, as we don’t drive and there are no buses, it was too large for us to explore it by bicycle. There are waterfalls, diving locations, national parks, etc. The number one tourist destination is the Sky Cable and Sky Bridge. We were planning to visit this. In fact, I was about to book a taxi to take us when I decided to check online to make sure it was open. I’m glad I did as we discovered it was closed for a 2 week period, covering the time we were there, for yearly maintenance. This was unfortunate timing. We decided to go to ‘Underwater World’ instead, then decided that would not be a worthy substitute, having visited similar attractions before.

Duty Free Shops

There are quite a number of duty free shops and malls, all selling alcohol, cigarettes and chocolate. We didn’t take advantage as we had nowhere to put it anyway! Langkawi offers a good chance to stock up on some home comforts.

Kuah

We decided to take a grab taxi to Kuah (map) for the day to see if we had made the right choice choosing the coast as our accommodation. We discovered that there is not a great deal to do in Kuah. However, it is definitely worth a day’s visit.

We left our taxi at ‘Datarang Lang’ (map) or ‘Eagle Square’ to have a look at the giant eagle that greets boats entering the pier.

We then decided to head into the main town to find coffee and food. There wasn’t much going on in the town (most of it was closed) but there was some nice street art.

Lagenda Langkawi

We headed back towards ‘Dataran Lang’ to visit ‘Legend Langkawi’ (map) which is a park with monuments based on some of the island’s legends.

The park is very beautiful and, if you’re lucky, you might even get a sea breeze. The monuments need some repair and an upgrade but this adds to the charm.

What is impressive is the wildlife. We saw squirrels, lizards, monkeys and two decent sized water monitor lizards.

The monuments did improve as we walked around the park.

We really enjoyed the park. If you are not put off by the fact that the monuments are not well looked after, you will enjoy it too. For a park with free admission, it is very beautiful and keep your eyes peeled for the wildlife.

Lagenda Langkawi Opening Times: 9 am – 7 pm, eery day
Lagenda Langkawi Entrance Fee: Free admission.

Laman Padi Langkawi (Rice Museum)

Originally, we came to eat at the ‘Seashells’ restaurant that is located within the grounds of the rice museum. However, we chose the only day it wasn’t open so we returned the next day. In this time, research had shown me that the restaurant was not that great and overpriced so we came back purely for the rice museum.

Laman Padi is a strange place. You might be mistaken for thinking it is closed as there is literally NO-ONE around. The grounds have fallen into disrepair and most of the facilities (spa, guides) are no longer available. The museum is still open though and here you can find out about the history, cultivation and importance of rice farming to the region.

It’s not the most thrilling museum you will ever visit but it is worth an hour or so of your time. Admission is free, obviously, as there is no one to take your money! Look out for the interesting plants to the right of the museum. Map.

Laman Padi Opening Times: 9 am – 5 pm, every day.
Laman Padi Entrance Fee: Free admission.

Langkawi Beaches

We were located near ‘Cenang Beach’ (map) and also had a walk on ‘Tengah Beach’ (map). Both beaches were busy with parasailing and jet-skis. We did see a number of large jellyfish washed ashore, which was enough to put us off swimming. We did, however, spend some considerable time at a couple of the beach bars!

Temonyong Night Market

This night market moves around the island and on Thursday nights, it was near our accommodation. Don’t bother going to the different night markets; they are the same market that moves around!

It’s a decent market with some good food options. You will also find durian sellers here. I chose to eat from the grill and had some excellent chicken (two flavours), a lamb kebab and some wonderful corn on the cob. Map.

Is Langkawi Worth Visiting?

Langkawi was not my favourite island in the Andaman sea. We had some good food, enjoyed drinks on the beach and had a couple of days exploring but it just did not win me over. The island is just too big to explore, unless you hire a motorbike. There are no buses which makes moving around the island more difficult.

There also didn’t appear to be as many tourists as other islands. This wouldn’t normally bother me but the island is totally set up for tourism and, without them, it felt a bit flat.

Other people I know loved the island, so go and make your own opinion. I was left hoping that our next stop, George Town in Penang, would offer much more.

I had a feeling that it might.

For more information, visit http://www.langkawi-info.com/