cami

Hi everyone,

Off for a week in Malaysia in September. First stop KL ? but only want to spend a day there. After that we?re planning on spending the rest of our stay in either of the following: Kuantan, Penang, Tioman Island or Terengganu. Would love somewhere preferably not too touristy or over developed with great beaches and clean water.
Which one would you recommend? What the easiest way to get there from KL?
I?m opened to suggestions so please do not hesitate to email me.
Many thanks
Cami
PS: will then fly to Sydney and Melbourne.

Peteralan

Can't really be much help but I've been to Penang which, although I quite enjoyed it , I don't think it is what you are looking for. Tioman is supposed to be beautiful and much quieter and peaceful. I hope others can be more specific.Have fun!

JamesA

Tioman if you want a fairly rustic style island, you can fly from KL or take a bus/boat connection, if you just want an easy beach place then maybe Langkawi, it's juts 55 mins by air, very quiet but some nicve beach accommodation from basic to expensive, depends on your budget(??), you can get boats around the many small uninhabited offshore islands. Tioman if you want more basic island Langkawi if yuo want a place with larger choice of accommodation.

cami

Many thanks guys! Do you know how far Tioman is from KL? We're now thinking of flying directly from KL on Saturday when we arrive, and not spending anytime in KL. I realised we haven't much time in Malaysia - only 4 days, flying to Sydney Wednesday evening. So we don't want to spend too much time travelling. Penang & Langkawi are both very close to KL but I've heard they are quite busy, which is what we're trying to avoid. Would Tionam be a better option then?
Budget wise we're looking at spending around $100 a night for a double room. Is that reasonable?

JamesA

According to my little book there is only 1 flight per day from KL to Tioman, at 0940 in the morning and it flies from the 'old airport (Sultan Abdul Aziz ), you are no doubt arriving at the main airport !! The flight is operated by Berjaya Air, they might be better now but several times I have tried to contact them over the years about flight and never once got any response. You may find that based on your schedule you might have to go for somewhere like Langkawi simply for ease of flight, there are 8-10 a day KL to Langkawi.

When are you traveling? As weather will be a considoration and if we know when you are traveling ?? I am sure others can come in with some ideas because certainly the 'east side' would be better weatherwise at the moment but the weather changes with the seasons.

JamesA

Sorry I did not read ! I see it's September, ok well that time of year East Coast would be a better bet weatherwise. If you have a budget of $100 (US?) then you could manage the Berjaya resort on langkawi which is in a relatively quiet area, it's built Malay style and is certainly a 'good' resort, if you are flying international you would be able to check thru your baggage and Boarding cards straight to langkawi and then check-in straight for your Australia flight at langkawi, not trying to push you away from Tioman but it certainly would make travel easy for you. For about $75 you could get the Mutiara resort at Burau Bay, very tropical style and a quiet part of the island.

Try www.malaysia-cheap-hotels.4t.com and have a look, maybe Redan is another possibility, but take a look at those Langkawi places, sure it's developed but certainly no where near along the lines of say penag/Phuket/Samui/Bali, much much quieter than that.

Kathie

Kuantan is a half hour flight from KL and there are several flights a day. I really enjoyed Kuantan. There is a Hyatt there right on the beach that is low key and very nice. The regular rooms are very cheap. Last time I was there I stayed in a lovely suite in the Regency Club for US$125 a night. Regular rooms are well under US$100.