Beach Holiday in August
 

I am planning a one-week beach holiday for the family (husband, 19 month old baby and myself who is pregnant) around the 3rd week of August and am looking for some ideas.

After reading a lot of posts, especially those by Cicerone, I am now considering Kota Kinabalu and the east coast of Malaysia.

Since we are flying out of Macau (or HK, if necessary), we could fly to KK direct although the time schedule is far from ideal. To go to the east coast of Malaysia, we need to go through KL (eventually sleeping there for the first and last nights).

My question is: is the beach along the Tanjong Jara Resort on the east coast of Malaysia far better than the one in Kota Kinabalu (I am thinking of the Shangri-la Rasa Ria) that it is worthwhile to have one more flight connection?

We are looking for a pure relaxing beach holiday. So, a nice resort with a beautiful swimming beach, swimming pool(s) and good food are important to us.

If anyone has any ideas/suggestions (which is not limited to Malaysia), please share. Thanks.

Have no experience of Tanjong Jara Resort, but have stayed at Rasa Ria.
Whilst the Rasa Ria has a beautiful sandy beach, there are a couple of issues. Sand flies can be a major problem. The resort has an eco policy which prohibits spraying the area. There are also times when sea swimming is red-flagged because of jelly-fish.

Dining options here are fantastic.

The Shangri-La closer to Kota Kinabalu, Tanjung Aru gets much better reviews than the Rasa Ria does and they don't have the sandfly problems. Also, you are close enough to go into Kota Kinabalu for a dinner or shopping or whatever.

Thanks for the replies, especially regarding sandflies and jellyfish. Kathie, I also read something about the other Shangri-la but it seems that the beach there is not good.

I am now trying to book the Tanjong Jara Resort, although I am a bit concerned whether the beach there is good for swimming. I have been looking at photos on the internet and almost never saw anyone in the water.

If anyone has been there, please share your experience.

I am going to KK on the 8th of Aug for a week, staying at the Sutera Habour resort. I have heard that the best beaches are on the Islands not far off shore but I will scope out the mainland beaches and report back if it is not too late. We went to Phuket last August and even though it gets a bad rap for weather at that time of year,had a fantastic time. We stayed at Le Meridian which is on one of the best beaches I have ever stayed on. It is sheltered from the worst of the tidal forces at that time of year and it was excellent for swimming nad there were no sandfly of jellyfish problems. It is on its own beach and there are not many dining options within walking distance apart from the several excellent but expensive on-site reataraunts, but a 5 minute taxi ride opens up almost unlimited options. It also has 2 of the biggest pools I have ever seen as well as plenty of activities.

shanek, thanks for the offer. I would like to hear about KK for our next possible trip (probably next year).

For this August, I have just booked the Tanjong Jara.

BTW, we have been to the Le Meridien in Phuket a few times and love the place. We will return one of these days.