Malaysian Island for 5 nights
 

My fiance and I have 5 nights to spend on one of the islands.....my initial thoughts are Tioman, Redang or the Perhentian Islands We are after a beautiful beach, chilled out atmosphere and relaxing and go for nice walks, not to "resorty" we have a budget of about $80-$100 NZD per night. Any recommendations on accommodation would also be appreciated.
We will be there in late October.

Thanks in advance.

I enjoyed Perhentian Besar. Note that if you want alcohol you'll need to take it with you.

I would absolutely take Redang or the "Perhatians" over Tioman, the latter is quite built up at this point. Although Redang is developed, it is not at the level of Tioman, which gets Singaporean weekenders.

People seem to use the term “Perhentian Islands” to refer to several different islands in diverse locations in the South China Sea, so I don’t know which islands you mean. There is an island called Pulau Perhentian north of Kuala Terrenganu, and then there are two islands calling themselves Pulau Perhentian Besar and Pulau Perhentian Kecil. I used to know as “Pulau Babi Besar” and “Pulau Babi Kecil” (Big Island and Little Island, respectively) when I first started going to that area of Malaysia in 1986. It may be the new general marketing name for all islands offshore of the east coast of Malaysia.

I am not sure walks are going to be numerious on any island, esp Tioman which is rather flat. Redang and Besar have some hills, but I am not sure that there are trails, but do some research. These islands are mostly about snorkeling, diving and the nice beaches. Most of the islands are quite small, so walks are not going to be long (Tioman is probably the largest island.)

One thing to bear in mind in late October is that you may get rain. Take a look at weatherbase.com and other sites and see (use Mersing or Kota Bharu for locations). Until about 10 years ago, these island resorts used to close from November – February because of the monsoon. Now they stay open year round for tourists who don’t know about the rains. November is usually the start of the heavy rains, but you can get some in October. You may be better off going to the west coast of Malaysia or Thailand in October.

Also, your budget may be on the low side for Tioman and also for some of the other islands. You might want to check back here once you find resorts in the budget and people can give their thoughts. Even the lovely Rawa is going to be over that budget, see see http://www.rawasfr.com/,. I am concerned about the quality of the resort you would find for that budget, esp as this is your honeymoon. You may not find air conditioned rooms at that price. Certainly liveable without it, but not sure what you want or need. You may have better luck in places like Phuket/Krabi/KHao Lak which has a larger number of hotels. Not sure if you can get beachfront any more for that budget, but check around.

The Philippines may be a better choice for budget and for the end of October, as that is their dry season and beaches are great. Hotel costs are also lower.

Bali would also work, and you could do a combination of beach and then inland rice terrace areas for walks. With that budget you may not get beachfront, although in more remote northern/eastern areas, you probably could. But Kuta, Nusa Dua, Seminyak, etc would be difficult for beachfront at that budget, IMO.

Thank you so much this is great information. I am going to take your advice and look over at the west coast. We are all booked already and both have been to Thailand so thought we would give Malaysia a go this time. Will increase the budget too, if we can. Again thank you for your informative reply, appreciate it.

Laura

Late October is late for the east coast (although not too late), but a bit early for the west coast. If I were you I would just travel to Malaysia without any bookings, and then choose a location based on the weather forecast. Shouldn't be a problem finding accomodation, because it's low season.