Latest Reviews for Malaysia

We arrived home from Kuala Lumpur, and Tioman Island on Friday the 30th May 2008 We stayed at Tioman Beach resort Berjaya We flew with Berjaya air from Subang airport it has a limit on luggage of 10 kilo P.P. but people were taking on board small rucksacks holdalls etc with at least 5 kilo in them. At Tioman we did snorkel at Rengiss island we swam from the jetty but there is a quite strong current and I would not recommend it without flippers/fins, for snorkelling at the hotel they charge 60 R.M for a trip with 6 snorkel points and 100 R.M. for around island trip with some snorkelling Rengiss 25 R.M. it is the same price in A.B.C. and Salang, we had a captain who spoke no English, we left at 9:30 until 3pm, he pointed to his watch at each stop for how long we could snorkel, only 6 per boat but some were not good swimmers. You can snorkel in the sea behind the swimming pool it is O.K. if you walk down the beach from the resort jetty in the direction of Paya until you came to a rocky headland cross the headland ( walk on the grass near the golf course) you come to a beautiful small sandy bay with excellent and safe snorkelling near hole No 6 there is a shuttle bus to Tioman suites that pass it, that you can catch flag them down. Steep hill from Berjaya to Tekek about 1km up and down with nothing on it no shops nothing!! The walk to Juara is very hard it is up one side of the mountain and down the other, you can get there by 4by4 they are building a concrete road that will be finished this year at the moment it costs 120R.M to get back from Juara for 2 people. Beer 3R.M in Cafe citra anugerah out side the resort gates cafe Diana is very in expensive but no alcohol.(Cheap)

We stayed at the park royal on the way out to Tioman island and on the return before flying back to London it is only half a mile from the twin towers and the Menara tower, it is a good location. Food is good but a little expensive considering how cheap the food is in Kuala Lumpur

We had 4 days in Bangkok, 4 days in Kuala Lumpur and 12 day in borneo staying in Kota kinabalu. We arrived in the afternoon transfer was about 15 minutes. Hotel is massive. Tradewinds messed our booking up so I got upgraded to a suite. This was fantastic the room was massive. I had a lounge with a bar, Bedroom was massive with view over the golf course and the bathroom has a sunken marble bath and big walk in shower and dressing room not bad for free! Hotel was lovely although the prices where quite high for drinks and food. KK was brill found loads of nice bars and restaurants all very reasonably priced. The highlight of our stay was going to Seplikok the the orangatang sanctury. We got a flight to Sandakan and had a tranfer to the saictury. We saw loads of orangaktangs which we where lucky. Being in the rain forrest the heat was intense, but worth it.

I would tell anybody to go to borneo as the place and the people are so friendly. Can't wait to go back.

We stayed at the Ritz Carleton in Kuala Lumpur, on arrival we were asked if it was our first visit, yes it was so they upgraded us, very nice free morning coffee, afternoon tea, canapes and beer and wine, also free laundry. The hotel as a sky bridge to the next door shopping mall, where you can book your meal to your hotel room, wonderful idea.
Visited the Petronas Tower and made the trip to the sky bridge(all free)fantastic views of KL, Also visited the KL tower, and ate at the revolving restaurant, very
good meal for £15 a head.
Then we flew to Langkawi, lovely island, we stayed at the Berjaya Beach, the standard rooms are not very good but we where able to upgrade to on just back from the beach for a reasonable amount.

All in all a very enjoyable holiday.

This was the first stop on our honeymoon - after a 13 hour flight we are really glad we stopped in KL for 2 nights prior to travelling on Pangkor Laut (another 4 hours journey).

The Ritz is placed in the Starhill area of KL, just off of Bintang walk where most of the large shopping malls are.

As you can probably guess the hotel was fantastic, clean, tidy, they couldnt do enough for us. Breakfast was excellent with plenty of choice for everyone - however note that the dress code even for brakfast is very tidy - no shorts, vest tops etc.

The Ritz is attached to the Starhill Gallery by a sky bridge. You can eat there and bill your room direct which is excellent as you dont need to carry loads of cash around.

Shopping is fab but not cheap - usual suspects - Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada etc etc but expect to pay the same or more than the UK - you wont find a bargain but its worth a nose around! Electronic equipment is expensive too but its worth a look around - you'll find that the 'local' shopping malls have there floors allocated to specific things ie: ground = food, 1 = clothes, 2 = electronic etc.

Food is very cheap even in some of the best restaurants but watch the alcohol - £10 for a pint of larger, £40 for bottle of wine. Can highly recommend My Thai and Shook in the Starhill gallery. Ladies you'll need to cover your shoulders in the evenings or risk being hissed at by locals!

Would highly recommend both the excellent hotel and KL - 2 days are not enough.

Flew Malaysian Air and they are first class - nothing was too much trouble and they were very very helpful. Weather excellent about 35 degrees but very humid, any rain over and done with in 30 mins.

Second stop on our honeymoon - we had previously done 2 nights in KL at the Ritz and really glad we did, as Pangkor Laut is another 4 hours on from the airport (3 hours car, 1 hour boat).

This Island will take your breath away - we have had some nice long haul holidays but this place is out of this world and definately a holiday of a lifetime. It is worth all the travelling.

We stayed in a Spa Villa - the Island has various accommodation: Hill Villas (Great views but steep hill to climb), Beach Villas (in blocks of four set back off the beach in the gardens, Sea Villas: On stilts just past the bay - you need to get number 121 as its not overlooked by any of the others so you can make the most use of your 'open air shower' and the Spa Villas: They are in the exclusive Spa Village and again on stilts over the sea. No under 16's in the area and only those staying in the villas or using the treatment rooms can come into the area so its very very quiet and relaxed.

Villas are amazing, fully air conditioned - nice and quiet too. Wonderfully decorated, huge bathrooms with showers that can have the windows opened to over look the sea and views. Fresh fruit and flowers daily, selection of CD's to listen too. You have your own sun terrace too which you can book a BBQ on if you wish to have a private meal!

Overall the whole resort is clean, tidy and just beautiful. Staff are so helpful and polite - they cant do enough for you and are keen to get to know you so they can help as much as possible to make your stay fantastic.

Numerous restaurants and bars - Chinese, Malay, Fish, General. The food was exquisite and we never had one poor meal in the 10 days we were there. You need to book your table in advance but reception can book for your entire stay in one go if you can decide what you are doing! Alcohol is very expensive - £10 per pint of larger and £50 + for bottle of wine but the food is well priced. Breakfast can be taken in either the Spa Village if you are staying there or in the main area - watch out for the monkeys here though as they help themselves to your food if you leave it around! Try and do Dinner on the Rocks - its an amazing experience - 5 course meal in Emerald Bay - one of the best in Asia apparently.

Spa treatments excellent and roughly the same as the UK.

This isnt a holiday for anyone looking for a busy 'things to do' holiday. The Island is tailored to relaxation and chilling out.

This was a totally amazing place - try and get here at some point in your life as you wont regret it.

Flew Malaysian airways - excellent, cant do enough to help and a first class service.

Went home via KL and a night in the Manderin to break the travelling.

Last stop on our honeymoon (previously been to the Ritz in KL then Pangkor Laut).

Glad we broke the trip home as PK is 4 hours from KL so I would recommend a stop over each way. (13 hour flight to UK)

Manderin is right next to the Petronas Towers and our suite over looked them which was fantastic.

KL is a fabulous place - you need a week here to see everything as there is so much to do and see.

Shopping is excellent - Starhill Gallery on Bintang Walk, the SLCC mall at the bottom of the towers and Time Square which has the largest mall in Asia - its got a roller coaster in the middle! You'll find it hard to get a designer bargain though as whilst all the shops are there, the prices are the same or more than at home.

Petronas Towers - free to go up but you need to get your tickets early in the morning (8.30 onwards). They have usually all gone by 10am. Whilst its good, you can only go up to to the 41st floor (skybridge) and they only allow you 5 - 10 mins on the bridge depending on how busy it is. They are not keen on you stopping to take photos either.

Much better idea is the KL communication tower - as its on a hill it looks down on the Petronas towers so you can get some great pics of them. They dont care how long you are up there, its free and there is a lovely revolving restaurant at the top. You can still get the same photos but more time to take them!

Manderin was everything you would expect a hotel of this quality to be. The service is fantastic, beautiful hotel in an excellent location. The room was great and we really cant fault it. Food was superior - they do a buffet evening meal for appx £15 a head and there is everything you could ever want to eat/try. Again the food is outstanding and you can have as much/little as you like. Amer in the restautant is a person to look out for as he is very helpful - his local knowledge is excellent and he is really happy to help you and tell you where to go and when - we got some really good tips from him.

We were only here one night and we so wish we had stayed for at least 3!! But hope to go back towards the end of the year to do everything we couldnt get around too.

Flew Malaysian air - first class service, excellent staff, very helpful, highly recommended.

KL international airport is stunning but watch the duty free shopping its not as cheap as you would expect and some items are almost twice as much as the UK price!

The Holiday Villa resort is one of the older hotels on the island and is in need of a lick of paint and a bit of TLC, having said that the rooms were spotless and of good size, the staff were very friendly and attentive. We paid £60.00 per night for the room with breakfast, I think you could get this cheaper but on our visit the Langkawi International Maritime and Air show was on which bumped up the price of the rooms a bit. This was partly a business trip for Jacqui who was attending the show but purely a holiday for me!

At the hotel,
The hotel has a beach bar from where you can see some fabulous sunsets. There is a facility (not connected to the hotel) for hiring jet bikes, 100 ringgits for 30 mins per bike also water skiing and para gliding. Never saw a shortage of sunbeds either by the pool or on the beach. We ate in the Lagenda restaurant in the hotel a few times, we went a la carte as it seemed cheaper than the 55 ringgits for the evening buffet. A good selection of food was available from pizza and chips ( if you wanted it !) to spicy Thai influenced dishes and all stops between. A local beer was about 9 RM. There is an air conditioned bar near the lobby of the hotel which had a couple of pool tables and a juke box, beer same price as the restaurant. There is a karaoke bar located near the pool, it is virtually soundproof. Thank God!.

Eating out,
We found a fabulous place bang opposite the hotel, Cactus Garden, it looks a bit rough and ready from the outside but the food is superb if you like chinese/thai you will be impressed for certain. The prices are so cheap! We had starters, main course with rice, Jacqui had 4 glasses of wine and I had about 6 beers all for 65 RM (about £10.00) A beer was 3 RM.
We ate at the Bon Ton restaurant one night. This is supposed to be one of the best eateries on the island and has had a write up in the Evening Standard. It is located close to the airport about a 10 minute cab ride from the hotel. The food was good and the service excellent, we paid about 250-300 RM for a three course a la carte with wine including service charge.

Getting about,
We hired a car at the airport and paid 100 RM per day for a 10 day hire. For this we had a reasonably new Nissan Sentra 4 door saloon 2.0l auto with air con cd etc. The UK equivalent would be an Omega I guess. We had some people to pick up and needed a larger car but if you want cheaper there are a few hire places within a short walk from the hotel whose prices started from about 50/60 RM per day.
Driving is straightforward as you drive on the LHS the same as the UK. The only thing I found a little off putting was the mopeds which will drive down both sides of the road next to the kerb as the mood takes them. Also look out for water buffaloes which roam free in a lot of the rural areas! Also if driving at night look out for cyclists etc with no lights on. Roads are generally quiet and all parking that I used was free.
Taxis are plentiful and cheap, the hotel has a fleet of resident cabbies who have a pre-set list of prices on display at the hotel entrance. Hotel to airport was 16 RM. Watch out if you are getting a cab late at night as they will try and charge extra just agree a price before you get in and haggle if reqd.

What to do,
A definite must do is a boat trip on the mangrove swamps which includes a close up of sea eagles feeding, a visit to a fish farm and some spectacular scenery. We went direct to the guys who hire out the boats and paid 250 RM for the boat with guide regardless of how many occupants for a 2 hour trip. The boats will hold up to 10 people I guess. This is a lot cheaper than arranging it via the hotel or tour company.
I went to the Aquarium on Pentai Cenang which I found a bit expensive and not really impressive.
We went to the Oriental Village which is a purpose built shopping area built in a traditional style with ornamental lakes. Located in the village is the cable car which will transport you to the top of a mountain for some breathtaking views across the island.

Bird Paradise was interesting but I found it a bit sad to see wild birds caged, good value at 15 RM.
The Crocodile Farm was worth a visit and again was good value at 15 RM.
We visited Kuah town on several occassions to shop in the mall there which has a multitude of camera shops and clothing stores and the usual range of souvenir outlets, we looked around some of the shops near the mall but they all gave the impression of being a bit of a rip off. My advice would be buy from a reputable shop and make sure that the goods have a worldwide warranty.
We visited the Snake Sanctuary and watched their show one morning, after the show one of the staff adopted us and gave us a personal guided tour around the sanctuary and took a python out of its cage/tank so we could handle it. Very interesting and again 15 RM plus I tipped our guide 20 RM.
Seven Wells Waterfall is one of several spectacular waterfalls on the island and is close to the Oriental Village it is accessed via a steep flight of steps to a height of 220m from memory, well worth the toil!
All of the above and plenty more can easily be found on a map (we got ours free from the hotel) or a taxi will take you if you are not hiring a car.

General,
The people of Langkawi are really friendly and genuine. If you stop on the side of the road to take some pics or take in the view they will wave at you as they drive/ride past with great enthusiasm.
The weather when we were there (Dec) was mixed with a lot more cloud than I expected and we had light rain all day on one of our days. Very humid as you would expect.
Take your mossie spray especially for any trips into the jungle areas.

I would recommend the hotel to travellers who want value for money and a certain degree of comfort. The location is good with easy access to all amenities. We both enjoyed our stay and would use the hotel again should the opportunity arise.

Langkawi gets a definite thumbs up from us as an excellent place to chill out with enough to see and do when you get bored with lazing on the beach.

We will be back!!

This hotel is simply superb! I have visited a number of 5* hotels over the years but none top this one.

During the day you can sunbathe as close to the fairly busy pool(s) or as far away as you like on the manicured lawns to escape any noise from the children (or the occasionally very noisy Japanese parties!)
The hotel is Cosmopolitan, but being fairly close in terms of air flights to Japan and Australia, I would say that these two nations make up for the majority of clients.

We stayed at the Kinabalu wing which is the 'cheaper' end of the hotel but remains excellent value for money and loses none of its 5* appeal. We also looked at some of the other wings available and these were all 5* plus, so wherever you book within the complex you will not be disappointed.

You can stay all the time within the complex as there are watersports facilities etc at reasonable prices available next to the complex. Also, reiki, massage, gym are all good, the reiki/massage at good prices, a lot lower than other hotels charge.

I would strongly recommend however that you go on a trip. We went on a 2night/3 day trip by plane to Sandakan that included Turtle island stayover (where they incubate turtle eggs and release them into the wild-you are almost always guaranteed to see a turtle coming ashore and laying her eggs. Baby turtles that hatched in the safety compound are then handed over to you and you can release them into the sea). Sepilok was next to se the Orang Utangs...a must for everyone who loves nature. We then overnighted at Sukau which is a rustic but endearing jungle chalet next to the Kinabatang? river. A river boat 'cruise' that involves a small 4-6 man boat takes you to a small tributary where you can see many monkeys, and animal life, pointed out by a guide.

If you want to save money, I would recommend that you do not book these trips in advance by your Tour operator. You can get them at up to £100 savings by booking in Kota Kinabalu during your stay (there are a few travel/tour operators next to Borneo Divers in the town)

SCUBA DIVING- If you want to see large Pelagic life, ie Whale sharks, MantaRays, sharks etc, dont dive off of Kota-the waters are too shallow. That said, the dives are good and there is an abundance of marine life and corals. If you want the 'big stuff' go to Sipadan Island which is in the east of Sabah. Scuba prices are reasonable and cheaper than most places I have visited.

The town of Kota Kinabalu itself is fairly basic but well worth a visit or 2 at least. If you want to eat cheap, take the last shuttle bus to town and then eat out at the many outdoor restaurants....fish is fresh (mostly in tanks!!), lobster is superb. We had a lobster, Snapper, Chicken/vegetable dish for £15 for 2 of us and that included 2 beers each. If you want chinese, try the restaurants at the seafront...all you can eat for 10 quid for 2 !!

All in all, a great experience and well worth a wee bit of jet lag on our return!

We stayed at the Tanjung Aru resort for 7 nights and I cannot fault it in anyway. I cannot believe there are reviews on this site being un favourable to this resort. Our stay was completely perfect. We stayed in a standard double room in the older kinabalu wing although the room was lovely and not showing signs of ageing as in other reviews. The room had evrything you would want, big bed, sofa, table, tv, iron, even bathrobe and slipper which our maid put out next to our bed and also turned down the bed every night!

The staff are so attentive and really make you feel special. The hotel and grounds are beautiful and clean.
Yes it is a family hotel and there are children but if they got out of hand we politely told them to quiten down.
As a wine drinker I can tell you that it is more expensive than other drinks out there but is roughly the price it would be in the UK so not too bad.

Food is lovely. If you eat in the hotel it is roughly UK prices but if you go into Kinabalu town its so cheap. We ate at Little Italy and The Banana Leaf Indian for about £6 and it was gorgeous. The Tanjung Aru and Borneo are gorgeous and I cannot fault them one bit. I recommend everyone to visit!!

Few words are necessary to describe this hotel, fantastic, the best hotel we have stayed for 30 years. The 5 foot chocolate fountain at breafast time being the final touch to a vast range of choices, just go there, you will be impressed.