When I visited my friends in Singapore, we decided to take a short trip to Malaysia. Because Langkawi is less than a 2-hour flight away from Singapore, it became our perfect getaway. Known for its pristine white beaches and spectacular landscape, Langkawi is an archipelago located northwest of Malaysia. It was declared the first Geopark in Southeast Asia by UNESCO in 2007. Below is our 3D2N itinerary.
Best Time To Visit Langkawi
Because the wet season of Langkawi starts from late April to the end of October. The best time to visit is during the dry season, which is November to March. Luckily for us, it did not rain when we visited in September. You can check the weather forecast and decide when to visit. Since the dry season is usually the peak season, the prices of accommodation might be slightly higher.
Getting Around
There are buses on the island, but it is not tourist-friendly. Hence, the best way to get around this island is by taxi or by Grab. We get around by Grab during our stay.
Where we stayed at Langkawi
We stayed at Nadias Hotel, a 3-star hotel, which is conveniently located near Cenang Beach. The room we booked was quite spacious. I love the location of the hotel because it is just a few minutes walk to the beach. Unfortunately, we were not able to use the other facilities in the hotel because we were busy exploring the island.
Day 1
Cenang Beach
On our first day, after we checked in to our hotel, we visited Cenang Beach (Pantai Chenang). Cenang Beach is one of the longest beaches on the island. It was too hot to visit a beach during noon, so we did not stay long. Because we would be coming back the next day, we just took a quick stroll and a few snaps and decided to go to our next destination, Eagle Square.
Eagle Square
We booked a Grab and went to Eagle Square (also known as Dataran Lang). When we arrived, we could already see the iconic eagle statue from afar. Brahminy Kites eagles live in Langkawi, which is where the name of the island came from. Langkawi means “red-brown eagle” in Malay. The eagle statue is located on the star-shaped deck, you can admire the eagle from different angles. When we reached the eagle statue, I was surprised at how huge the eagle was when I stood below it. After that, we took some time to explore the area, there were some food stalls and souvenir shops that sold miniature of the eagle statue nearby.
Near Eagle Square, there is a shopping mall – Langkawi Fair Shopping Mall. The shopping mall was smaller than I expected. But you can still purchase basic needs here because there is a supermarket and some shops selling clothes and chocolates. But, we were surprised that there were not many food choices in the mall.
Langkawi Night Market
Since there were not many food choices in the shopping mall, we headed to the night market for our dinner. The night market offers a variety of local food choices at affordable prices. We arrived early so some stalls were still preparing for the food. Since I have a sensitive stomach, I usually purchase foods from stalls that are freshly made.
Cenang Beach at Night
Before we went back to the hotel after our dinner, we dropped by Cenang Beach and checked out the fire show performance.
Day 2
On our second day, we spent our morning exploring the area near our hotel. Because there was still plenty of time before our jet ski tour, we ordered crepe at My French Factory. The crepes looked so pretty and were delicious too!
Jetski Island Hopping
After lunch, we headed to the Seeman Watersports booth counter located at Cenang Beach. We booked a jet ski tour with Seeman Watersports. The tour duration is about 3 hours. We visited three islands – Beras Basah Island, Pulau Singa Besar, and Pregnant Maiden Island. The entrance fee to the Pregnant Maiden Island was not included in the tour. Before we started the tour, we were given life jackets, dry bags, shoes, and bottled water. Also, there was not enough space in the jetski to store our things, so our belongings were securely kept in the locker.
Pregnant Maiden Island
Our first stop was the Pregnant Maiden Island. You can easily see why the island was named as such because it looked like a pregnant lady lying on her back. It was a really hot day, so we went for a swim in the lake, but the lake water was not very clean. Also, there were a lot of monkeys in the area. The monkeys are not afraid of people and some are aggressive, so take care of your belongings and stay away from them.
Pulau Singa Besar
Afterward, we hopped on our jet ski and stopped at Pulau Singa Besar. The island is located between Pregnant Maiden Island and Beras Basah Island. According to our tour guide, there are eagle-feeding sessions held regularly near the island. During the feeding session, the tour guide would throw some meat and the eagles would fly down to grab it. Unfortunately, we did not encounter any eagle-feeding boat tours when we arrived. Nevertheless, we were still able to see many eagles flying far above our heads.
I could not count exactly how many are there because of the sun, but I am sure that there are more than 10 eagles. It was an interesting sight and experience because living in a city, I don’t have much chance to see so many eagles.
Beras Basah Island
Our last stop was Beras Basah Beach, which looked like a really nice beach. However, when I looked closely, there were many plastics and litter around the beach. We even found a baby diaper floating around. After seeing the condition of the beach, we did not attempt to swim. We took a stroll on the beach, and we jet-skied our way back to Cenang Beach and concluded our tour.
Overall, the jet ski tour was a great way to explore the islands. Because it was our first time riding a jet ski, the tour guides were very helpful and took great care of us. It was so much fun. However, I have to admit that I am a bit disappointed with the islands. I would have enjoyed it much more if the places we visited were much cleaner.
Day 3
On our last day, we visited Oriental Village. Before our visit, we bought the cable car tickets online.
*Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you click on the link and purchase an item, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.
Oriental Village
The oriental village is home to several attractions including the Sky Bridge and Sky Cab. There is a small lake in the middle of the village and some restaurants and shops for souvenir shopping. There are a lot of things to do in this village, but our time is limited so we only visited Sky Bridge, Sky Cab, and 3D Museum.
SkyCab Langkawi
SkyCab is the steepest cable car in the world. There are three stations – Base station, Middle station, and Top station. The base station is located at the foot of Machincang Mountain. The journey from the base station to the middle station was the steepest and highest. As our cable car moved up, the amazing view of the surrounding area slowly came into view. And then, when we came near the peak of the mountain, the fog surrounded us.
SkyBridge
Completed in 2004, the SkyBridge is the longest suspension bridge in the world. It is located at an altitude of 660m from sea level. When we arrived at SkyBridge, it was very foggy. But once we reached the end of the bridge, the sun came out. It was cool to experience different conditions in such a short time. While walking on the bridge, I noticed a partial part of the bridge is made with glass floors. We had a panoramic view of the island while standing on the bridge. For people with a fear of heights, just look at the scenery and don’t look down.
3D Art Langkawi
Afterward, we went to the largest 3D museum in Malaysia, the 3D Art Langkawi. The museum has a whopping 21,000 square feet of space, with hundreds of paintings painted by international artists. The whole area is separated into zones with different themes. We had so much fun posing and taking pictures with each painting. Visit on a weekday to avoid the crowd so you can move around the museum much more freely.
After spending time in the museum, we headed back to our hotel to pick up our belongings and went to the airport to catch our evening flight.
Our trip was short but it was enough to explore the highlights of Langkawi. The island has a lot more to offer. If we had more time, I would add Kilim Geoforest to the itinerary and maybe try a few more watersports. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time in Langkawi.