Top Pangkor Island Hotels

We personally rented a car from KLIA and drove to Lumut. The roads in Malaysia were fantastic - better than I expected - and better than Thailand. The drive took about 2- 2 1/2 hours. We parked our car at a school around the corner from the Pangkor Laut''s office for about US$2/day. Before we visited this island, we went to the Cameron Highlands - a completely different (and also recommended) experience. We stayed at the Lakehouse, which was a very different type of hotel versus Pangkor Laut. After we returned from Pangkor Laut, we then drove back to KL and stayed there to end our trip. All in all, I would highly recommend visiting Malaysia. The people, food, and scenery were outstanding.

There is a Chinese Seafood restaurant right beside Coral Bay Hotel highly recommended by the locals (just asked the locals they will tell you the name of the restaurant). This place serves pretty cheap and good seafood but do ask for price of seafood before placing an order.

If travelling by bus, make sure you arrive in Lumut, in time for the two hourly ferry to the resort. Be warned the bus will take up to 5 hours from KL (it travels via Ipoh). We decided to fly back from Pangkor, (the airline is Bejaya Air) and fly a 4 engine DH Dash-7, 5 days a week from Sebang (the old airport in KL).

Snorkeling tour from the hotel is really nice. Take a taxi to go around the island. Restaurant Guan Guan in Pangkor village is excellent. Restaurant Number 1 has poor service and is very long, and more expensive also.

The buffet restaurant is designed to serve massively (of course !) and is not attractive. If you go the “a la carte” restaurant you will enjoy more your dinning experience. Prices for foreigners may not be that different to choose the second once. The canoe ride is enjoyable. When using the bicycles be careful because are not in good condition, ours broke when going to the town (other 1000 people use them, so I understand). By the way the staff was not very supportive the help you return to the hotel with your broken bicycle, the good thing is that locals were a great help!

Make sure you look for the hornbills flying around. We saw 4 of them that came to feed right by the pool. Very exciting for us North Americans who don''t get a glimpse of these birds...ever.

The hotel is located on Pangkor Laut Island, beside Pangkor and only has one resort, which makes it so special and a private escape. The main beach, Emerald Bay is a small bay housing a beautiful beach, however I personally found some beaches located on another island in Malaysia like Langkawi better, as Emerald Bay is considerably small.

It is quite a hike to get to - 3 1/2 hours from KL airport by road, then 1 hour by ferry. Worth getting up early in KL in order to catch the early ferry. The ferry leaves at set times so it is not very flexible. We looked into taking a helicopter - but sadly not being tycoons could not afford the US$3000 one way ticket from KL!!!

Pangkor Laut is a beutiful Island. I recommend having Dinner-on-the-rocks in Emerald Bay. Watching then sun go down while being in this beutiful location was very romantic. A massage at the Spa Village is also a must.

Do not rent bicyles unless you are very fit (steep hills). A motorbike is a better option to get around the island.