The Ultimate Guide to Langkawi, Malaysia

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love the sleepy island of Langkawi. Actually, I can — brace yourselves, this is a long read which encompasses everything from scoring vegan food, transport, lodging, and the sights and sounds of Langkawi.

First Things First : Slow Down, Way Down

Having come from Koh Samui, Thailand which is the total opposite of this place, Langkawi was the perfect place to stop, slow down, and breathe. It’s also a perfect place for a digital nomad because while it’s abundant in natural beauty and has great night markets, there’s not too much going on, so you can skip the FOMO.

Pantai Tengah Beach – photo by Madalin T.

Yes, a lot of my day consists of staring at this very screen from various cafes around the world. But hey, I’m not complaining, it’s just nice to find a spot to settle where I don’t look out the window longingly, wondering what is passing me by.

Langkawi is the perfect blend of slow living, good eating, and let-your-hair-down island life.

There’s No Public Transportation, So It’s Time for a Rental

Madalin and I braved the roads, tempted fate, and decided to rent a car. If you choose to follow in our footsteps (and you probably should) you can get a great car at the Jetty from stand number 17.  Yes, they also offer scooter rentals but since we’re carrying a lot of photography / electronic gear around, this suits us better. Also, I like my skin on my body and not on the pavement.

EDIT: We later rented a moto in Pai, Thailand and crashed. RIP kneecap.

So when it comes time to get your car, you have to remember that it’s important to negotiate with a smile, always allowing the other party to save face. So, no matter what price they tell you, just smile, nod, and tell them you know it’s only 60RM per day for a week long rental. If you’re traveling for only a few days, the car will cost more!

You have to pay 100RM as a deposit in case anything happens, but they’re not looking for minor scratches – just major damage.  Regardless of how much I can vouch for these guys, you still need to have your wits about you when renting a car.

Take photos / video of the car before signing the contract, ask them how all the buttons and switches work, etc. You’re likely going to rent the car during the daytime but remember to check that the headlights work, Langkawi roads are very dark once you’re off the beaten path and the nighttime brings out dogs, water buffalo (yup, I almost hit one), and loads of people on motos without either tail or headlights. It’s like a video game!

Last tip about the car rental company: if you’re on their side of the island you can have someone call them and they’ll drop the car off to you.

They have manual and automatic cars and they range from Lego sized to full on soccer-mom. I know because we tried them all!

Fight Your Fear of Heights on the Langkawi Cable Cars and SkyBridge

We started down there! Photo by Madalin T.

The cable cars are among the most vertical and steepest in the world, I knew this before we arrived and thought it would be a really fun activity. Madalin did not know this — once we were on the cable cars his face went white as he looked up towards the peak of the mountain to see how far we were going up and how far down the earth was.

We were six people in the car and all three men were visibly sweating, peering towards the window before cursing under their breath, crossing themselves, etc. The other two women seemed calmer (braver, even) and I was looking out the window and laughing like a maniac – I loved it!

About Halfway Up. Image by Madalin T.

We neared the lookout spot and it was then that the rest of the car realized this was only the halfway point – one man started to panic slightly and I thought he was trying to open the cable car door, but apparently he was just trying to get “fresh air”. To me, this is an absolute must do in Langkawi, even though it’s not the most budget friendly of options at 35RM, it’s still a wonderful once in a lifetime experience. Keep your eye on their website for deal and special offers, though!

The cable cars take off from a place called Oriental Village which is like a knockoff Disneyland with just as many knick knacks, overpriced snacks, and bottled waters that you’re forced to surrender before entering the cable car area.

Busted taking a selfie in Langkawi

Pro tip : pack your (hopefully reusable) water bottle in a backpack or purse before purchasing tickets and entering the cable car area as the ticket taker will force you to leave your water / snacks there. At first I assumed this was so they could preserve the natural beauty of the area at the top and along the Sky Bridge. Once I arrived however, I realized it was so they can sell you double priced everything at the top once you’re out of breath, hot, and thirsty from doing the Sky Bridge walk. The worst part? There’s no trash receptacles so litter is tossed about for the poor monkeys to feed on. This could definitely be improved in the future!

The Icing on the Cake

Once you arrive to the top of the mountain you have one of the best panoramas imaginable. Enjoy the fresh air and you absolutely should pay the 5 extra ringgit to do the SkyWalk – just know it’s about a 20 minute walk or 30 minute stroll but totally worth it. The SkyWalk takes you to a single pylon bridge which will take your breath away. It sways gently with strong winds, and the glass panels on the ground will have your palms sweating and heart pounding in no time – an absolute must for adventure seekers!

Madalin Standing on Glass

Respectfully Interact With the Monkeys

You will notice there are tons of monkeys on the island; four types live on Langkawi and if you’re careful you will see them all. The most prevalent are the long-tailed macaques which sit on the side of the road from around 11am onwards waiting for tourists who come to feed them. Do not be one of those tourists! Why not? It seems so harmless to give the cute little monkeys a banana…

photo by the fantastic Madalin T

Long term effects are terribly sad, guys. When these monkeys stop forgetting how to be wild, forage for food and water, and become reliant on people it causes more harm than good. Many cross the road in attempts to find food from humans and wind up getting killed.

Others are starving because they’ve learned to do nothing all day but sit on the road and wait for handouts. They’re turning into “jobless” monkeys and it’s bad for everyone! Look at this guy crossing the street without a care in the world.

He DGAF about your car. Photo : Madalin T.

It’s natural to want to interact with and admire these guys though, so the best thing you can do is watch them from a respectful distance or from the safety of your car but DO NOT feed them. I know it’s hard.

Street Begging Monkey eating human food
Photo by Madalin T.

When I saw this mommy nursing her baby, I couldn’t help but want to help her out with some food or water, but doing what’s right will help these guys survive and thrive!

Touching photo by Madalin T.

Take a Responsible Tour of Kilim Karst Geoforest Park

Langkawi is home to some seriously beautiful nature and the tours of Kilim Karst Geoforest Park do their best to show it all off to you. I asked for a responsible tour company who did not feed the eagles or disrupt the natural habitat and I was assured that was the tour I would receive. Well, I wasn’t exactly happy about the outcome of the tour, though there was no denying the outstanding landscape.

Most tours follow the same pattern, first stop, they take you to the bat cave where signs are plastered everywhere to say “do not use flash” so make sure you respect that to protect all the living creatures in the caves!

Next you take another boat ride to a floating fish farm, (sad) you take a long boat ride to get an up close look at the mangroves, and then you’re taken to another floating fish farm / restaurant where you have lunch. After lunch you’re dropped off on a little island between Malaysia and Thailand for an hour or so to relax and swim before being picked up again to go back to your hotel.

Do You Think That’s Okay?

The main highlight of this tour is likely the eagle feeding – I chose a tour operator who does not participate in the feeding of the eagles – however their boat follows right behind the boat who does feed them. Tricky. The tours cost around $20- $25 per person and include pick up and drop off from your hotel, lunch on the floating restaurant, and a chance to get face to face with some monkeys, too!

A few tips : We went with KA Tours and though our guide pretended to be very concerned about the environment and the welfare of the animals, it was mostly a script. In fact he encouraged visitors to use flash in the caves, saying “if you don’t use flash, you don’t see nothing!” and then didn’t take it too kindly when I pointed at the signs and asked him why he would contradict them. He also didn’t seem to believe he should offer a trash can on board the boat to prevent tourists from tossing their trash to monkeys – which yes, many do!

Lastly, there are many tour operators who offer you elephant rides. Tell these people to get bent! If you’re still thinking about riding an elephant I ask you from the bottom of my heart to look into what really happens behind the scenes of this practice. Wanting to interact with these beautiful creatures is natural, but by participating in elephant riding or elephant shows you are directly contributing to the capture, torture, and extinction of these animals! Better to make a special trip to see them in a more natural environment or at a sanctuary such as Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Eat Your Heart Out at the Night Markets – Every Night!

Night markets are alive and well in Langkawi. They move around the island nightly, so there will always be one near you. As you can see below, there is no shortage of selection and the markets fill up fast!

Wednesday and Saturday Night Market – photo by Madalin T.

Eating vegetarian or vegan always presents a unique set of challenges, but in a country that is used to catering to vegetarian style just know you can ask for things without egg or butter (or ghee!) and they will usually be suitable. Of course, a flexible and humble attitude also goes a long way towards getting vendors to cater to your requests 🙂

My favorites were (in no particular order) roasted chickpeas covered in sweet chili sauce, plain roti, coconut water – this is served at the drink stalls along 5-20 other drinks, loads of fresh fruit, papaya / mango salad (just point to the little prawns and say “Tidak” which means “no”), and freshly roasted corn on the cob.

These items being my favorite is evidenced by the lack of photos of the food, because I was too busy eating it, but I will blame it on Madalin not being fast enough with the camera 😉

Friday Night Market – photo by Madalin T.

Break Your Piggy Bank and Stay at Temple Tree Resort

Be still my heart. My time at Temple Tree was perhaps my favorite of all the time spent on the island. A full review is right here, and it’s 100% droolworthy, but let these teaser photos lure you in. We were spoiled and got the Black & White house, but it doesn’t matter which villa you choose to stay in, the grounds are for everyone to enjoy and they boast spectacular sunset views like this.

Pool at Temple Tree Resort Image Courtesy of Madalin T.

Temple Tree is also a proud supporter of LASSIe which is an animal sanctuary who put emphasis on their catch, spay / neuter, and release program in order to keep stray animal populations low on the island. Expect lots of friendly kitties to pay you a visit, or show you the best places to sunbathe.

Just Dozing.
Photo by Madalin T.

Save Your Pennies at Best Seven Hotel

Well Best Seven Motel is certainly not going to blow you away in terms of location or architecture; it’s a family hotel run by some of the kindest, most helpful people we’ve run across in the whole of the island!

Their rates are crazy cheap and the entire staff (even the uncle who doesn’t speak a lot of English, but is always smiling) is literally always trying to help you make every facet of your stay more enjoyable or easy. They’re the ones who set us up with the rental car, loaned us an umbrella, and William showed us the delectable candied orange peel which many people eat as a treat.

If you have your own mode of transportation and want to feel like family, choose this budget option! While you can find them on Agoda, it’s best to email them and ask to book directly as they will give you a better rate, let ’em know I sent you!

Photo by Madalin T.

The … Field? of Burnt Rice

Yeah. I’m not even going to designate this one with a proper “Heading” font. I don’t know what you think of when you think of a “field” of burnt rice, but I had something totally different in mind. I suppose I should have done my research first, but no, off we went to the field.
It’s about a 35 minute drive from Pantai Cenang, and when we parked the car we walked through the long and windy alleyway full of shops selling things to tourists : your usual display of batiks, magnets, thimbles, keychains, and your photo on literally anything.

We finally made it to the “field” which was the size of a parking spot, read the sign and were back in the car within 3 minutes. To help you out, I found this 360 view of the field of burned rice, and think you could save yourself a lot of time by spending 37 seconds watching it.

Let’s Talk About Black Sand Beach

Don’t do what I did when it comes to black sand beach. When I saw the name on the map I had a vision of long stretches of black sand meeting the shockingly blue water, it was all very exotic in my conjured images.

However the reality fell short when we made the walk down to Black Sand beach and found a few spotty patches of sand that was dark grey-ish with a gorgeous view of the cement factory. Hmm. Well, I chose to look the other way and watch the clouds and sky turn hues of indigo and finally fade to grey, but I wouldn’t have named this Black Sand beach if it were up to me.

Black Sand Beach – photo by Madalin T.

Go Parasailing – or at Least Watch

Parasailing is a huge draw at the Pantai Tengah beach. If you’re looking for the place to go parasailing in Langkawi, just look up into the sky and you’re going to see at least five of these guys swirling above you. The list price is 120 ringgit but you should only pay 65 per person as that was the going rate when we were there (May 2015).

You have the option of going solo — I can’t say I would wholeheartedly recommend that unless you’ve done this before — or with one of the guys who runs the parasails. It’s a 5 minute journey up into the air and always a smooth landing when going up with a pro.  Bring a sport camera or your cell phone with a wrist strap so you will be able to get some good footage of yourself!

Photo by Madalin T.

Eagle Square

Likely the most iconic feature of Langkawi is Eagle Square, it will welcome you as you arrive at the jetty. For some reason this is an insanely large draw and people spend hours taking their photo in front of it which makes for very entertaining people watching. It’s also worth noting there are many shops nearby the jetty where you can get your coffee and WiFi needs filled.

Eagle Langkawi – photo by Madalin T.

But What About All the Cheap Alcohol?

Yes, Langkawi is a duty free island which means the booze is cheap and there are plenty of partiers who come to the island to take advantage of this but for the most part they are centralized to the strip at Pantai Cengah so you don’t need to be around it if this is not your scene.
However it is worth noting that chocolate is also crazy cheap on the island and it’s not unusual to go to the mall and see families loading up entire shopping carts with M&Ms, Toblerone, Hersheys and the like.

Forget the Map and Go Exploring

As with many things, the best adventures are not on the pages but between the lines. Having a car makes this an incredibly easy place to explore, and get off the beaten path. We had the luck of running into this group of guys who were just starting to practice and invited us to hang out and take some pics.

On one of our night drives we ran into these two kids who hang out by the beach and put on sweet light shows while taking turns DJing. It was a nice feeling to be able to hang out with locals for a few hours, watching a slow stream of fellow insomniacs pull over, take photos, stare at the moon and be on their way. The sense of community on Langkawi is truly awesome.

Great Options for Vegans at Nasi Kandar

One of the very few places that is open 24 hours, Tomato Nasi Kandar is the perfect spot for grabbing a quick bite to take with you to the beach which is just a 2 minute walk to the right. They offer a wide variety of dishes, but the most famous is the red tomato rice which comes in vegetarian and meat forms. Don’t miss out on the okra curry which is spicy and 100% vegan, and look out for the fresh naan which leaves the whole restaurant perfumed with a dreamy, bready scent. Ahhh.

Wrapping Up

While Langkawi does not have the most action, it’s a wonderful balance between keeping a slow and local pace and having enough resources to stay happy. Definitely a great location for digital nomads who are looking for a steady base with an island vibe. There’s no doubt I will be back to Langkawi to explore, share, and learn much more about the beautiful country and culture of Malaysia!

Please note : The only sponsored part of my trip was a trade with Temple Tree Resort and they would have received glowing, outstanding recommendations even if I had paid double their rack rates; it’s an incredible place that I will forever return to. For information on how I handle the finances, sponsors, trades, and every other financial detail of being a travel blogger, please check out my disclaimer here.