“‘Mompracem!’ he exclaimed, straightening his tall frame. And he stood there gazing at his wild island, the bastion of his power and his greatness in that sea which he rightly called his own. At that moment, he felt as though he had become once more the formidable Tiger of Malaysia of legendary exploits.”
E. Salgari, The Tigers of Mompracem
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Itinerary in pills
- Day 1: Arrival and Kecil beaches
- Day 2: Long trip and PIR beach
- Day 3: Redang and Lang Tengah
- Day 4: Rawa Island and KK beach
- Day 5: Long Beach and back to Kuala Lumpur
- Conclusions
Introduction
As a child, there were so many characters I would imagine myself becoming. Among them, a place of honour is held by Sandokan, probably the most famous of all pirates, whose stories I read in Salgari’s novels – the very first books that sparked my passion for reading.
The Perenthian Islands are rather like the islands I used to imagine when I immersed myself in the tales of the Pirates of Malaysia. Wild islands, with lush vegetation and crystal-clear seas, inhabited by a proud and welcoming people. A place where life flows slowly and without stress.
If I had to sum up my experience on the Perenthian Islands, I’d freely borrow a saying about Naples. When you visit them, you cry twice: when you arrive and when you leave. These are, in fact, largely undeveloped islands, where accommodation is generally very basic, often without hot water. There are no cars; you get around by highly efficient taxi boats, which are also available in the evenings.
Children play freely in the narrow, dirt-track streets, without ever giving the impression of living in poverty. People are always smiling, whilst living in the utmost simplicity. After a few days, you simply can’t do without that atmosphere.
Itinerary in pills
⭐ Fun scale: 8.5/10
🏛️ Not to miss: Long beach in Redang; Adam & Eve beach, Romantic beach and Mira beach in Kecil; Turtle beach and PIR beach in Besar.
⏱️ Duration: 4 days (3 full days and 2 half days)
👣 Mood: relax on the beach 100%
💰 Long Trip: 70 RM/pp (~14€); Redang Trip: 150 RM/pp (~30€); Rawa Trip: 80 RM/pp (~16€).
💡 Keep in mind: Unless you’re staying in a resort, the accommodation is very basic, so you’ll have to adapt quite a bit.
🎟️ Tip: Stay at just one island – either Besar or Kecil – as the beaches are all easily accessible.
Overview
When we talk about the Perenthian Islands, we are referring to two islands situated off the coast of the Malaysian Peninsula, in the north-east. The larger of the two is Besar, which has a more relaxed atmosphere, suitable for families or older travellers. The other island is Kecil, which is livelier and more basic, a favourite destination for backpackers. It is on this second island that you generally need to be more adaptable. And it is precisely Kecil that we chose for our accommodation.
Both islands boast beautiful beaches. Generally speaking, people say the best ones are on Besar, but honestly, I found them to be on a par. In fact, my favourite is in the northern part of Kecil, but I’ll get to that in the next few paragraphs. It’s easy to get between the two islands; there’s absolutely no need to stay on both to see the best beaches on each, not least because they’re so close together. In some places, anyone fit enough might even be able to swim from one island to the other, though this is purely hypothetical as it would be dangerous due to the constant movement of boats.
About an hour’s boat ride from the Perhentian Islands lies Redang, a less overrun archipelago and a destination for a more discerning crowd, mainly due to the accommodation costs being, on average, higher than those on the Perhentian Islands. Another island worth mentioning, situated between the Perhentian Islands and Redang, is Lang Tengah.
How to get there
From the Perhentian Islands, it is fairly easy to get to Redang, either by arranging a one-way transfer through your guesthouse or by going on a day trip – the option we chose, which also allows you to combine it with a visit to Lang Tengah.
To get to Redang, you can also use its small airport (RDN), which is served by direct flights to and from Kuala Lumpur. To reach the Perhentian Islands, however, you must first travel to the port of Kuala Besut, from where you can reach your destination in about 40 minutes by boat. The airport to use in this case is Kota Bharu (KBR), which is also served by direct flights from Kuala Lumpur and other major destinations in Malaysia. Boats depart at fixed times, on average once an hour between 7 am and 5 pm for the outward journey, and every two hours for the return journey, between 8 am and 4 pm. You can check the timetables on the websites of the agencies organising the transfers, such as Seven Seas and Perenthian Trans Holiday. To book the transfer, you can ask at your guesthouse, or arrange it yourself directly at the port of Kuala Besut, as we did. In the event of delays, the companies are usually very flexible and allow you to take the next available boat at no extra cost.
Summary of the itinerary
Our adventure in the Perhentian Islands spanned three full days and two half-days. We spent the first half-day visiting some of the most beautiful beaches on Kecil, and the three full days on three separate excursions. For the first, we chose the so-called ‘Long Trip’, which combines the four most important snorkeling spots – accessible only by boat – with a visit to Turtle Beach, considered by many to be the most beautiful beach in the Perhentian Islands. The second excursion was to Redang and Lang Tengah, whilst the final half-day trip was dedicated to visiting the Rawa archipelago, situated near the Perhentian Islands. A visit to Rawa can also be combined with the same snorkelling spots as the Long Trip; in this case, the excursion is called the Special Trip. Below are the details of our days.
| Day | Itinerary | Night |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morning Flight KUL-KBR, arrival in Kecil at noon. Afternoon visit of Adam & Eve, Romantic and Mira beach | Kecil |
| 2 | Long tour (Shark point, Turtle point, Fish point, Coral Garden, Turtle beach) + PIR beach | Kecil |
| 3 | Excursion to Redang and Lang Tengah | Kecil |
| 4 | Rawa Tour + KK beach | Kecil |
| 5 | Long beach (Kecil) in the morning, transfer to Kuala Besut at 2 pm and evening flight to KUL | Kuala Lumpur |
I’ve also included one of the signs summarising the available excursions and the cost of taxi boats to the various beaches (these vary depending on the distance from the departure point, so the prices shown here refer to boats departing from the Kecil Fishermen’s Village).
Day 1: Arrival and Kecil beaches
Fishermen’s Village
Our flight, operated by Air Asia, departs on time at 8.25 am; by 9.40 am we are already waiting for our taxi, booked on the spot via Grab, which arrives within seconds. The journey from Kota Bharu Airport to the port of Kuala Besut takes one hour and 15 minutes. We manage to arrive at the port just in the nick of time to catch the 11.00 am boat. Forty minutes later we’re already in Kecil, and a further five minutes on to our guest house, situated in Fishermen’s Village, next to the mosque. From the reviews, I’d read that the noise wasn’t particularly bothersome, which I can confirm – apart from the 5.30 am wake-up call! Our accommodation is rather basic; there’s no hot water (like most places on Kecil) and the shower is very close to the toilet. The cleanliness isn’t top-notch, but it’s acceptable; the walls are anything but soundproof. The staff, however, are quite friendly, although they were a bit unresponsive before our arrival. This place has a rating of over 8 on Booking.com – a score I hadn’t easily found when I made the booking. I can only imagine what the places with significantly lower ratings were like.
As it was lunchtime, we decided to grab a bite to eat before setting off to explore the beaches. I’d recommend a place very close to the mosque, Warung Pak Jokong – the food is really good and the owner is the sort of person you miss when you leave.
Straight after lunch, we arranged a taxi boat with one of the many agencies in the village, with the aim of visiting three beaches on Kecil. We chose Adam & Eve Beach, Romantic Beach and Mira Beach in particular; the total cost for two people was 180 RM (around 30 €).
Adam & Eve beach
The first beach we land on, after just a few minutes by boat, is Adam & Eve Beach. When we arrive, there’s hardly anyone there apart from us, even though it was a beautiful, sunny day. We’re off to a flying start – in fact, this will remain my favourite beach in the Perhentian Islands!
The beach is very unspoilt, the colours of the sea are stunning, and the snorkelling is well worth it too. Amongst other things, we spot a few clownfish and a fantastic leopard moray eel.
Romantic beach
We stop at Adam & Eve Beach for a good hour and a half. From there, we take a taxi boat to Romantic Beach, which is right next to Adam & Eve Beach. This beach is also very beautiful; we even find some free parasols, which we use until we’re told they’re reserved for guests of the resort that can be glimpsed from the beach (we’d mistakenly thought it was a bit like the Maldives, where everything’s basically free) . The snorkelling here isn’t great; in fact, there’s no reef, despite its proximity to Adam & Eve Beach. We stay here for another hour and a half.
Mira beach
The last beach of the day, where we stayed more or less until sunset, was Mira Beach, which at first glance didn’t seem to offer much, until I got up for my usual photographic stroll, during which I came across a group of blacktip reef sharks swimming near the shore with not a soul in sight. So I didn’t let the opportunity for some interesting snorkeling slip by. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, I’ve lost the videos from that day, but luckily not the photos I’d taken with my underwater camera. Moving a little further away from the sharks, I also came across a beautiful blue-spotted stingray. And so our first day on the Perhentian Islands came to an end.
Note: after 7 pm, the cost of taxi boats doubles, so consider whether you need to stay on the beach past that time.
Day 2: Long trip and PIR beach
Long trip
Initially, we wanted to spend the day visiting Redang, but we decided to go on the Long Trip instead because of the cloudy sky we woke up to, although it was forecast to clear up in the afternoon.
Note: Excursions generally need to be booked at least the night before, but agencies are usually flexible regarding changes to plans. Another point I’d like to mention concerns payments, which in many cases can also be made by card, contrary to what I’d read on other blogs. This applies to both excursions and restaurants, whilst taxi boats can only be paid for in cash. There are no ATMs on the islands, but several establishments offer a cash exchange service (at an unfavourable rate, of course, but it’s important to know this option is available if needed). One of these is located at Long Beach, but there are several at the busier beaches.
So let’s start with the four snorkelling spots: Shark Point, Fish Point, Coral Garden and Turtle Point – the latter of which can actually be reached by swimming from the beach at the PIR (Perhentian Island Resort). To be honest, I found these four snorkeling spots a bit disappointing, although you can still catch a glimpse of something interesting. At Shark Point, we only managed to see a couple of small sharks – far fewer, in any case, than we saw at Mira Beach.
We round off the tour with Turtle Beach, considered the most beautiful beach in the Perhentian Islands, situated on Besar. The beach is indeed very beautiful, with crystal-clear water and shades of green, but for me it only takes the silver medal. The snorkeling, once again, isn’t a must-do.
PIR beach
The Long Tour ends here, but we still have a good part of the afternoon to spare, so we ask our skipper to drop us off at PIR beach instead of taking us back to the Fishermen’s Village (which also saves us the cost of the taxi boat). PIR beach is also very beautiful, as well as being well-served. We finally return to the Fishermen’s Village before sunset.
Day 3: Redang and Lang Tengah
Redang
The time has come for our trip to Redang, even though we woke up to a few clouds again this morning. We still have another full day ahead of us, but in the meantime we’ve realised that the lush vegetation surrounding the beaches of the Perhentian Islands is the natural result of a weather pattern that repeats itself cyclically every day, starting with clouds in the morning, sunshine in the afternoon and a storm at night.
The trip to Redang starts at 9 am, and we realise straight away that it’s going to be a lively day when our skipper arrives – a chap with a particularly spirited driving style. It takes about an hour by boat to reach Redang; the first three stops are snorkeling spots at Palau Lima (Coral Garden), Turtle Point (which is not the Turtle Point on Besar) and Monkey Cave. The snorkeling here is better than that in the Perhentian Islands, although it’s a far cry from what we’ll see in Borneo, which I’ll tell you about in future articles.
After the snorkeling stops, it’s time for Long Beach (which isn’t the Long Beach on Kecil), where we also stop for lunch, which isn’t included in the 150 RM (around 30€) paid for the tour. The beach is truly beautiful; its layout reminded me a little of the colours of some beaches in Sardinia.
After the long lunch break, it was time for the sandbank – which we’d all been looking forward to, hoping it would transport us to paradise. However, the experience wasn’t exactly unforgettable; the sandbank is actually very small and, when we arrived, it was packed with people, which meant we couldn’t really enjoy it properly. The colours of the sea, though, are absolutely stunning.
Lang Tengah
The stop at the sandbank lasts just long enough to take a few photos, so that we have more time for what I personally consider to be the most beautiful stop on the tour, which takes place at Lang Tengah. The colours here are truly stunning; we can see them clearly despite the clouds rolling in menacingly. At Lang Tengah, you can also go snorkeling with a few reef sharks, something I decided against because, alas, they’re attracted by the food that’s thrown to them. The stop at Lang Tengah was supposed to last about an hour, but we were forced to cut our visit short due to an approaching storm, which would accompany us for much of the crossing to the Perenthian Islands. I’ll spare you the details, but the huge waves we encountered made the return journey truly memorable (for better or for worse).
Day 4: Rawa Island and KK beach
Rawa tour
For our last full day, we decide to go on the only excursion we haven’t yet done: the one that takes you to Rawa Island. As we’d already visited the main snorkeling spots on previous excursions, we opt for the Rawa Trip, which lasts just half a day.
The tour includes three snorkeling stops: Rawa Beach, Serenggeh Island and Tokong Burung – the latter also known as Bird Temple Island. At Rawa Beach, if you prefer, you can skip the snorkeling and just stay on the beach – which is what I’d do if I were to go back, as the snorkeling at all three spots didn’t strike me as particularly memorable. It’s really lovely, however, to climb up onto the rocks at Tokong Burung; the view from there is well worth it.
KK beach
At the end of the tour, we are taken to The Barat Beach, home to what is said to be the best restaurant in the Perhentian Islands (which is, in fact, called The Barat).
After lunch, we take a taxi boat to KK Beach in Besar. This beach is very charming and rather unspoilt; its sandbar, which divides it into two distinct areas, is also a distinctive feature. The colours of the sea are absolutely stunning. We stay here until sunset.
Day 5: Long Beach and back to Kuala Lumpur
Our transfer to Kuala Besut is scheduled for 2 pm (note: boats don’t run at that time every day), so we have the whole morning for one last swim, which we decide to have at Long Beach (Kecil). The beach is very well-equipped but, in my opinion, not a must-see. We also treat ourselves to the thrill of hiring a parasol for 10 RM (around €2.20, price for two people), which would theoretically have covered a whole day. We also considered the possibility of walking to Coral Bay Beach via the path linking the two beaches (an option only available on this particular occasion), but decided against it, both because of the heat and because we’d already seen Coral Bay Beach from the boat during our various taxi boat journeys. Finally, we returned to the Fishermen’s Village for a final lunch with our friend, before heading back to Kuala Besut.
Conclusions
The Perenthian and Redang Islands are a little corner of paradise well worth visiting on any proper trip to Malaysia. Although they’re quite a touristy destination (bear in mind that 90 per cent of the people we met were Italian – and I’m not exaggerating!), they retain the charm of a wild and, in some ways, authentic place, and even if they require a bit of adaptability (especially if you’re staying on Kecil), after a while you start to feel at home.
If I had to choose the most beautiful beaches in the Perhentian Islands, I’d put Adam & Eve Beach top of the list, followed by Turtle Beach and Romantic Beach, whilst I absolutely loved Long Beach on Redang. The snorkeling was rather disappointing overall (I’d had much higher expectations), certainly not as good as what we saw in Borneo (but that really is another world).