Redang Island

Budget & price range
Resort Rates from
Berjaya RM 885/588*
Coral RM 540/432*
Laguna RM 518
Ayu Mayang RM 445
Redang Beach RM 399
Redang Bay RM 398
Redang Reef RM 360
Wisana RM 350
Mutiara RM 349
Kalong RM 339
Holiday RM 329
Pelangi RM 320
Bahtera RM 275

Typical 2007 rates per person for 3D/2N full-board snorkelling package in a twin room on weekdays peak months including boat transfers. * denotes prices for Malaysians, PRs and ASEAN nationals.

The most affordable resorts on Redang are the budget resorts while the upscale resorts like Berjaya, Laguna and Coral round off the higher end of the budget scale. Prices among the budget resorts are competitive, below RM400 for a 3D/2N full-board snorkelling package. Promotional prices can be even lower, starting below RM300 so check the resort's websites for news of promotions. Children below 12 are usually given a discount paying between 50-60% of adult fare. Some resorts have two advertised rates: one for locals (Malaysians, Malaysian PRs & ASEAN nationals) and another for non-locals.

Most resorts have different prices for off-peak and peak periods. Usually, lowest promotional prices are found in March and October during beginning and end of visiting season. At other times, lowest prices are found weekdays from Sundays through Thursdays. Some resorts charge higher weekend rates for Friday & Saturdays. Highest prices are during school holidays and public holidays (including eve of public holidays).

Some resorts also offer room-only, bed and breakfast or half-board packages which are more affordable.

As usual, read the fine print and compare prices carefully as things like land transfers between KT and Merang jetty (for those departing from Merang) and snorkelling equipment rental may or may not be included. Land transfers between KT/Airport and Merang usually cost between RM10-30 extra per adult while rental of snorkel, mask and life-jacket ranges from RM20-40 extra per package. Those visiting the Marine Park Centre will have to pay conservation charges of RM5 per adult (RM2.50 for children).
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Location & privacy

So you came here to ponder about life, sunbathe, write a book, compose a song, spend quality time with your partner, and you really need some privacy and quiet. Best thing to do is go off-peak season when it's not school holidays, public holidays or long weekends. In March or October the beaches can be pretty empty.
private beaches

Good privacy (from top): Mutiara, Wisana and Berjaya resorts which are the only resorts at their stretch of beach.

Resorts located at Teluk Kalong offer good privacy, peace and quiet with no noisy beach discos or karaokes. There are 3 beaches here separated by rocky outcrops. The northernmost beach is occupied by Redang Kalong and Mozana Redang. Wisana is the only resort on the middle beach and on the southernmost beach sits Redang Mutiara which is now the lone resort there since the campsites closed down in April 2006.

The Berjaya resorts offer both privacy and creature comforts as they are the only resorts at their respective locations. Although the resort is big and may have many guests during peak season, guests have access to two long stretches of beach at Teluk Dalam Kecil and Teluk Dalam Besar, so there should be no problems finding their own private, quiet space at the beach.

Pasir Panjang is the most active beach on Redang, shared by many resorts. Beach discos, karaokes and open air food stalls attract many visitors who may traverse up and down the entire stretch of beach. Resorts offering the best privacy and quiet include Redang Reef and Redang Holiday at each end of the long beach and Coral Redang. At Teluk Bakau, Laguna's standard rooms near their jetty/dive centre and Redang Bahtera offer a quiet retreat away from Pasir Panjang.
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Beach & house reef
beaches at redang

Wisana's front beach, Teluk Dalam Besar, south Pasir Panjang and Redang Kalong's front beach.

If you're looking for good beaches, you've come to the right place. There are no bad beaches in Redang. Regardless of where you stay (except at Berjaya Spa Resort which does not have a beach as it is located on a hill), you'll always find soft, fine white sand beneath your feet. Stormy weather and strong waves can deposit debris and broken coral on the beach but over time, the sandy beach is restored when new sand is deposited. Most visitors would agree that the nicest beaches are in Teluk Dalam, followed by Pasir Panjang and Kalong.

Teluk Dalam ('Deep Water Bay') has 2 distinct stretches of beach, one at Teluk Dalam Kecil where Berjaya Beach Resort is located and the other at Teluk Dalam Besar where there are currently no resorts. Waters are clear and calm with sandy bottom which is excellent for swimming. The two beaches are separated by a hilly outcrop. A road built on top of the hill provides easy access between the two beaches. A jungle path also connects the beach at Teluk Dalam Besar to Pasir Panjang, a trek that can be covered in about an hour.

Pasir Panjang ('Long Beach') is a long and wide beach shaped like a birdwing or 'V' where one wing forms the northern stretch while the other the southern stretch, both wings meeting at Tanjung Tengah in the centre. The north beach is longer than the south beach. Visitors can walk from Redang Reef at the southern tip all the way to Redang Holiday at the northern tip in about 15-20 minutes.

Teluk Kalong's 3 beaches are each much smaller than those at Teluk Dalam and Pasir Panjang but with so few resorts and guests at each beach, at times you can have the entire beach to yourself. The northernmost beach is the only one accessible from Pasir Panjang.

House reefs

If you want to be able to just walk off the beach and go snorkelling anytime, your best choice is to stay at Pasir Panjang which offers the most easily accessible house reefs. The resorts located here have easy access to the reefs which are located in the centre around Tanjung Tengah and at both ends of the beach at Tanjung Mak Cantik (where Redang Reef is located) and the other end where Redang Holiday is located.

Teluk Dalam Kecil also has coral reefs on both sides of the bay but these are further out and not as easily accessible compared to those in Pasir Panjang.

Over at Teluk Kalong, there is a house reef south of Redang Kalong resort which offers opportunities to spot adult black-tip sharks but it's quite a distance from the shore.
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Comfort & facilities
typical resort rooms

Rooms at Laguna (top), Redang Holiday (middle) and Redang Reef. Photos copyrighted by the respective resorts.

Most resorts offer acceptable standards of accommodation. For example, all resorts offer air-con rooms with attached bathrooms. An increasing number are also equipped with hot showers. Standards are improving all across the board as resorts continue to renovate and upgrade themselves to compete with one another.

Laguna & Berjaya resorts are at the top of the comfort scale as they pamper guests with quality furnishings, hot showers, in-room TVs, electric jugs, hair-dryers, mini-bars and safe deposit boxes. Both resorts have gym and internet-access facilities for guests while Berjaya offers laundry services, bicycle rentals, childcare services as well as a spa (at Berjaya Spa resort). Clinics are available at Laguna Redang and at the village near Berjaya Beach resort. Doctors will treat guests from any resort but medical emergencies will be sent back to the mainland for treatment.

Next in line are Coral Redang and Redang Holiday chalets with in-room hot shower and fridge. In terms of view, most seaview facing rooms are nice but the seaview facing hilltop villas at Holiday are among the best with its spectacular view of the sea and southern Pasir Panjang.

Ayu Mayang with its cozy chalets and Redang Beach with its new super-quad rooms and chalets are probably next on the comfort scale, followed by the budget resorts such as Bay, Pelangi, Reef, Lagoon and Mutiara. Many of these budget resorts have rooms that are equipped with just beds and little else. Not a problem if you're the sort that's out at the beach or sea the whole day.

'Back-to-nature'-type resorts like Wisana and Mozana do not have electricity 24-hours a day - power is usually cut for a certain period during the day, usually from morning when guests go out snorkelling till the evening around 6pm.
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Food & dining
Full-board packages

One thing about signing up for a full-board package in Redang is that you are often well-fed if you are not too particular about what you eat (like the fishes at the Marine Park Centre!). Mealtimes typically look like this:
dining hall at laguna

Laguna's buffet dining hall and Redang Beach's Summer Palace restaurant.

8:30 am: Breakfast
9:30 am: snorkelling
1:00 pm: Lunch
2:30 pm: snorkelling
4:30 pm: Tea (some resorts may not provide Tea)
7:30 pm: Dinner

Food is usually home-cooked local Chinese or Malay style and served buffet or pre-apportioned. At the budget resorts, lunch and dinner are balanced affairs with a seafood dish (usually fish or squid), meat dish (usually chicken), vegetables, soup and fruit. At the higher-end resorts, the buffet spread has a lot more variety with a mix of local and Western fare.

Pork is not on the menu for packaged meals as resorts have to cater to Muslim guests. So any bacon served is likely to be beef or turkey bacon while 'char siew' (Chinese roast pork) is likely to be made from chicken meat. Most resorts should be able to accommodate the dietary needs of vegetarians as long as they have advance notice. For other special dietary requirements, check with the resort first.

There's enough to eat though when there are a lot of guests, the best stuff disappears quickly which means it's better to be among the early birds at mealtimes. Usually a BBQ dinner is served every other evening. Some budget resorts offer 24-hour self-serve refreshments (water, tea, coffee, Milo), cookies, crackers, bread & spreads if you want to snack outside meal times. You can also buy snacks and drinks from the little sundry shops available at most resorts.
Ala-carte restaurants & food courts
food stalls

Ala-carte food stalls at (from top): Redang Bay eatery, Summerpoint and Kopitiam at Redang Beach, Hazeme village restaurant near Berjaya at Teluk Dalam.

If you are not on a full-board package, or you prefer to avoid battling the hungry hordes at the buffet table, there are ala-carte restaurants and food courts at resorts in Pasir Panjang and Berjaya but not at Kalong beach. These eating places are open to everyone, not just guests. There are upmarket ala-carte restaurants in Berjaya, Coral, Laguna (Sang Suria) and Beach (Summer Palace) serving both local and western fare, including steamboat.

Visitors staying at Pasir Panjang have easy access to food courts or local-style cooked food shops such as Laguna's Food Court, Redang Beach's Summerpoint and Kopitiam and the eateries at Redang Bay. Other than the Redang Bay food court, the rest open from evening till late at night. Between them, one can find delicious local fare like Ramly burgers (Kopitiam), roti canai (Laguna food court), seafood, rice and noodles (almost everywhere), fried cempedak, keropok lekor, teh-tarik and ice-kachang - great for those used to eating late-night suppers. Prices are reasonable too. At Bay, fish and chips, lamb chops and steaks go from RM10 to RM18 while fried rice and noodles are around RM5-6. Over at Summerpoint, fried rice and noodles go from RM7-8 while fish-head curry can be had for RM25. For dessert lovers, there's ice-kachang and ice-cream available from Laguna's poolside cafe and Redang Beach's La Patissiera bakery/desert shop.

Guests at Berjaya in Teluk Dalam do not have easy access to the eateries at Pasir Panjang but they can visit the nearby kampung (village) restaurants such as Aima Grill and Restoran Hazeme about 5-10 minutes walk along the village road outside the resort entrance. These offer a range of local Malay or Thai style cuisine at affordable prices.
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Recreation
Snorkelling & boat charters
boat services

Stall at Tanjung Tengah in Pasir Panjang advertising boat and snorkelling services. For your convenience, I have listed 2 possible contacts below - I've not used them before and don't know anything about them. Be prepared to bargain.

Rosde Ambak
Barakah Boat Services
Tel: +6013 958-8241 / +609 630-8630

Hazeme
Redang Abadi boat services
Tel: +6017 936-9834 / +609 697-6537

All resorts have snorkelling equipment (mask, snorkel, life-jackets) for rental on a per-stay basis. Underwater cameras for use during snorkelling or diving are available for rental at Pelangi - cost is RM30 per day from 9am to 5pm. In order to protect the corals, fins are no longer available for rental to snorkellers in Redang from April 2006 (only divers can rent fins).

Guests on snorkelling packages are usually brought to the Marine Park Centre or one of the other snorkelling sites around Redang. If you are not on such a package, you can still join the snorkelling trips but you will have to pay for each trip. Some villagers also offer snorkelling packages which bring you to 3 or more places and lasts half a day - prices are negotiable and also depend on the number of people in your group. Those staying at Berjaya can easily walk to the village and enquire. Otherwise ask your resort staff or boatman for contacts.

Many resorts and village boat services also have boats for charter (useful if you are planning trips to nearby islands like Bidong, Lang Tengah, Yu or Perhentian) though their availability may be limited during peak season as resorts may use additional village boats to meet guest demand. There are also sunset cruises offered by some resorts like Laguna but require a minimum number of passengers before they set off. Check with resort staff.
Diving

Dive centres are found at almost every resort. You are free to dive with any operator. If you are an avid diver, enquire about dive package holidays which are similar to the normal package except you go diving instead of snorkelling. You can also just sign up on the spot whenever you feel like diving - costs from RM80 for a single boat dive a day with equipment and from RM130 for 2 dives a day with equipment.

If you are not a qualified diver, you can experience scuba diving by signing up for 'discovery dives' where qualified instructors will give you a crash course and personally bring you on a shallow 1-hour dive for about RM150. If you decide to get certified, you can join a 4- or 5-day basic open water program under qualified PADI or NAUI instructors at any of these dive centres - prices start at around RM850 for the course alone excluding board & lodging.
Games & sports
activities

Beach soccer at Pasir Panjang, archery at Laguna and beach disco at Redang Beach.

Other than snorkelling and diving, most resorts offer basic recreational activities like beach volleyball/soccer, table/board games and cards. Guided treks are also available. The bigger resorts offer more recreational facilities like pool tables, darts, table football and TV/video entertainment. Kayaks are available for rental at a few resorts along Pasir Panjang and Berjaya while freshwater swimming pools are available at Berjaya, Laguna, Coral and Redang Bay resorts. Massage and reflexology are available at Laguna's recreation centre and Beach's Bamboo Inn.

Both Laguna and Berjaya also has a gym and water rides like banana boat or tubes. More uniquely, Laguna offers archery while Berjaya offers windsurfing and bicycle rentals - the only road on Redang leads from Berjaya at Teluk Dalam through the village to the Kampung jetty near Berjaya Spa. There are no roads in Pasir Panjang or Kalong although the movie 'Summer Holiday' gives the impression that there is - actually, the actors ride a motorbike from Mo Mo Cha in Pasir Panjang and magically appear in Malacca town (thanks to film editing)!

Night life

If you're still full of energy after a whole day of diving, swimming and snorkelling, Pasir Panjang is the right place to be for a more exciting nightlife. Visit the beach discos at Redang Beach and Pelangi or the indoor air-con disco at Laguna. Many resorts offer outdoor karaoke so you can serenade the fishes or if you're shy, try the indoor karaoke rooms at Laguna's disco. You can also wind down and relax at bars and cafes found at various resorts - beer, wine and alcoholic beverages are available only to non-Muslim guests.
Internet

For those of you who must stay connected even though you're supposed to relax and take a break from the outside world, there are internet cafe's in Laguna, Redang Beach and Berjaya resorts which cost around RM10 to RM20 per hour, available for anyone to use. Currently there are no wi-fi or LAN points anywhere on Redang for those wishing to connect using your own notebooks or PDAs - your best option would be through 3G data services from local mobile carriers.