MALAYSIA | REBAK ISLAND RESORT & MARINA LANGKAWI BLOG REVIEW: What To Expect For A Three-Day Stay ~ A Weekend Travel Guide
[BEYONDPH] Wednesday, February 28, 2024
An island vacation on an island vacation? That’s just how our stay went after our three-day stay at Pantai Cenang. I mean, yes, we’re already on a vacation—a 35-day tour around Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, to be exact—but on the Langkawi Island leg of our trip, we moved from one of the most popular vacation spots in Malaysia to a more remote one. Well, not really that remote—it’s just a zoom of a speedboat away from Chenang Beach across the Senari Strait—the exclusive Rebak Island Resort; a private island resort in Langkawi Island.
Pantai Cenang is said to be the most visited beach in Malaysia—it is, shall we say, Malaysia’s version of our Boracay. We’ve visited Langkawi a couple of times before, but it is actually the first time we’re staying in the exact vicinity, courtesy of Mercure Langkawi Pantai Cenang. We’re definitely excited since we haven’t fully tried the Pantai Cenang experience before since we’re usually lodged on the more remote parts of the island during the past visits.
But what exactly can you do in Pantai Cenang, or Chenang Beach, for it to deserve a base camp for your Langkawi adventures? Well, for such a small area, quite a lot.
MALAYSIA | UNDERWATER WORLD LANGKAWI BLOG REVIEW ~ WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN VISITING
[BEYONDPH] Saturday, January 20, 2024
With free time to spare—we arrived very early in Langkawi from Penang and our room at Mercure Langkawi Pantai Cenang was still unavailable—we decided to visit one of Langkawi’s most popular tourist spots, the Underwater World Langkawi.
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| KID A AND BG AT PANTAI CENANG BEACH |
Located at the southern end of Pantai Cenang or Cenang Beach, it can easily be accessed by booking Grab cars, passing taxis, or simply by walking—that is if you’re staying along the Pantai Cenang area of Langkawi like us. So, walk we did.
MALAYSIA | MERCURE LANGKAWI PANTAI CENANG HOTEL REVIEW ~ WHAT TO EXPECT ON YOUR STAY
[BEYONDPH] Friday, December 22, 2023
It was our third time in Langkawi, and this time we’re bringing our four-year old toddler along with us. Langkawi was the second leg of our month-long Backpacking With A Kid 2023 trip. And our first stop here, Mercure Langkawi—a four-star hotel along the island’s famous Pantai Cenang or Cenang Beach.
| Mercure Langkawi Pantai Cenang Blog Review TABLE OF CONTENTS ~ WHAT’S INSIDE? |
CHECKING IN
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| MERCURE LANGKAWI’S LOBBY |
Straight from a very early morning flight from Penang, we sped directly to Mercure Langkawi from the Langkawi International Airport. It took less than twenty minutes before the Grab car we booked was slowing down at the resort’s driveway.
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| EARLY MORNING SWIM |
Since it was still quite early, like eight in the morning early, we expected that we probably would have to wait for our room to be available. Check in time was at still at three in the afternoon. Not wanting to waste time, we asked if we can use the pool while waiting, to which they quickly agreed.
SWIMMING POOL & PLAY ROOM
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| MERCURE LANGKAWI’S POOL FROM THE RESTAURANT BALCONY |
Mercure Langkawi Pantai Cenang has a huge outdoor swimming pool centrally located on their atrium.
We love how it has a sizable section for kids as our son loves swimming. The kiddie pool has a depth of about two feet, perfectly safe for toddlers. We also love the open gazebo besides it—it’s actually where we temporarily parked our luggage and bags as we swam the morning away. Our son specially liked the Jamaican cherry or aratilis tree beside the pool, particularly its small sweet fruits.
The adult pool, on the other side, is about five-foot deep and has a decent length, perfect for my daily swimming laps.
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| EXPLORING LANGKAWI’S UNDERWATER WORLD BEFORE GOING BACK TO CHECK IN |
After having had our fill of morning swim, we dried off, deposited our bags with the concierge, walked towards breakfast along the nearby restaurants, before heading off to the Underwater World Langkawi—which is just within the resort’s area.
| KID A, AT THE PLAYROOM |
We returned to Mercure Langkawi after our underwater exploration and an interesting nasi lemak lunch at McDonald’s. Unfortunately, our room was still being prepared, so we headed off to the resort’s Play Room. As Kid A happily played with the toys, I immediately went for the soft chair and promptly fell to sleep.
Some minutes before 3PM, I was awoken by my wife, our room was finally ready.
OUR ROOM
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| THE PRIVELEGE ROOM, OURS FOR THREE DAYS IN LANGKAWI |
We were billeted on Mercure Langkawi’s Privelege Room for three days. It’s actually one of the accommodations at the ground floor that has direct access to the swimming pool from the room balcony. Sweet.
The room is tastefully decorated in dark earthy colors splashed with a shocking orange headboard for accent. I love the compass print on the walls too.
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| LOVELY READING SPOT & COFFEE NOOK |
On one corner of the room was an inviting couch with a faux rattan weaving paired with an ottoman. A cozy corner for reading, or in our case, socmed-ing, lol.
The coffee corner was also a delight for caffeine lovers with its Lavazza BLUE coffee machine and pods. A mini-fridge, perfect for our alcohol stash, was available just below it.
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| THE BALCONY HAS DIRECT ACCESS TO THE POOL ~ PHOTO BY BLISSFULGURO |
The balcony was where we spent most of our time in Mercure Langkawi, when we’re not swimming that is. Well, the two is somewhat connected, literally, since it opens straight to the pool.
TOILET & BATH
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| SNAZZY TOILET & BATH |
Accessed by a wooden sliding door, the room’s toilet and bath is really spacious. Besides its striking interiors—the hanging massive circular mirror against a blue hexagonal-tiled wall was quite lovely—I also appreciated the separate enclosures for the water closet and shower.
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| AN EARTH-SAVER, FILTERED WATER FAUCET |
But the best part of their toilet and bath was their 3M-filtered water faucet. Being an environment advocate, I highly appreciate how they’re reducing the amount of plastic water bottles hotels consume daily. I hope this becomes a standard for all hotels. And, of course, their bath soap and shampoo were also refillables from Elemental Herbology.
IN-HOUSE DINING
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| CAT AT THE LOBBY & OUR EVENING DRINKS |
Mercure Langkawi has a full-fledged restaurant at the upper level of the resort and a bar at the lobby.
While we really didn’t get to try their 99 Islands Lounge and Bar—each guests are given a complimentary drink upon check in, by the way. We mostly had our evening drinks on our balcony, courtesy of the extremely affordable spirits available in Langkawi—the whole island is duty free. Hello, limited edition Absolut Vodka.
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| RICE GARDEN’S SOPHISTICATED INTERIORS |
Rice Garden, their in-house restaurant, was where we have our daily complimentary breakfast buffet. They serve a good mix of Western and Malaysian dishes on a really nice art deco-ish interiors.
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| THE BEST MASHED POTATO & RICE GARDEN CAKES |
While most of their dishes were good, the most notable one we had was, surprisingly—not our favorite mee goreng noodles—but rather, of all things, their mashed potato. Yes. Mashed potato. Rice Garden’s baked mashed potato quiche was simply the best mashed potato we’ve ever had. Bar none.
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| RICE GARDEN’S NASI KANDAR DAUN PISANG AT MERCURE LANGKAWI |
Aside from their breakfast buffet, we were also invited to try their Nasi Kandar Daun Pisang—a traditional Malaysian mixed rice meal set on a banana leaf. It consists of what seems like basmati rice, prawns, fish, beef, veggies, boiled egg, crispy kropuk, and a slew of side dishes.
BEST LOCATION
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| HAWKER FOOD NEAR THE RESORT |
The best part of staying at Mercure Langkawi is its proximity to everything Pantai Cenang. It’s near restaurants and hawker stalls, grocery stores, and numerous duty free shops. it’s also within striking distance to utilities like self-serve laundry, and tourist spots like Underwater Langkawi.
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| SPENDING TIME WITH KID A AND BG AT CENANG BEACH |
But most importantly, even if it’s not a beachfront resort, it’s literally just across Cenang Beach. This is where we spent most of our time in Pantai Cenang—from morning exercise walks, afternoon beach time, and relaxed evening strolls.
Mercure Langkawi Pantai Cenang Pet Policy: Unfortunately for pet lovers, Mercure Langkawi Pantai Cenang is not pet-friendly. It does not allow pets on its property.
~ OUR GRATITUDE TO MERCURE LANGKAWI FOR HOSTING OUR STAY, VIEWS & OPINIONS ALL MINE
Mercure Langkawi Pantai Cenang ► ROOM RATES
Address: 2500 Jalan Pantai Cenang, Kedawang, Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia
Contact Number: (604) 952-5888
Facebook | Instagram | Website
GPS Coordinates Map: 6.359888, 99.704619
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MALAYSIA | Star Cruises SuperStar Gemini Cruise Shore Excursion ~ Langkawi
[BEYONDPH] Sunday, November 20, 2016
It was strange, a chilly morning in Malaysia. The only temperature I know when in the country is hot, and hotter. The clouds were low, thinly blanketing the ridges of the karsts surrounding us, overgrown with hardy vegetation. Below, the water was almost green, its color muffled by the gray clouds overhead. Boats zigged and zagged along its placid surface, ferrying early tourists along the mangroves, their faces marveling at the scenery along the geopark.
It was our last few hours in Langkawi and before boarding the plane to Penang, we dropped by the Century Helang Hotel—one of the sister hotels of Century Beach Langkawi Resort—for our final Langkawian lunch. It’s been seven days since we set foot on the island and this can’t be a more fitting send-off before we launch to the next leg of the Beach Hop Asia 2016 tour.
Century Helang is located near the airport, like three minutes by foot away from it. Their in-house restaurant was the perfect place to have lunch and lounge around before leaving Langkawi.
Exquisite rock formations soared into the blue sky as we flew across the waters along the northeastern tip of Langkawi. Aboard a red jetboat, we watched in awe as one gigantic karst sped past our view after another; I’ve never seen so many of these towering sentinels packed in a single area! Well, okay, this place is very similar to El Nido and Halong Bay, only more compact.
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| ONE OF LANGKAWI GEOPARK’S TOWERING ROCK FORMATIONS |
Welcome to the Kilim Karst Geoforest Park, our host exclaimed above the racket our craft was making. The park, spread over a hundred square-kilometer area, is part of the three UNESCO World Heritage Sites on the island, the other two being Mount Machincang Geoforest Park and the Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest Park, which, unfortunately we were unable to visit.
It wasn’t the most luxurious of ships. Well, to be honest, it was a bit piratey. But that exact quality gave it the character needed for this particular cruise. From its wooden deck, to the roughly-tied sail, the plank board extending towards the sea, and the old tarp covering parts of the ship—it all became our party place as we went round and round the emerald waters of the Andaman Sea, waiting for Langkawi’s sky to darken and the stars to come out. And all this, with 80s party music on.
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| THE WATERS AROUND BARU BAY IN LANGKAWI |
Tropical Charter’s Sunset Cruise was actually our second cruise in Langkawi. While our first Langkawi sunset cruise went around Kuah Bay, this one would be sail along Baru Bay—an area surrounded by Pulau Singa Besar and Pulau Bunting. Its waters, besides being a deep emerald green, is very calm due to the presence of the numerous islands around it.
We rose before the sun. From our airy veranda, we sipped on our morning coffee as we watched the morning get lit from the east. The leaves were painted with gold and the sea excitedly sparkled with the incoming day. We took a walk, passing off the breakfast buffet waiting for us at the restaurant for the moment, and strolled out to the elevated wooden deck lining the shoreline of the resort, savoring the fresh Langkawian morning as we went along.
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| CENTURY LANGKAWI BEACH RESORT’S PLUSH LOBBY |
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| IT HAS A SWANKY BAR TOO! |
Century Langkawi Beach Resort (formerly Four Points by Sheraton) became our second home in Langkawi. After experiencing the not-so-busy city life in Kuah by staying at Hotel Bahagia, we wanted a more rustic setting for the second half of our stay on the island. This place was just what we were looking for.
MALAYSIA | Langkawi Half Day Tour ~ from the Eagle Square to Pantai Cenang
[BEYONDPH] Thursday, May 12, 2016
The problem with Langkawi Island is public mass transportation. It simply does not exist. Well, except for taxis, which is an expensive way of getting around, especially if you’re traveling solo. So, on our last day of stay at Hotel Bahagia, before transferring to Century Langkawi Beach Resort—which is located some sixteen kilometers farther west of the island—we decided to merge our half-day Langkawi sightseeing tour with Ekomegah Holidays with our hotel transfer.
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| LANGKAWI’S EAGLE SQUARE STRETCHES OUT INTO THE SEA |
The first location on our itinerary is predictably, the most famous spot in Langkawi, the Eagle Square [GPS COORDINATES MAP 6.308824, 99.851454] or Dataran Lang in Malay. It is located near the Langkawi Royal Yacht Club, where a big duty free shop is located too. We saw this iconic landmark during our Langkawi Sunset Cruise from the waters of Kuah Bay and now we get to see it up close.
MALAYSIA | Pulau Payar Marine Park, Swimming with the Blacktip Sharks
[BEYONDPH] Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Shark! One of the tourists we were walking with at the jetty shrieked and pointed at the water several feet below us. We all bent over the wooden railings, searching the clear waters of Pulau Payar for the said creature. And indeed, there it was, or were, there were more than one! But they weren’t the kind of sharks everyone fears for, it was a small one, a baby blacktip shark to be exact. And more than anything, it looked really cute!
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| FERRY RIDE TO PULAU PAYAR FROM LANGKAWI |
Our day started early. From Hotel Bahagia, we booked our island tour to Pulau Payar via their in-house tour agency, Ekomegah Holidays (the same guys that would take us to a Langkawi half day tour tomorrow). Included are the roundtrip van transfers from the hotel to the Langkawi Royal Yacht Club, the ferry ride to Pulau Payar, packed lunch, and snorkeling gear. That last one, we brought our own; the thought of biting on to a snorkel previously used by hundreds of other people really didn’t appeal to us that much, lol.
Coming from the Philippines where the end of each day is blessed with fiery skies, sunsets in Malaysia are a bit of a letdown. It was a different case, however, when we sailed across Kuah Bay, along the Andaman Sea, one lazy afternoon in Langkawi. The sun was quite feisty that day. We watched, enthralled, as that ball of fire went down, painting the sky and sea in orange hues while we sipped wine and guzzled Tiger beers while on board a fifty five-foot luxury yacht.
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| NAAM SUNSET CRUISE AT LANGKAWI |
The morning’s Tanjung Rhu parasailing activity left us on a literal high and after resting a bit at Hotel Bahagia, we were again fetched by a van to cap the day with a sunset cruise. Arriving at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club, where the boat was docked, we waited at their comfy lounge as the rest of the guests trickled in.
No! No! No! My friend M shrieked in terror as not-too-slowly, we were elevated, hundreds of feet into nothing but air. Strapped tightly on a parasail with a don’t-worry-be-happy smiley splashed on its bright yellow surface, he was more concerned about the lack of solid ground, or in this case, watery surface, beneath him rather than the breathtaking landscapes opening up right before his very eyes.
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| LANGKAWI’S TANJUNG RHU BEACH |
It was our first full day in Langkawi, and after a quick breakfast at Hotel Bahagia, we were scooted away by van to Pantai Tanjung Rhu, a creamy beach located at the northern end of the peninsula. Would it be that we were here to swim, but no, what we came here for was parasailing; however, unwilling we were (or me), lol.
I can’t believe we have a massage chair! I exclaimed, as I dropped my heavy backpack and sat down on this weird sofa set on one side of our room. I twiddled with the controls a bit, and after a few seconds, reclined with a sigh. After several hours of traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi, this was simply the perfect way to start this leg of our trip.
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| HOTEL BAHAGIA’S SNAZZY LOBBY |
Langkawi is an archipelago of 104 island at the state of Keda. It is famous for its beaches and Hotel Bahagia was to be our home for the first half of our stay here. It’s located at the center of the town, where numerous restaurants line the road, and it’s near the pier area where the island hopping tours set off from.
