Pulau Pangkor - Malaysia's West Coast Gem
Lying off the west coast of Malaysia is a small, tropical island getaway called Pangkor (Pulau Pangkor). Beautiful sandy beaches, charming fishing villages, temples and thick mountainous jungle fill the 18 square km that is Pangkor Island. Only 10% of the island is inhabited by its 25,000 residents while the rest of it belongs to forests and highlands, allowing you to feel like you're miles away from civilization. There are many gorgeous beaches on the island; the most popular are mainly on the western coastline while the fishing villages mainly reside on the eastern side. Pangkor is surrounded by a trio of islands, including the ultra-tiny Giam Island, Pulau Mentagor and Pulau Pangkor Laut. Pangkor Laut is a resort island that you can only visit if you are staying in one of their many resorts; it's the largest off-shore island of Pangkor and full of beaches, bars, and restaurants. Their rooms start at around $400 USD per night, getting more expensive as they become more luxurious. Pulau Mentagor is the second-largest offshore island, uninhabited save for the small marina, and can be visited by boat to hang out on the beaches or go snorkeling over coral reefs.
From hidden beach adventures to watching the sun set over the Malacca strait, Pangkor really has the beach-vacation vibes down while bringing that true island-living feel to life. You can get in touch with local island culture, eat fresh and delicious meals (Malay seafood & street food is the best) and relax away from large crowds. If your base is in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, Pangkor makes for the perfect weekend away!
Monsoon Seasons
The most popular Malaysian islands lie on the east coast, leaving the beautiful underrated islands including Pangkor on the west and thus creating a serene location away from crowds. Before choosing which island to visit be sure that area is not in monsoon season. Malaysian monsoon seasons are separated into two categories - the southwest monsoon which takes place from April to September and the northeast monsoon which is from late October to March. Because of this, most resorts and hotels will close during their respective monsoon seasons due to strong winds & waves and heavy rain. In the month or so after the islands are reopened, the water clarity and waves will not be good for swimming or snorkeling. There could also be possible damage to the island that they are rebuilding after the season is over, so keep this in mind when planning your travels. We were in Malaysia for the month of March; at first we wanted to go to one of the eastern islands but after learning this information we decided against it - we both love swimming and snorkeling and did not want to take that risk. We began looking into other options as we really wanted an island getaway and that is when we luckily found Pangkor Island - now we are already planning a trip back!
Getting There From Kuala Lumpur
To get to Pangkor Island from Kuala Lumpur, you can either take a bus or drive to Lumut and hop on a ferry to Pangkor from there. To get to the bus station, one of Malaysias most popular taxi apps is Grab which offers rides in both cars and on scooters. We booked our bus tickets on 12go.asia.com; it costs $12 USD per person for a round trip and takes between 4 and 5 hours each way. Please note that when adding bus tickets the total price will sometimes automatically display the inclusion of an $8 USD insurance package which you can unselect when filling out passenger information. There is usually a few different options for what station to depart from - we chose TBS Kuala Lumpur and the station was like an airport for ground transportation. It was huge but easy to navigate through and very clean. Be sure to get tickets to Lumut, Perak as there are other stations in Perak that will come up that are not near Pangkor.
When you arrive at the Lumut station you will have to walk a few short blocks to get to the Jeti. Tickets are available right at the Jeti and are to be paid for in cash only, so be sure to have some handy. We didn't know it would be cash but managed to find an ATM about 5 minutes away on foot. A roundtrip ticket cost us $10 RM (around $2 USD) per person. It takes around 30-40 minutes to reach the island and ferries leave from Lumut Jeti every 30-45 minutes depending on the season. Typically the ferries start running at 7am and finish around 8pm.
Getting Around on the Island
It's possible to rent a scooter at the Pangkor Ferry Jetty upon arrival on the island. The main mode of transportation for tourists and locals is scooters; the moment you step off the ferry, locals will be trying to rent you scooters or offering taxi rides. The scooters cost $30-40 RM ($6-8 USD) per day. If you don't know how to ride a scooter, don't worry! You will find bright pink vans that are the islands 'pink taxis'. They are very cheap to get rides, at around $10-30RM ($2-6 USD) depending on distance and amount of people - the farthest two locations on the island are only 25 minutes apart, so it's very tiny and you'll never need to travel too far. These taxis will be hanging around the jetty as well as some of the main beaches or popular towns. The driver will also take you on a full tour around the island, going to all of the popular beaches and towns upon request. Some of these taxis can also be rented to drive around the island on your own.
Accommodation
We stayed at AVI Pangkor Resort Hotel. It was around $55 USD per night, included breakfast and had a large pool with views of the forested mountains in the back. Our room was on the top floor with a balcony overlooking the sea and Pasir Bogak beach, which you have access to right across from the hotel. The breakfast buffets in the morning were delicious and abundant - there's plenty to choose from, including (but not limited to) omelettes that are cooked as they're ordered and a variety of fresh fruit. The restaurant where the breakfast buffet is stays open for lunch and dinner, and you can also order room service. The food was pretty good but I recommend venturing out of the hotel for meals other than breakfast.
Some other options we looked at are Anjungan Beach Resort and Pangkor Sandy Beach Resort - I researched them and they seemed to fit what we were looking for (they've gotten good reviews, are affordable, include breakfast, have a pool and balcony) but we ultimately went with AVI Pangkor. We rode our scooter rental past these hotels and the outside looked nice and it was in a convenient location with respect to popular beaches, shops and restaurants.
Top Beaches
Coral Beach is one of my favorite beaches on the island. There are a lot of restaurants here where you can sit on chairs in the sand and have incredibly fresh food and delicious drinks. You can watch the sunset while relaxing in a hammock, do water sports such as renting a kayak and paddling to Giam Island, or take a boat tour to ride around the outskirts of the islands.
Giam Island is located 500m off the coast of coral beach and is less than 30 meters wide. This tiny island has umbrellas and chairs to rent for the day, but other than that you're on your own! There are no shops or restaurants so be sure to bring your own food and drinks if you plan to stay there for a while. You can get there by boat (we took a boat to Giam from Teluk Nipah Beach) or by renting a kayak from Coral beach for around $4-5 USD per hour. Giam island has the best snorkeling with a huge abundance of tropical fish. The fish are so active I could have floated there for hours just watching them swim around; this was definitely a highlight of our trip!
Teluk Nipah Beach is directly next to coral beach; it is separated from coral beach by rocks and the sea so you have to walk on the road to get between the two. I definitely prefer coral beach for the beach part, but the road directly behind Teluk Nipah is lively full of restaurants and shops, delicious street food and significantly more water activities (boat tour hires, banana boats, kayaks, paddle boards etc.). You can request from your boat driver (after your tour) to get dropped off at Giam or Mentagor Islands with their provided snorkeling gear to swim, relax and picnic; you can text them when you're done on the island and they will come pick you up - we did this and I don't remember how much it was exactly, but definitely no more than $20 USD for two people and I do believe this is an overestimate.
On the far left side of Teluk Nipah, away from any of the shops or restaurants, there is an area of the beach that was very secluded, had the clearest waters and no one else was there, so we went for a swim and hung out a while. Go down to this part of the beach and you might just have that spot all to yourself! As usual, be careful with leaving your belongings unattended on the beach in case the monkeys try to steal it!
We found this area while on the road riding our scooter to Coral Beach when I spotted a swing on the beach, so we stopped take pictures and ended up finding this 'untouched' area. I highly recommend just driving around the island to explore and stopping wherever you see something fun or interesting.
Pantai Teluk Segadas is a beautiful hidden beach that requires a short trek through the jungle to get there. It feels so remote like you're miles away from civilization with the clearest blue waters and rope swings! It is utilized by campers and some tourists but is usually very empty and the chances are high that you will have it all to yourself.
If you are planning on staying at this beach for a while be sure to bring water and snacks since it is away from shops or restaurants.
Getting there can be a bit confusing so I took a lot of pictures of where to park and how to follow the trail. You have to walk behind a locals house and follow down a short trail to get to a second path that leads into the jungle. The locals that live there are very kind, if you see someone outside just be sure to wave to them and say hello. Tourists and locals alike are allowed to walk to the beach down this path - it can seem kind of strange walking past their houses, but rest assured - you're supposed to! To get there, put "Pantai Teluk Segadas" into your google maps app and park in front of the red sign in the dirt parking lot near the road.
The directions below are in order from left to right, top to bottom.
Once you get to the jungle it can be muddy, rocky, and a bit overrun with forest growth so try to avoid going in flip-flops. When you come across any forks in the path (there were two) follow the one with string on the side of the trail and keep walking straight until you come out at the beach! It only takes about 10 minutes to walk there. Keep an eye out for monkeys both in the jungle and on the beach. We saw a few while we were there but they didn't bother us. As a side note, if you want to see monkeys Pangkor is a great place to go - they are everywhere, usually on the sides of the roads around the island too.
Pasir Bogak is one of the most popular & well-known beaches on the island. Luckily for us it was located directly across the street from AVI Pangkor! It has swings on the beach, hammocks, lots of benches and places to sit, and water sports including jet ski rentals. If you walk the full length down the beach, the far right end has a really special spot where you can sit under trees that hang over the sand for natural shade which makes it an excellent spot for a picnic. Pasir Bogak also has the most beautiful sunset views to sit down and enjoy at the end of a long day.
Restaurants/food
Daddys Cafe is one of the most delicious and well-known restaurants on the island and is so beautiful at sunset. It's located on Coral Beach with seating on the sand. We tried a lot of food there and their noodles (every kind) are my favorite; they offer seafood and Malay dishes as well. They're open until 11p.m. so you can get drinks to go and sit on the beach listening to some light music. We saw that if you plan ahead for an event (anniversary, birthday, graduation, etc.) they will make very special setups for you on the beach - on one instance presumably for an anniversary we watched them prepare a romantic platform with a table and chairs, decorated beautifully with rose petals and fairy lights above.
Nipah Deli is located next to Daddys Cafe, which has similar food and drinks to Daddys cafe and I would consider it to be equally delicious. In between these two restaurants they have a feeding area for Oriental Pied Hornbills whose species is widespread on the island. It's really cool getting to be so close to them and watch them eat. Chef Makbul Kitchen is a halal restaurant located on the eastern side of Pangkor not far from the Pangkor Jeti and has incredible fresh food with large portions and the friendliest staff. Visit DanDan Cafe if you're looking for the perfect coffee shop with healthy meals and delicious lattes.
Not at any specific shop or restaurant, be sure to get some fresh coconuts or coconut smoothies. They sell these on the street near pretty much all of the beaches and they're so refreshing, especially throughout a long day of exploring, tanning, swimming and kayaking!!
To get back to Lumut just purchase ferry tickets at any time from one of the various ticket booths around the Pangkor Ferry Jeti (if you don't already have round trip tickets). They typically have the same schedule as the Lumut Jeti, starting journeys at 7am and ending them around 8pm, leaving every 30-45 minutes. If you have a bus to catch back in Lumut be sure to get there with lots of time to spare - the busses don't wait for anyone, and there are street food markets you can find near the Lumut station if you want a snack before the long ride back.
Enjoy your time on Pangkor Island :)