August 26 - 30, 2016 

Langkawi is my ideal beach getaway. It’s comfortably hot, you’re always close to a picturesque tropical beach, everything’s affordable, and food is great. 

Through AirAsia, I paid $108.07 for a 6-½ hour flight from Busan to Kuala Lumpur, and then $20.18 for a 55-minute flight to Langkawi. Such a great deal!

We stayed on the main beach Pantai Cenang at Mali-Mali Beach Resort (note: “resort” term used loosely). A taxi from or to the airport is a standard RM20. Four nights at Mali-Mali was $150. We had an absolute blast. Here are a few tips:

1. Buy duty free booze! There a few shops on the main strip of Pantai Cenang. RM40 for Smirnoff vodka or RM17 for awful vodka. I don’t require alcohol to have fun, but it made this trip even better. 

2. You can watch the sunrise and sunset every day on the island if you’d like.

3. I ate Indian curry every day and for almost every meal. There’s a night market every night from 7-10pm, but it moves around. The locations are: Monday at Ulu Melaka, Tuesday at Kedawang, Wednesday at Kuah Town, Thursday in Pantai Cenang, Friday at Air Hangat, Saturday again at Kuah Town, and Sunday at Padang Matsirat.

4. Go island hopping and make sure you see Dayang Bunting Lake / Tasik Dayang Bunting / Pregnant Maiden Island. You’ll likely see eagles feeding on your tour which is pretty surreal. A Jet Ski tour will probably run you around RM600, but we enjoyed a half-day boat tour for RM40. Booking in person will be cheaper than online.

5. We rented an automatic car (VIVA) from T Shoppe for RM80 for 12 hours (9am-9pm) to drive to the Langkawi SkyCab to ride the cable car to the SkyBridge (RM45). 

6. Get a massage. A bare bones place like Baron Spa and Wellness charges RM90 for an hour of full body aromatherapy whereas a nicer place like Alun-Alun Spa charges RM140.