Narrow down my options (Asia!)

[Irie1980]

April destination (Asia) - help me decide!

Hi, planning to travel with the family this April for just over 2 weeks, I've 2 kids age 10 and 12 who are good travellers.

We've always loved Thailand but really would like to avoid huge crowds of instagrammers (if you get me!), and anywhere that's more seedy. We're looking for a bit of adventure, great food, and white sandy beaches with good snorkeling but somewhere with the option of nightmarkets and a bit of life in the evenings! I want to avoid areas where there might be box jellyfish (though I might be bordering on paranoia)

We will stay in mid range accommodation but would love the option to stay on a beach bungalow if possible.

I'm looking at either one of these combinations- any feedback?

1. Fly to Bangkok then Koh Samet and Koh Chang
2. Fly to Phuket, then Koh Lipe and possibly some smaller islands
3. Fly to Kuala Lumpur, then possibly Redang and/or Parhentian islands.
4. Fly to Kuala Lumpur, then Langkawi and Koh Lipe

I'm really flummoxed, would you recommend any of the above? Or is there an option 5 I'm not thinking of? Thanks!

@Irie1980 it sounds like you had a great trip. We’re thinking of going in June, we hope to spend 2 nights in KL then travel to Cherating for a week not sure where to go then for last 4 days. Any thoughts? My kids are 10,12 & 14. Any must do recommendations in KL and where do you think is the best part of the city to stay?

Watching!

A week could be a long time in Cherating, though not sure what is there to do! I'd look into going to Redang perhaps, then you could fly back to KL from Kota Bharu.

We stayed in Aloft in KL which was great, right beside the main train station and linked to Nu Sentral shopping centre! The highlight for us in KL was the Bird Park! It was fantastic fun. We also loved the Central Market and Batu caves were worth a trip despite the 300 steps in the heat!

Make sure you download Grab, it was an absolute game changer in terms of getting around in the heat. Trips only cost a couple of euro each time and we used it multiple of times a day.

Have a ball!

You can go on a mangrove boat tour in Cherating, highly recommend this as it's a fascinating habitat. There are several resorts of varying levels from basic surfer-type to luxury. Beach is vast, sea is quite nice albeit not crystal clear. Otherwise it's a pretty quiet laid-back village with a couple of cafes and small shops (I know from experience nearly impossible to get a Grab around there). If you are looking for really turquoise seas you might be better off going to the islands that the OP has suggested.

Other places to visit, as the OP says you might like Melaka, a small town with plenty of interesting history and culture. Others with lots of history and culture would be Ipoh or Georgetown (Penang) - both easily accessible by train from KL Sentral, if you go by train make sure you book in advance as tickets sell out. Penang is also known as the food capital of Malaysia.

You really don’t want a week in Cherating. Have a look at Sea Gypsy resort.

Thanks for the replies, we were going to do a week in club med in Cherating. Lots of activities for the kids

I guessed that was where you were thinking of! IIRC it's the only resort around there which has all the activities and food packaged in (like a European-style AI resort).

Hmm. 3 days in Club Med max.

@BishBashBoomer why do you think 3 days max? Have you been there

Yes. There are so many lovely places (islands off East Coast) and interesting towns that the relatively poor beach and enforced fun-type activities at Club Med were really disappointing for us. Fine for a day or two of feeling like you’re in a western resort with cocktails but not for a big chunk of your holiday. Redang, Perhentians, Tioman, Sibu - all paradise islands. Cherating - a nice resort on a bit of pretty grim coastline.

I concur with @BishBashBoomer. It’s not that Cherating is a bad beach, it is fine (like I said, it’s a vast beach, the sea there is ok but even on the same coastline there are much better beaches with lovelier waters). But unless you specifically want supervised activities, it’ll get dull pretty quickly. And you won’t get to really see Malaysian culture inside a resort. IMO.

But do try the mangrove and firefly cruises at Cherating, they are genuinely interesting. (No, I don’t work for them )

If turquoise sea and golden sands are what you want, the recommended islands are the place to go.

@Irie1980

Hey Irie,
Glad to hear you had a great trip! How did you find the Laguna Redang? We have booked 4 nights in August (we’re travelling all over Malaysia) but recently the reviews of it are really dreadful so we’re panicking a bit and its non refundable. The consensus is that the service is awful and its extremely busy with mainly Chinese tour groups and they cater only for them really?

Would really appreciate your thoughts on it If you have time!