Pangkor Island is a resort island situated off the coast of Lumut, a small town and the main gateway to the island in Perak state of Malaysia. Being some 200km away from either Penang in the north and Kuala Lumpur in the south, Pangkor Island is also 100km away from the nearest city of Ipoh. It still needs at least 1 hour of driving to reach Lumut via Batu Gajah after exiting the nearest paid highway intersection in Simpang Pulai. A small resort island of only 8km² in land area, Pangkor Island is on the quiet part of the Strait of Malacca in the west coast of peninsular Malaysia, south of the more popular touristic Andaman Sea (also the victim of 2004 Tsunami tragedy). Thanks, but no thanks, all these factors have made Pangkor Ialand a less frequented travel destination in Malaysia. Local and international travelers will either opt for the more popular Andaman Sea facing Batu Ferringhi beach in Penang, or the much more accessible Port Dickson in the south. Coincidentally, it is also out of my Top 10 list of places to visit in Malaysia.

Having said that, after my short break to the island recently, I have had my perception changed towards Pangkor Island. I’m starting to regard it as a pearl deep in the ocean, waiting for harvesting and polishing. It is definitely in my top 20 places to visit in Malaysia! Why? Please read on…

If you wish to drive there, you need to get off the North-South Highway at either Gopeng (if you are from the South) or Simpang Pulai (if you are from the north) interchange. Then you should follow the road sign to Batu Gajah then to Lumut. It would take around an hour to reach Lumut town. After reaching Lumut, you have to park your vehicle at Lumut dedicated public parking building at RM10 per 24 hours, since visitors cannot drive their own cars on Pangkor Island. Public buses would take you to the bus station in Lumut town as well.

From the public car parking or bus station, you can then walk to the jetty or the Water Front to take a public ferry to Pangkor Island. Return ticket must be purchased before hand for RM10. There are ferries leaving jetty every 30-45 minutes and will take 30 minutes to reach Pangkor Island’s 2nd jetty, where the town is (don’t get off at the 1st jetty stop which is for local villages). If you are staying in Pangkor Island Beach Resort as where I stayed, you can call one of the many local taxi’s (a small pink coloured van) parked at the jetty and it should cost you RM20 to reach the resort in 20 minutes. I like the taxis in Pangkor Island which though without a meter, will not over charge you as a visitor. You don’t have to worry about taxi scams here in Pangkor Island. A good news for foreign travelers.

However, if you have booked your accommodation in Pangkor Island Beach Resort, there are an alternative and dedicated ferry service in Lumut Water Front, which will take you directly to the small jetty nearby the resort and a regular shuttle bus service will pick you up to the Pangkor Island Beach Resort, and at a higher ferry cost (which costs the same as you would pay for the public ferry plus taxi fares to the resort).

We finally reached Pangkor Island Beach Resort which is located at the north side of the island. Pangkor Island Beach Resort is the best hotel resort you can get on the island (Pangkor Laut Beach Resort is better and higher rated but located on another small island next to Pangkor Island). I got a steal when I found and booked this resort via my regular booking website.

Being a fresh pair of eyes, I found this 4-star rated resort is good in terms of facilities and amenities on offer, including international standard restaurants, 2 swimming pools, bar, games room, convenient store and free Wifi. The best part to me is its serenity and exclusivity with private and gorgeous sandy beach just a throw stone away.

An overview of how close is the resort from its beach, looking down from 1st floor of the lobby hall.

A photo taken from the beach on the Sea wing accommodation block which was where we stayed on our short break in the island.

After we checked into our room we hit the road back to the beach lying in front of our room. An interesting fog scene noticed on 1 side of the beach.

Since Pangkor Island Beach Resort is facing West, travel photographers have the opportunities to capture beautiful sunset at dusk, if you are lucky to have clear sky. I was’t that lucky on my visit though. This photo was the best I could get…

Out of my surprise, the dusk scene at Pangkor Island Beach Resort is as attractive to me as the lighting creates a moody blue colour cast to the surrounding scenes.

I should have brought down my tripod to shoot some smooth water flow scene at dusk here with a much slower shutter speed. Having said that, I still love what I got in the above photo.

Above photo shows the main lobby building of the resort at dusk. In-house restaurants are busy at this time as many hotel guests prefer to have their dinner at the resort, instead of hiring a round taxi trip to have dinner at town centre for RM60.

But I still prefer to have dinner outside. I had a good chat with the taxi driver and he actually recommended a few highly frequented seafood restaurants to us. We went to the one in Pasir Bogak beach called Restaurant Pasir Bogak, or better known as “Go Lo” Seafood Restaurant in Cantonese.

My verdict of this restaurant: Seafood is fresh, cooking style is typical Chinese and the taste is above par, but not excellent. Price is reasonable but not cheap. It is worth trying. A little bird told me that there is another locally famous seafood restaurant called “Yia Lin” located on the next street, which we were told to be better. We didn’t try though.

After the dinner, we strolled down the street and shopped for local snacks found in one of the food souvenir shop. Pangkor Island town at night has really not much on offer. We returned to Pangkor Island Beach Resort, relaxed at the lounge watching live performances and had a few mugs of beer to call it our night in Pangkor Island.

I woke up early in the next morning and went out for a early stroll on beach. There were still not many patrons around except many birds were flying around. I saw many Hornbills!

There is a special scene in the resort every morning at 7:30AM. A dedicated Hornbill feeding station is set up in front of the beach next to  the swimming pool. Hornbills are flying in from forests elsewhere and treat themselves with breads! Another great object scene for photography hobbyists!

Just bear in mind that strong reflection from the sea and sky could confuse your DSLR’s metering to produce under exposed pictures. If you are shooting towards the sea with Hornbill as your foreground, make sure to dial up your camera’s exposure compensation to at least 1-stop.

If you missed the Hornbills, peacocks are another wildlife you can find around the resort compound. I spot this peacock walking beside me while I was having the complimentary breakfast at the resort cafe.

Hotel guests were out for the beautiful beach once again after having their breakfast. We had another round of sun bathing on the beach before packing our luggage and checked out the resort later at noon. Shutter buses were waiting to transfer us to the ferry jetty nearby. Another 30 minutes and we were back to the mainland Lumut town.

A picture is worth a thousand words. This was my short but enjoyable break in Pangkor Island particularly the Pangkor Island Beach Resort. Since Pangkor Island Beach Resort has everything you would need for a family or honeymoon holiday, one can always enjoy their holiday by just staying in the resort alone for a day or two. Of course, if you are keen to explore more on the island, Coral Bay and Pasir Bogak are also famous for its excellent beach. Jungle trekkinga and mountain hiking trip are also popular among travelers. If you have a few hours to spare, you can always hire a taxi from your resort for RM70 to bring you round the island for 2 hours.

After leaving Lumut, if you are driving, drive straight to Batu Gajah and look for the sign to Pusing town nearby. Pusing town is just a very small town but having one of the best fresh prawn noodle soup that you must try in a small restaurant called “Ming Feong Restaurant”. After having your lunch at Ming Feong, walk across the road and buy home some of those steamed cakes and local pastries from the locally famous roadside stalls.

If you are fancy on those fresh and big prawns, drive towards Gopeng from Batu Gajah instead and follow the road sign to Tanjung Tualang. There are too many restaurants serving the famous Tanjung Tualang prawns. Most importantly, the price is still relatively cheap if compared with larger cities such as Kuala Lumpur or Ipoh. On your way home from Batu Gajah to Gopeng, you can also stop by another local travel site of Kellie’s Castle.

All in all, my recent short break to Pangkor Island Beach Resort had left me a really good and unforgettable experience, with really friendly environment and people around the town and island. Pangkor Island is definitely worth a getaway visit for any traveler locally or international. – Travel Feeder, your ultimate photo travel guide to Malaysia