Hi, that's what we are doing in 6 weeks time! I looked into the prices both ways and found it slightly cheaper DIY because I got the flights in Malaysian airlines sale. Thomson worldwide do offer some good price packages though and will offer stopovers in KL. Also worth checking out singapore airlines prices as they are a brilliant airline to fly with.

Really looking forward to our holiday and if can be any help when we return please ask!

Ooh, lucky you! Would love to hear more on your return. What hotels did you choose in KL & Langkawi?

Our trip to KL was a few years back now but you might find some useful tips still
trip report I'm afraid it wasn't my favourite Far East City.

Hi, we are staying at the Istana in KL, stayed there last year in the club rooms and it was very good and central to everything. Booked it through booking.com, we enjoyed KL the shopping is good and lots of places to eat very reasonable! If you go book a window seat at the sky bar traders hotel for the sunset and enjoy a cocktail really lovely. Email them a few weeks before you go as gets booked up the view of petronas towers lighting up is great. Batu caves is a good place to visit easy on the train and interesting.

In langkawi we are staying at the berjaya langkawi resort booked through thomson worldwide, had good offer when we booked with breakfast and upgrade.

Hopefully DIY will all work, really getting excited. We love nature and birds, animals so langkawi looks good, never been there before last year we went to Bali.

Not sure if you know, but the East Coast of Malaysia is more renoun for its idyllic beaches and tropical paradise islands than Langkawi. We've been to both ends and I have to say that the East Coast trumps the West Coast, not only in sheer blissfullness, but also in terms of flora, fauna, natural beauty.

Take a gander at Redang, Perinthians, Tioman, Dayang, all stunning little isles set in a breathtakingly beautiful bounty island locale.

Of course this only applies from about March onwards, as the East Coast is still somewhat in the grips of the NE monsoon currently. if you're thinking of going before March, then Langkawi is your best bet.

Hi Helen did you book your holiday to Malaysia?? Just booked ours after many years in Goa, hearing great things about Langkawi. What we did, Booked with Etihad to Kuala Lumpar, 3 days here in a Guest House then onto Langkawi with Air Asia for 16 nights also in a Guest house going last week in November for just short of 3 weeks. Regards Steve

Haven't booked anything yet - still researching! will check out etihad etc as per your info Steve - thanks. keeping tabs on this forum for any snippets of info too.

Well we have just returned from our KL/langkawi holiday and it was amazing! I would definitely recommend it to anyone.
We stayed at the Berjaya langkawi resort and it is a lovely hotel. There are different sorts of rooms/chalets situated in the forest with amazing wildlife/birds all around. We were upgraded on arrival to a lovely room on the edge of the forest overlooking the sea. From our balcony we could watch monkeys, sea eagles, flying lemurs, many beautiful birds, amazing colourful sun rise, it was perfect.
Walking around the grounds there was so much to see, giant squirrels, flying squirrel, macaques, langurs, in the mangroves fiddler crabs, many types of kingfishers, mud skippers, monitor lizards just so much nature as well as flowers and plants.
There is a lovely white sandy beach at the hotel, and a big swimming pool.
The cable car and sky bridge was also a short walk from the hotel which is a must do.
It is very reasonable to get around in taxis, food in the hotel was lovely but more expensive than outside, which meant a taxi as hotel out from the resorts. So easy to get around the island though in a taxi.
We also enjoyed KL and did some shopping I now have several more pairs of shoes and bags!
I would return again but with so many places to see and do not sure when!
We flew with Malaysian airlines and all flights ran on time and food and comfort was good.

sounds like a great holiday Never been to Langkawi yet. I was a bit afraid it may be too quiet for me but perhaps we will give it a go sometime!

We visited Malayasia last year.
My trip report is here - http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=152638
I used Trailfinders to book our holiday - they were brilliant and put together all our fligths and hotels and tour guides. I would use them again in a heatbeat. They really listened to what we wanted to get our holiday.

I have visited Malaysia and can recommend that if you DIY you will get more flexibility and hotels of your choice. I normally book each component myself with Travelstreet.co.uk for flights and agoda.com for hotel booking and most of the times, it turns out be cheaper and more enjoyable.

have a nice trip

Hi everyone,

i've just registered and i'm very interested in some of the comments and answers. I'm in a similar situation to Helen V. Me and the wife are looking to book for KL for a couple of nights in Nov 13 then flying down to either Penang or Langkawi. We do like it with a bit of life but not too much. We like to get out to the local bars and restaurants (like in Thailand) so any advice on which is the best resort would be much appreciated
A few questions:
1. Is it expensive out there for eating and drinking
2. Best resort to stay at
3. Best company to travel or book with
4. Good hotels in resort and KL

A lot of questions there but i'm sure someone will have most of the answers Haha

Hi, you can read my report from two years ago above!

We visited Pantai Cenang, a beach resort while we were in Langkawi and that I would say would be a good resort for you to look at if you like eating out. We stayed at the Berjaya resort which was fantastic but a bit out of the way, you needed taxis to eat out. The price of food and drink two years ago was reasonable! Depending on what sort of places you like, some very basic but good food were really cheap in Pantai Cenang that was where lots of backpackers eat.

Taxis around the island were good value.

I loved Langkawi as we like to see animals and birds and saw lots!

Kuala Lumpur I really enjoyed as well, we stayed at the Istana which was central to most sights and shopping!

I have only been to Langkawi once and Kuala Lumpur twice so no expert!

Thanks for the reply so soon and i've now read your last report, all very helpful.

Still undecided what to do. Don't know what to do after KL, gonna stay in the hotel mentioned in KL.

Don't know whether to do Penang or Langkawi, either one looks good.

Need a good hotel, on the beach, close to amenities (local bars and restaurants) like to mingle and get out of hotel and socialise. Don't want it too busy, but busy enough outside of hotel.

Any ideas which resort and hotel would be best? would be a great help.

Done Goa and Thailand so don't mind quite busy bustling places but also so the hotel is walking distance away from it as well.

Might be asking a lot but I'm sure someone will have ideas

Hi, I have not been to Penang but the friends we went to Langkawi with have, they said that Penang was much cheaper to eat out and taxis etc, but not as pretty and not the beaches that Langkawi have.

Why not do both islands, it is easy and quite cheap to fly between the two islands, a man in our hotel was at a works meeting on Penang and had flown to Langkawi for the weekend!

I can't recommend any hotels in the resort but think that Pantai Cenang would be the resort for you on Langkawi. Lovely long sandy beach, with plenty of restaurants, beautiful sun sets.

Since it's just two spots, a package deal would prob be better for u. KL is not the best highlight of malaysia so I wouldn't save too many days for it, but I understand it's something on the checklist. A package for Langkawi would prob get u a really good deal and sort out your transport and accommodation. I def think you will enjoy your time there and relax into a slow pace. KL is more expensive also.

I agree with views on KL. We had 2 days on the way out to Bali and one on the way back. I actually wondered what we would do on our one day back. 2 days was enough for us. I was just underwhelmed. I would actually do a day stopover but only if it ties in with flights. Jalan Alor is worth spending an evening in. I absolutely loved our hotel there though.

The Parkroyal in Penang is a lovely hotel, at least is was about five years ago the last time I was there. It's situated well within the resort area surounded by lots of decent reasonably priced restaurants and the Night Market. I haven't been to Langkawi but understand it to be much more attractive than Penang, though I do like Penang and would return.
KL is a reasonable place for a couple of nights though I wouldn't want to stay longer. The first time I was there I stayed in the Shangri-la which was one of the best hotels I had stayed in unfortunately I didn't want to pay their prices the second time so I stayed in The Federal Hotel which I wouldn't recommend.

Snap Judith
Been to Park Royal and Shangri La as well