I remember when we first moved to Asia and asked for suggestions for an easy beautiful getaway and people casually said ‘Langkawi’. To be honest-I had to look it up on a map. If you you haven’t yet googled it, Langkawi is in Malaysia, a beautiful archipelago in the Andaman Sea, off the coast of northwestern Malaysia.

 

We booked ticketes for New Years break. For the cheap price of $100 a ticket, we thought it was a perfect weekend holiday.

 

A few weeks before our scheduled trip, we began to look for hotels. The Andaman Hotel was the most highly recomneded for families, and all our friends suggested we book it. What we didn’t realize was that the Andaman was a resort far more exclusive than we were used to and we were shocked by the nightly room price given the holiday weekend. Because we couldn’t find another better option at this point, we used a mix of SPG hotel points and cash to make it work. We also decided to book the exclusive resort for two nights and head to a much lower cost hotel in the city for our last night.

 

Landing at Langkawi airport is an easy experience. Once you land, simply go to the taxi counter, tell them the hotel you are going to, and viola-you’re on your way.

 

The Andmana was amazing. It was probably the first time we ‘resorted’ and learned to turn off, stay put, and be comfortable not getting dressed for two days. The hotel is located in a rainforest on a beach-what more can one ask for-except the local coral reef pool you can snorkel in. The hotels has the usual resort amenities, including kids club, pools, and restaurants, but the geographic location and topography is what makes it stand out.

 

The hotel offers nature walks, and we encourage you to go on them. You will spot incredible wildlife which your tour guide can tell you all about. Our kids were amazing at the kids of animals around us, and excited to learn all about the animal noises they had been hearing.

 

The beach was a picturesque place of white sand and clear water which our kids were happy to frolic in for two complete days. They barely even visited the kids club. We took out a kayak and saw the colorful Jellyfish out in the water. The beach waters are calm and the staff was very welcoming and kind with our kids. We all attended the fish feedings and our kids took turns snorkeling in the coral pool-an experience they still talk about.

 

After 2 and half days, we sadly said goodbye to our utopia and headed back for the city, thinking we would ‘get out’. In hindsight, we wish we had stayed another night at the resort as the city had little to offer. We got some food, hung out at the water and called it a night to get ready for our early flight out.

 

The city of langkawi:

 

We didn’t find much to do in the city. Half a day was enough. There was a sort of downtown area and water that we hung around. Because we were there new years, the lanterns were sent up into the sky which was a beautiful site. To offset the Andaman costs, we stayed at:

I wouldn’t recommend it unless, like us, you are simply there to sleep and leave. It is literally minutes to the airport.

 

While we had a few places to visit on our itineary, such as Telaga Tujuh waterfall and Durian Perangin Waterfall, we didn’t make it there and didn’t mind. Langkawi was a great place to relax!