Langkawi is a popular destination for people coming from Europe or other Asian countries, but it is often overlooked by North American travelers. Perhaps the distance is too far, or perhaps people just don’t know about this wonderful place but to me, it’s more fun and cheaper than Hawaii.

First of all, for the shopping mavens, the entire island is duty-free; add in the already-low cost of shopping in Malaysia, and you have a real winner. For example, downtown Langkawi has several shops offering large, hard luggage starting at around USD. Alcohol in Langkawi is the cheapest of any place in Malaysia. There are shops offering basically anything you could want or need. Expect to pay around for souvenir T-shirts for friends.

You can make a trip to Pulau Payar Marine Park for around RM 100 (). If you are good at bargaining you can get them down to around RM 80. That includes the boat ride there, all park fees, all snorkel gear, a sack lunch, and a ride back. This is an all-day experience.

There is a great night market, "Pasar Malam", in Langkawi that takes place on weekends. It is right in central Kuah town and had just about everything a person could want and lots of stuff no one would want.

Langkawi has resorts and hotels for all tastes and travel budgets. Expect to pay anywhere from RM 60 for a decent city hotel all the way up to thousands of RM for a place like the Datai (five-star). You can get a really nice beachfront resort for around RM 140 easily.

The food in north Malaysia all tends to be very spicy. If you don’t like spicy food or chilies, then try and hunt out a Chinese eatery. They tend to be far less spicy than their Malay counterparts but still aren’t too touristy. There are also several Western places for those who don’t like to eat local foods. Food, if you stay at a locally owned place, also tends to be very cheap. Figure under RM 8 per person, and you will have more food than you can eat.

Quick Tips:

Bargain for everything: price of hotel, car, price of things in stores. Bargaining is really a way of life, perhaps even an art form in S.E. Asia. It may seem very cheap to you even at sticker price, but usually you can get the items at least 50% off. Never pay cost for a rental car; both the airport and the pier carry them. It’s often best to approach two rental car agents at a time, and then they will undercut each other on price. It’s best to act as disinterested as possible. Bargain for the price of any dive trip or excursion; these, too, can be had very cheaply.

Don’t book through a Western site like Travelocity, as the rates in Malaysia are much cheaper. USD may seem like an awesome deal for a beachfront resort, but the rate in Malaysia would be closer to . It’s best to call the hotel, and once again, don’t act too interested. Ask them for the best deal, and even if it sounds good, ask if they can do any better. They almost always quote Westerners a very high price because they know it's good for us with the exchange rate.

Best Way To Get Around:

First of all, you can either fly to Langkawi or take the bus or train from KL. The buses are luxury coaches and can be had cheaply, but it takes quite a while. The plus side is that you get to see a lot of the country. The train also takes quite some time but is a great experience in its own right. Figure on 8-12 hours to get there by one of these methods.

The easiest way is to fly in from Kuala Lumpur International airport. Both Air Asia and Malaysian Airlines service Langkawi on a daily basis. I have paid as little as RM 40 for a flight to Langkawi from KL on Air Asia.

Once in Langkawi, I recommend getting a rental car. They are cheap, and it's very easy to drive there. You can take taxis, as they are plentiful, but it’s so much fun to drive around this beautiful little island.. Taxi drivers seem honest here, though, so if you aren’t comfortable driving, you should be okay. One thing to note is that if you do a snorkeling or dive excursion, the company will pick you up at your hotel for no extra charge.

If you like to really experience a place instead of being cooked up in a tourist-class restaurant, then be sure to try the hawker stalls in Malaysia. You will feel like you got more of an experience out of your trip, and the cost will be 75% less. The food in northern Malaysia can be a bit spicy for some, though, so beware. If you don’t care for or can’t handle spicy food, just seek out a Chinese eatery. Most Chinese places have food that is low in the spicy chilies that are typically found in northern Malay food.

There are several good Chinese places all around downtown Kuah, and you can’t go wrong with any of them. The one we chose was about one mile east of the pier, along the main road. They had a wide variety of foods from noodles, rice, and meat dishes to make your own soup choice. They would basically custom-prepare whatever you wanted. Just choose your meat, your vegetables, and whatever else you wanted, and they would prepare it for you. The food was excellent, and since it was located on the waterfront, you had a wonderful view and a nice breeze coming off the ocean.

There are numerous hawkers around Langkawi, and you really can't go wrong with any of them. If this is your only stop in Malaysia, be sure to seek out "satay". I prefer the Malaysian satay to its Indonesian or Thai counterparts and could eat it until I exploded, it's so good. Satay runs about RM 50 sens a stick, so just trying it won’t cost you too much. You can find it literally everywhere, as most people love it. It comes as chicken, beef, and some places offer other specialties such as lamb, chicken butt (I’m serious), and other meats. It is served with a peanut sauce and many times with cucumber slices and balls of rice.

If you go to the night market in Kuah, you will find 10-20 places serving a good satay, and it’s a must-try before leaving Malaysia. It may not be the best satay in all of Malaysia--you have to go to Kajang for that--but it's still an excellent treat.

It’s a bit touristy, like most aquariums, but I have an interest in ocean species and lots of spare time, so we went. Overall, the aquarium is a pretty nice exhibit. They have a wide selection of local marine animals, including fairly large sharks and sea turtles. It's fully air-conditioned and can be a cool respite on a hot day. The kids who were there really seemed to enjoy the experience, so it would be great for families. It also looks to be handicapped-accessible and might be good for people who can't experience snorkeling or diving firsthand.

There is a wide variety of displays, including a long tunnel through a tank. You will have fish swimming above you and on both sides. This area seemed to be a favorite for the kids. The tanks appear to be well-maintained and the fish healthy.

Overall, it’s a good place, but not a must-see. I would recommend it for families and people who are limited in physical ability. It's also good for others who have lots of time to spare.

Now, the cable car was a great experience. If you are a photographer, it is a sight you should not miss. It’s located in the fairly new Chinese village and is a very nice, but pasteurized tourist area. Don't let that discourage you, though, as the view from the top is worth it. The cost is RM15 for adults and RM5 for kids.

There are two stops on the cable car, one about halfway up the mountain and one all the way at the top. Both have great lookout pavilions and covered areas to sit down in, if you are so inclined. On the ride up, you will be able to look down into the jungle as you scrape the tops of the trees. It is really quite a long and enjoyable journey. One you get off at a station, you can stay as long as you would like and catch any car you want to go back downhill.

The top station is breathtaking, though. It’s about 2,100 feet above sea level, and you have a wonderful panoramic view of the area, including many islands and beaches. There is also a fantastic cool breeze at the top, and it seems comfortable there, even at the hottest times of day. As a bonus for the more active, you can hike from the top station down to the middle station and see some of the jungle. There is a nice path, but it should only be done by the fairly fit, as the slope is steep.

The cable car itself is good for all ages. I have seen people from ages 1 to 90 on them, and everyone enjoys the view. It's not a 100% must-see but if you have the time, you should go.

The Field of burnt rice is located close to the Langkawi Airport at the Atma Alam Batik Village. Every map in Langkawi has this as a location and many people will talk about it. You will get you hopes up and think you are going to a major attraction only to have them dashed to the ground by the overall size of the place.

Now, this was an underwhelming place. I expected much more, as I had heard about this online and from some locals. The field of burnt rice was an old rice paddy that Datuk Karma Jaya ordered burned so the Siamese wouldn’t get the rice when they were attacking Langkawi in 1821. They say some burnt rice comes out of the ground during heavy rains.

Well, the place is basically a nice Malay house and a small roped-off area that doesn’t look like much. There is a 1-foot square box with some burnt rice in it and a plaque. The plus is that there is no entrance charge

I would like to say more about this site, but really that covers it 100%--very uninteresting and not worth the trip. There is a very good and cheap local market right next to it, though, so if you are up for some shopping, you can catch this small site while you shop.

This attraction is located at Pantai Kok (Kok beach)on the northwest side of Langkawi. They are open Daily: 9.30am - 7.00pm.

This is the summer house set from the movie Anna and the King with Jodie Foster and Chow Yun Fat. They filmed much of the movie on Langkawi and many of the scenes at this location. It’s a tourist-trap kind of place, but good if you have some spare time.

Overall, the place is more substantial than I thought. The buildings actually look as though they were built to stay standing. Movie sets often cut corners because the set only needs to last a short time, but not this one. The architecture is very nice, but not Malaysian really more Thai. The grounds are very pretty, though, and you will see many flowers and other native plants. The buildings themselves have some decorations having to do with the movie and some local legends.

It’s a fairly small complex, only about 2000 square feet, so don’t expect to spend much time here. There is nothing strenuous about it, so it’s good for everyone. It's not a must-see but can be okay if you have the time.

Admission is RM 3.50 for adults and RM 2.00 for children.

Any trip to Langkawi would be incomplete without a visit to the Pulau Payar Marine Park. This little gem of an island is located about an hour's boat ride away from Langkawi and is a protected natural area. The waters are crystal-clear, and there are an abundance of colorful tropical fish and even many sharks and a few barracuda.

To get there, you have to use one of two companies that offer snorkeling trips. There is at least one more company that offers dive tours, but I haven’t been able to use one of them, as my wife doesn’t dive. The two companies that offer snorkeling are "Coral Island" and "Langkawi Coral". Both companies include pickup at your hotel at no extra charge. Both will get you there via fairly modern boats and in air-conditioning, but the real difference comes when you arrive.

The Coral Island tour operators have a nice, covered pier-type structure and offer you a sack-type lunch or a buffet that takes place back on the ship. The buffet runs about RM20 extra, and I think it’s worth it. They have a wide selection of foods, and you can feed the barracuda pieces of chicken off the side of the boat. Otherwise, you get a simple sack lunch of some chicken, rice, fruit, and water. Both are fine, and most people opt just for the sack lunch. The day we chose to go to the buffet, we were the only people out of 50 who did, so we had it and the ship all to ourselves.

The other tour operator, Langkawi Coral, has its own floating pier. This pier is really quite neat. It has a section underneath that is all glass and submerged in the water so you can view the fish. It's almost like a submarine. The only option for lunch here is a hot buffet. You see a lot more Westerners take this option, but it is RM100 more expensive.

Both tours give you all the gear you may need: snorkels, life vests, fins, mask, etc. The equipment on both seems to be of decent quality.

The water is amazingly clear, and the fish are very friendly. You can hand-feed them, and they will often nibble at your arm, and if you have some, leg hair. It disconcerting for some, but it doesn’t hurt; it just surprises you. I have seen shark up to about 8 feet long swimming within 10 feet of me, but they never seemed hostile, and no one got bit. The bottom of the sea is a mixture of coral and sand, so there isn’t too much worry about hurting your feet. This is a good attraction for kids, as fish are even in the shallow areas, and the kids can feed them safely. The water is also very calm, with no undertow, and water temps are very warm.

I would be sure and pack lots of extra water, as the island isn’t developed, and buying water there is expensive. You may want to pack several liters of fresh water to wash up with. There is a small shower facility on the island, but it isn’t adequate.

The whole excursion takes until about 5pm, so plan a whole day for this trip. The cost is anywhere from RM80 to RM240, depending on the tour operator and your bargaining skills.

There are four main ways to get to Langkawi from Kuala Lumpur, and I have tried three of them. Each way has its goods and bads. The most common for tourists is to fly of course, but you can also go by tour bus or train or rent a car and drive yourself. I have done all of these except for driving myself, and I hope to do that sometime this year.

For those of you whose main point is to lounge on the beach, dive, and snorkel or are limited in time, flying is still the best option. You can take MAS or Air Asia, as both have daily flights to Langkawi itself. MAS is an excellent airline and Air Asia is the budget alternative. I have covered those somewhat in other reviews.

The first trip I made to Langkawi was by bus, and I’m actually glad I went this way. I wasn’t on a limited time schedule, so it worked out rather nicely. There are several different companies running buses to Langkawi, and the prices range from RM20 to RM25 one-way. Actually, the buses take you to Kedah, where you take a boat to Langkawi. The cost of the ferry is RM12 one-way. You can catch these buses at the Puduraya Bus Station in Kuala Lumpur. They leave about every hour on a daily basis.

Beware, though, as the journey can take as much as 12 hours. To make matters easier, most of these buses are really nice. The chairs are all nice recliners that are similar to business class seats on an international flight. Many of the buses have TV’s at the front, but they will be playing a Malay language feature. The buses do stop at least two times at rest areas, and there will be hawkers and food courts there. What are the big advantages of this you may ask? Well, if you are traveling with several people, you will save some money. The main advantage to me, though, is really seeing the country. You get to have someone else drive you while you see the scenery. If you aren’t up for a round-trip this way, and I wouldn’t be again, you can take a bus one-way and fly back.

The train is also an interesting way to get to Langkawi and can be quite nice and a bit romantic for a couple. The cost of a train will run anywhere from RM18 per person one-way for a basic seat to RM100 for a private cabin with a small table, beds, and a sink. It can be quite romantic and a nice way to travel in first-class on a train for a cheap price. They have a dining car that serves both Western and Malaysian dishes at a fair enough price. It’s also a good place to strike up a conversation or play a game of cards with other passengers. The journey takes about 10 to 11 hours; the train runs every day and can be caught from Kl Sentral.

I recommend the private cabins for a couple, but the highest grade seats aren’t too bad; they are better than coach on an airplane but not as nice as business class. Once again, you can take the train to Langkawi and fly back, as a round-trip journey would be a little redundant. It’s a nice experience but I like trains, and they are preferable to the bus. The trains information and timetables can be found here. Remember, when searching for fares on the site, that the KL terminal is called "Sentral Kuala Lumpur" and the train is called the #8 EKSPRES LANGKAWI. Malaysian Train KTMB

I have yet to rent a car, like I have said above, but it looks to be an interesting journey. From riding on the bus, I can tell you that most roads are pretty good. Its mostly a four-lane highway, and there are towns spaced equally along the way that may make for interesting exploration. There is also parking at the pier once you get to Kedah and take the boat to Langkawi. You cannot take your car onto the island from what I understand.