At first glance Langkawi looks like an island for lying on the beach, and that is fine. But if you never leave Cenang, you miss most of it. Behind the beach is a green, hilly island with mangroves, waterfalls and a mountain with a road that winds up and up and up.
The best of Langkawi is seen from the water and from a scooter. A small boat through the creeks of Kilim, half a day past the little islands of the archipelago, a ride to the empty north. The cable car is the famous view, but it is not necessarily the moment that stays with you longest.
So where do your days on Langkawi go, and what do you keep for the lazy afternoons?
Getting there, where to sleep and how many days to give it are all on our Langkawi page.
Through the Kilim mangroves by boat
Kilim Geoforest Park in the north east is, for us, the most beautiful part of Langkawi. A small boat slides through a maze of mangroves and narrow creeks, between limestone cliffs rising straight out of the water. Along the way you stop at a cave full of bats and a fish farm floating on the water, and there are monkeys on the banks.
Sea eagles and brahminy kites circle overhead. Some boatmen feed them to bring them closer, an old habit that makes the birds lazy and dependent. Just ask for a tour without feeding when you book. Then you see the eagles do what they are built for: hunt.
A trip takes two to three hours from the Kilim jetty. A boat for two hours costs about €120 for up to ten people, so with a full boat you pay around €12 each. Go in the morning and ride on to Tanjung Rhu afterwards, which is just round the corner.
Our verdict: the best thing on the island, as long as you pick a boatman who does not feed
By scooter up Gunung Raya
Langkawi was made for a scooter. Good roads, little traffic, and everything you want to see is spread across the island. In one day you ride from Cenang to Kilim, Tanjung Rhu and Gunung Raya, past rice fields and kampongs, stopping wherever you like.
The high point, literally, is Gunung Raya: 881 metres, the top of the island. The road winds endlessly up through the rainforest, with hornbills over the tarmac if you are lucky. At the top you look out over the whole of Langkawi and the sea, and there is no queue.
Scooters go from about €8 a day. Photograph your rental before you ride off, wear a helmet, check your licence and insurance beforehand, and never leave your passport as a deposit. Ride up the mountain late in the afternoon, when the light is at its best, but be back down before dark.
Our verdict: the cheapest day of your stay, and maybe the best
SkyCab and the Sky Bridge
The cable car climbs steeply over the rainforest up Machinchang. Jungle below you, a sea full of islands behind you, and it is so steep you hold your breath for a second. At the top you walk out onto the Sky Bridge, a curved 125 metre bridge hanging from a single pylon over the ravine.
A ticket including the Sky Bridge costs from about €17. Be there at opening: no queue, and your best chance of a clear view before the clouds roll in. The cable car stops in strong wind or thunderstorms, so keep a spare day up your sleeve.
Keep your bag zipped, because the monkeys up here know exactly where your food is.
Our verdict: Langkawi’s most famous view, at its best at opening
Island hopping in the archipelago
Langkawi is just one of 99 islands, and you see its little siblings from the water. Every morning boats leave Cenang for half a day around three islands. The best moment is Pulau Dayang Bunting, where you walk through the jungle to a freshwater lake and swim between limestone walls.
After that come the eagles at Pulau Singa Besar and a white beach with nothing built on it on Pulau Beras Basah. Here too, ask beforehand whether they feed the eagles, just like in Kilim.
On a shared boat you pay from about €8, which makes this the cheapest boat trip on the island. In the wet months it does not sail when the sea is rough, so plan it early in your stay.
Our verdict: three islands and a jungle lake for about €8
Tanjung Rhu
Up north is the quietest beach on Langkawi. White sand, shallow turquoise water, and limestone rocks sitting offshore like tiny islands. Barely anything built, and so barely anyone there.
It is about 45 minutes’ ride from Cenang, and entry is free. It is just round the corner from Kilim, so do both on the same day: mangroves in the morning, beach in the afternoon.
Our verdict: the empty beach you get thrown in for free after Kilim
Sunset on Cenang Beach
This is Langkawi’s ritual. Pick up a few cans at a duty free shop, walk out onto the wide beach and sit in the sand while the sun drops behind the little islands. It costs next to nothing, and you do it again every evening.
Afterwards you eat at the stalls along the road behind the beach, or pull up a chair at one of the beach bars. It gets lively, never wild.
Our verdict: every evening, with a can that costs less than a euro
Seven Wells Waterfall
Telaga Tujuh slides down through seven natural pools. At the top you swim in the basins and slide over the smooth rock from one pool into the next.
You do have to climb for it: hundreds of steps up. Entry is free and it is right by the cable car, so do both on the same morning. The falls look their best after a few days of rain.
Our verdict: the reward for a morning on the cable car
Got time to spare in Langkawi?
Pantai Tengah
Ten minutes’ walk south of Cenang is Pantai Tengah. The same sand, a lot quieter, and a nice goal for an afternoon walk along the water.
The night market
Every evening there is a night market somewhere on the island, and it is somewhere different every day. Ask at your hostel where it is tonight and ride over for rice with sambal, grilled fish and whatever else is on the grill.
Kayaking through the mangroves
If you would rather see Kilim under your own steam, you can also book a kayak trip through the mangroves of the Kilim River. Then you paddle between the limestone cliffs yourself, at your own pace.
Plan the boat for the morning
Even in the wet months the sun is out a lot here, but when a shower comes it comes hard and short, and usually in the afternoon. So do your boat trips in the morning and keep the afternoon for the beach. Ask at your hostel whether there are jellyfish in the water: it changes with the season.
Our top five in Langkawi
Only got a few days? These are the five we would never leave out on Langkawi:
- The Kilim mangroves, with a boatman who does not feed the eagles
- A day on the scooter, finishing up Gunung Raya
- The SkyCab and the Sky Bridge, at opening
- Half a day of island hopping, with a swim in the freshwater lake on Pulau Dayang Bunting
- Sunset on Cenang Beach, every evening
Still got time after that? Ride on to the white sand of Tanjung Rhu and climb the steps to the pools of the Seven Wells.
So what do you really have to do in Langkawi?
Honestly: get on a scooter. Langkawi is bigger than you think, and only when you ride it yourself do you notice how much green there is behind that one beach. Kilim, Tanjung Rhu and Gunung Raya fit into one day, and that day costs you €8 and a bit of petrol.
If we have to pick one more thing, it is the water at Kilim. A small boat between the limestone cliffs, a cave full of bats, and eagles hunting above you instead of begging. Ask for a tour without feeding when you book, and you see them the way they are meant to be.
And keep one day completely empty. Langkawi is the island where you do nothing more often than you planned, and that is exactly right. A can from the duty free shop, your feet in the sand on Cenang, and the sun dropping behind the little islands.
