Redang (Malaysia) is an island in the South China Sea, located 25 km off the coast of peninsular Malaysia on the north-east side. It is only 45 km from Redang to Kuala Terengganu, the state capital, where the nearest airport is located. Therefore, to get to the island, from the capital of Malaysia, travelers first need to get to Kuala Terengganu.
The area of Redang is only 42 km2 – and at the same time, it is the largest in the archipelago of the same name, consisting of 9 islands. Redang has several resorts, dive centers, a village on stilts, and a local population of about 1,500 people.
Recommendations for tourists: where best to stay. Infrastructure of the island
As you can see on the map of Redang Island, its territory is quite habitable, although all the infrastructure is located in two areas, and the rest is occupied by tropical forests.
In total, there are 14 resorts in Redang, and they are not for thrifty tourists. There is no budget housing here, there are only expensive hotels, and even 3*hotels are among them. For a more peaceful and peaceful holiday, hotels are ideal:
- «The Taaras Beach & Spa Resort»
- «Coral Redang Island Resort»
For a room in them, you need to pay from $180 per day.
A little cheaper – from $130 – will cost a room in a fairly good hotel “Redang Holiday Beach Villa”.
For families with children, good conditions are created in the hotel “Laguna Redang Island Resort”.
More budget options include hotels that are in demand among tourists from China, where you need to pay an average of $60 per day for a room:
- «Redang Bay Rersort»
- «Sari Pacifica Resort & Spa»
Separately, it is worth telling about the hotel “Delima Redang Resort” – it is strictly contraindicated to check into it for the only reason that you will have to constantly go to a decent beach through the beach with a real garbage can!
The best restaurants on Redang Island in Malaysia are those that work in hotels. They offer European, Chinese and Indian cuisine, and a wide variety of Malaysian fruits and prepared dishes are plentiful. But all this is quite expensive, food on the island can not be called cheap.
The resorts on Pasir Panjang beach have a certain kind of nightlife: on weekends, discos are held on the coast in the style of “disco”, you can sing karaoke.
Almost all hotels on this island of Malaysia have souvenir shops with a tourist assortment: magnets, traditional batik, ceramic mugs and plates. But everything they offer is much cheaper to buy in Kuala Lumpur.
Moving around the Redang is quite difficult. The central highway connects only the coast, the marina and 2 resorts, and to get to other parts of the island, you need to follow a path through the jungle or rent a boat.
Redang Island Beaches
The main activity for vacationers on Redang is swimming in the sea waters and sunbathing. There are several beaches here, and each of them has its own characteristics. Which one should I choose?
Dalam Bay
It has 2 parts separated by a small hill: Teluk Dalam Kecil, where the 5* hotel “The Taaras Resort” is located, and Teluk Dalam Besar, where there are no hotels yet. Taaras beach is considered the best on the island. It is very good here at high tide: the sea is clear with clear water, there are no waves, the bottom is sandy, the shore is covered with soft white sand. But at low tide, you need to walk about 50 meters to get to knee-deep water. Only those who live in The Taaras Resort have access to this territory – vacationers from other hotels are not allowed here.
From Teluk Dalam Besar, you can follow a jungle-worn path to Pasir Panjang Beach, which takes almost an hour.
Pasir Panjan
This beach strip is considered the longest and widest on the entire island, with its outline it resembles the letter “V”. The center where the “wings” of this letter meet is known as Tanjung Tengah. You can get from the northern to southern outskirts of Pasir Panjang in 15-25 minutes.
This beach is the most active in Redang: along it there are a large number of resorts, parties are held, there are restaurants with traditional Malaysian cuisine. From the southern side of Pasir Panjang, called Shark Bay, in April and August you can watch black-finned sharks living in the local reefs.
Simpan Beach
Simpan beach is 2 adjacent beaches on the east side of Redang, slightly inferior in popularity to The Taaras Beach. One of them is “given over to the power” of turtles that lay eggs here. On the second floor, you can relax, lie on the sand under the sun or in the shade of trees and take beautiful photos to remember your stay in Malaysia, in particular, on Redang.
On a note! The best beaches of the popular Malaysian island of Langkawi are described on this page with photos.
Kalong Bay
This area is nothing more than 3 beaches of a small area, which are separated by an exposed rocky rock. Teluk Kalong resorts offer their visitors a quiet pastime, without discos and parties.
Long Beach (Long Beach or Laguna)
This beach on the east side of Redang is divided into 2 parts-a smaller and a larger one – by a sandbar with a small rock. You can get from one part to another by walking along the shore. The smaller section, which can be walked around in 15 minutes, is more cozy.
The water in the sea is clean, although sometimes there are waves. The approach is good, only here and there” islands ” are boulders and corals, but mostly the bottom is covered with sand. You can swim far, there is a good depth – this is an ideal place. The nearby Pulau Lima Islands are also ideal for snorkeling.
On Long Beach there are hotels of various price levels, many of which prefer to settle in the Chinese. In the first half of the day, even at the height of the season, the stay here can be called idyllic: there is silence around, there are almost no vacationers (the Chinese are engaged in snorkeling). But after 16: 00 -17: 00 everything changes: the beach is filled with crowds of immigrants from China.
Snorkeling and diving in Redang
The main activities on Redang are snorkeling and diving, allowing you to observe marine life and explore the bottom of the sea.
Redang is an amazing marine reserve in Malaysia with a rich and unique ecosystem of 500 varieties of coral and almost 3000 varieties of reef-dwelling inhabitants of the sea. There are red, white and black corals, and here is the largest in Malaysia coral Mushroom coral-it looks like a mushroom, has a height of 20 m and 300 m in diameter! Rock bass and barracudas, swallow fish, leopard and bamboo sharks, lobsters and parrot fish, tiger sea urchins, spotted wrasses and moray eels can be found among the wildlife that live nearby this island. There are also turtles – green, hawk-billed, tankless, bissa.
There is something to see in this part of Malaysia and curious divers-we are talking about the sunken warships “Prince of Wales” and “Repals”.
Snorkeling
A mask, snorkel and life jackets can be rented at each Redang Resort. To protect the coral from damage, fins were banned here in 2006 (although they are allowed for divers).
Many resorts include snorkeling tours in the price – usually tourists are taken to the “Marine Park Center”, located on the island of Penang. If such tours are not included in the package, you can make one-time trips for an additional fee. Boats take tourists directly to the pier, which is an ideal place for snorkeling – immediately, at a depth of 3-5 m, swim the most diverse representatives of the underwater world.
A little to the east of the pier, snorkeling enthusiasts can see the sunken ship-it lies at a depth of about 10 m, but it can also be seen above water.
Please note! Tioman is another beautiful island of Malaysia and a beautiful reef. You can find more information about it here.
Diving
Near Redang, there are almost 20 places where divers of different levels can dive – to get to them, you can use a speedboat.
The most famous diving spots are located on the north side of Redang, next to the protected and closed Chagar Hutang beach. These are Tunnel Point and Tanjung Tokong, which are up to 30 m deep, and Tanjung Lang, which are up to 18 m deep. There is also Tanjung Gua Kawah with a depth of up to 15 m – because of the fast deep-sea currents, only experienced divers can practice here.
Near Pasir Panjang Beach there are Paku Kecil and Paku Besar Islands, which are known for several interesting places for athletes. Chek Isa is an underwater reef that starts at a depth of 8 m and descends to the very bottom, where the depth reaches 20 m. Tanjung Mak Cantik underwater shoal is interesting with a large coral garden made of soft and hard specimens, reaching a depth of 12-18 m.
The Teluk Kalong beach area also has a lot to boast about. Tanjung Cina Terjun, where the depth is up to 18 m, and there is no current at all, is an ideal option for novice athletes. For those who are just starting to go diving, the large shallow reef located between the islands of Pulau Kerengga Kecil and Pulau Kerengga Besar is suitable.
Redang Island has several places on the south side, which, due to the strong current, are suitable for diving only for experienced athletes. This is a small rocky island Terumbu Kili, which barely protrudes from the water, and its base sinks 20 m to the bottom. Batu Chipor is also a rocky outcrop in the northern part of Ling Island, surrounded by buoys.
Almost every resort has its own diving center, which offers different diving packages for vacationers, as well as training courses. For example, on Pasir Panjang you can use the services of the diving center ” Redang Pelangi Dive Center – – detailed information is available on the official website www.diveredang.com.
How to get to Redang from Kuala Lumpur
So, how to get to Redang from Kuala Lumpur? Since the nearest airport to Redang is Kuala Terengganu Airport, you first need to get to it. Although you can also take a night bus, but a plane ticket will only cost a little more.
- It is best to look for a ticket on search engines like skyscanner or aviasales, since not only AirAsia flights are available to Kuala Terengganu, and other airlines may cost less to fly. The ticket price is $30-40, the flight lasts 45 minutes.
- From the airport, you need to take a taxi to get to Jetty Shahbandar Pier, which takes up to 40 minutes. You need to pay the driver, the fare is set in the amount of 30-40 ringgit. Redang can also be reached from the Merang Jetty Pier (www.merangjetty.com), but from the airport you will have to go to it almost 2 times longer, although then it will be closer to get to the island itself on a speedboat. Merang Jetty boats go directly to the hotels, see the schedule on the specified website.
- Jetty Shahbandar Pier is served by a ferry three times a day: 9: 00, 10: 30 and 15: 00. It runs for almost an hour and 30 minutes. For the ticket, you will have to pay 55 ringgit and an additional 30 ringgit to enter the territory of the national park of Malaysia. If you take the last ferry to the island, it will be a bit late, so it’s more convenient (and cheaper) to stay overnight in Terengganu.
- The ferry pier is located in the central area of Redang, not far from the abandoned airport, where everyone who needs to go to The Taaras Resort gets off. Those who need to get to Long Beach, change to another ferry and go on – they will be at their destination in 10 minutes, no additional fee is needed.
In general, there is nothing complicated in how to get to Redang. If you take the first flight from Kuala Lumpur (at 7-8 o’clock), you can take the ferry to Redang at 10:30. If you book a package tour, the ferry fee will already be included in the price, but you will still need to pay for entering the territory of the National Park of Malaysia.
Redang Island weather
The climate on Redang is tropical, with a stable air temperature of +30°C – +33°C and frequent but short-lived thunderstorms. The water temperature in the sea is kept in the range of +28°C – +30 °C.
There are 2 seasons on Redang: low and high.
The island is in low season from November to May: Like the entire east coast of Malaysia, Redang is affected by the South China Sea monsoon. At this time, monsoon winds are constantly blowing, the sky is hidden for a long time behind clouds, it often rains, and large waves rise on the sea. During the low season, tourism on Redang freezes, most hotels and restaurants are closed, and ferry schedules are significantly limited.
From June to October, Redang is the high (dry) season. There is almost no precipitation, the air is warm, and the sea is calm – there are almost no waves on it. The best time to comfortably get to Redang (Malaysia) and relax on the island with no less comfort is summer. You can come here as early as March, when hotels start operating, but the optimal time is still from May to mid-September.
