After two years me and my high school classmates finally got to go for another trip together! We went in a group of twelve and this time we chose Langkawi since most of us haven't been there before.

Located about 30km off the mainland coast of northwestern Malaysia, Langkawi a.k.a. Jewel of Kedah is an archipelago of 99 islands. It's surrounded by beautiful beaches, lush rainforests, waterfalls, mangroves and caves, perfect for the nature-lovers! The best time to visit the island is during the dry season, which is between December and March but me and my friends could only make it in August so we had some of our plans ruined due to the rainy season :(

To get around, we rented two cars from the airport. You can bargain with them for a lower price -we only learned that after paying for the full price- and get prices as low as RM50 per day.

There are so many activities available on the island. Here are some of the things you can do in Langkawi for groups:

This was my favourite activity in Langkawi! We booked a private island hopping package tour at RM300 for 12 pax which was super affordable (only RM25 for each person!!). We booked it from a travelling company in Pantai Cenang and they fetched us to the jetty from their office in a van. The typical Langkawi island hopping tour is 4 hours long and they would usually bring you to 3 different islands:

Pulau Dayang Bunting 

Out of the 99 islands of Langkawi, this island is the second largest. The name translates to "Island of The Pregnant Maiden" as its shape resembles the silhouette of a pregnant lady lying down. There's an entrance fee you'll have to pay to enter the Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest Park - RM3 for Malaysians and RM5 for foreigners. It has a large freshwater lake known as Lake of The Pregnant Maiden which is about 10 minutes walk away from the jetty. Be careful of the monkeys especially if you have food or drinks with you because they'll jump and snatch them from you!! Inside you can choose to kayak, rent a paddle boat, swim or just relax and enjoy the scenery. The lake is 10 meters deep and they require you to put on your life jackets (you'll have to rent them) before going in the water. 

Pulau Singa Besar

Our boat stopped in the middle of the sea for about 10 minutes to watch wild eagles flying in the air. Our tour guide threw some meat in the water and we got to watch the eagles fly close to us to catch and eat their food. 

Pulau Beras Basah

Known as Wet Rice Island in English, this island has white sands and clear blue water. We were given one hour to stay here which was too short tbh because we really enjoyed swimming and playing in the water. There aren't many tourists here so the beach was really clean and unpolluted.

Tip: When looking for island hopping tours in Pantai Cenang avoid stalls along the beach and try looking for registered travel companies in the street behind as they sell all sorts of tour and water activities packages for a much more affordable price. Most stalls by the beach sell their island hopping packages at RM40 per pax or even higher so don't get your money cheated!

There are a few waterfalls in Langkawi but Telaga Tujuh aka Seven Wells Waterfall is rated number one in many blogs and websites so we decided to come here. It's located near Pantai Kok area and the Langkawi SkyCab. 

You can climb up 600 steps to get to the top of the waterfall for a stunning view or if you're lazy like me and my friends you can just take a short hike up from the car park and relax at the bottom of the fall. You can also get a nice view of the fall here and bathe at the natural shallow pool. Admission to the waterfall is free but you'll have to pay RM2 if you park your car in their parking area.

It rained in the morning so the current of the waterfall was really strong and it was so cooling! We spent almost an entire day here just relaxing and people watching.

We stayed in Kuah Town since all the hotels in Cenang Beach was fully booked. Kuah is the main town of Langkawi and home to the island's best known attraction, Eagle Square aka Dataran Lang. Located at Kuah Jetty, a 12 metre tall statue greets visitors coming to the island by ferry. We visited Eagle Square to take group photos with the eagle statue since it's a famous landmark of the island (we're such typical tourists).

Langkawi is a duty free island, meaning tobacco, booze and confectionary are super cheap here! There are many duty free stores on the island but Kuah has the most reasonably priced stores. We bought alcohol back to our hotel to drink every night and among all the shops we went, Teow Soon Huat Duty-Free Shopping in Langkawi Parade Megamall sells the cheapest chocolates and booze (a bottle of beer for less then RM5!!) Besides alcohol and chocolates, they also sell household commodities, apparels, bags, groceries and imported tobacco. We felt so cheated when we bought chocolates from else where and realised that this duty-free shop sells it for way much cheaper :(( 

Night markets are held every night from 7pm-10pm in Langkawi but they rotate the locations. You can find clothes, watches, wallets, bags, sunglasses, fresh produce in the markets but the best thing to get is the freshly prepared local food ! These local street snacks are so delicious and super affordable - nothing more than RM10. There are grilled chickens & seafood, drinks, satay, pancakes, pisang goreng, keropok lekor and many other authentic local delicacies.

Here's their weekly locations: Monday - Ulu Melaka; Tuesday - Kedawang; Wednesday - Kuah Town; Thursday - Pantai Cenang; Friday - Air Hangat; Saturday - Kuah Town & Sunday - Padang Matsirat.

There are so many more places we could've went such as Wildlife Park, jungle trekking, Skytrex Adventure, mangrove tour etc, but we only had 4 days and sadly it rained most of the time so we had to cancel some of our plans.

Thanks for reading and enjoy your time in Langkawi! 

If you enjoyed reading this, check out my post about where to eat in Langkawi.