Malaysia's beach towns: Cherating (Full guide)

The thing about Malaysia is that you really never run out of islands or beaches to visit. There's always more options, even when you think you've been to everywhere, there's probably gonna be an island somewhere along Malaysia, that you never have been to and it has been recently discovered. At times like this we all become indecisive and that's normal. I have explained about Sepang, Langkawi and Pangkor. Today I'm going to cover one of my other favorite destinations in Cherating.

(One of Cherating's beaches)

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The thing about Malaysia's islands is that you need to know for what purpose you are going, as for Cherating, every surfer knows that Cherating is the only place in all of Malaysia that has proper waves for surfing, and so that's why many choose to go there instead of Langkawi and Redang. Even though those two are more beautiful and the beaches are all those white sandy beaches and clear waters, people choose to go to Cherating for some fun with the waves. There is a catch though, the waves aren't always there, the waves are strong enough from October until February. Although some say the surfing season is until April and I asked around and people confirmed that it is still possible to surf till then.

The rest of the year, Cherating is good for a quiet and laid back holiday. As for me, I have been to Cherating twice, two different times, and both times were great. I'm going to recall the things we did and my suggestions. Lastly I'm also going to write a detailed review of the two resorts I stayed in back in Cherating. For now, let's see how on earth we can get there from Kuala Lumpur.

How to get there:

Getting to Cherating by bus is quite easy and convenient. KL has really stepped up their bus services and buses now are really comfortable to get around with. They also have more routes and cover many more destinations. Okay so there are no direct buses that go to Cherating, since it's just a small beach side town. You need to get a bus that goes to Kemanan, but you aren't getting off at Kemanan, so you need to ask the driver to drop you at Cherating before reaching Kemanan. Make sure you remind the driver a couple of times so he doesn't forget. Once you get off the bus, you can walk for a little while and choose a place to stay. Okay you can either get buses from TBS terminal or Putra bus terminal from Chowkit. I suggest booking your tickets online and then going there to avoid any problems. The whole journey by bus takes about 4-5 hours depending on the number of stops they take along the way.

I don't suggest getting there by taxi, it's just way too expensive but I'm going to talk about getting there with a car. As you all know, you can just as easily rent a car in Kuala Lumpur for a really small fee, let's say the fees start from 80 ringgits per day and go higher depending on the type of the car. So that's pretty affordable. Now you can rent a car and then drive up to Cherating, we used to go with a car as well. The car rides were super enjoyable; the roads were amazingly serene and beautiful. We would just laugh the whole way and jam to our favorite music. Even stop along the way once in a while to get some drinks or capture the beauty of the nature. It was truly blissful. The whole drive takes maximum of 4 hours, if you don't stop too much along the way of course. When in Cherating itself, you can just travel by foot or rent a bicycle if your resort provides it. The town is really really small with nothing going on for it, so you wouldn't be missing out on much. Now that we got that covered let's see what we got to do there.

My experience at the resorts

1) Legend Resort

Legend resort is a quite old resort, it has been there for many years but it still continues to provide a good service and stay for it's customers. The first time that we travelled to Cherating, we chose this resort and headed there. We booked our rooms online using Booking. The prices came out about 500 ringgits per night which is super cheap because of two reasons: firstly because we booked two conjoined rooms, there was a room with 2 king size beds and a separate bathroom and there was a door in the middle of the room that opened into the other room. So with that price we actually booked two rooms and about 7 of us stayed there. The second room only had one king sized bed but it had a sofa on the side that turned into those foldable beds. So we were all set, we paid so little per person that it was almost too cheap.

(The swimming pool, it's view and the beach, I told you guys it's perfect)

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However there was a little downside to it, there was a mistake in the booking and we only had 4 breakfast vouchers instead of the original 7 coupons that we needed. It was still great nonetheless. Now about the resort, it's supposedly a four star, but I think as a four star hotel it could be much better. So now I'm thinking that it's actually a three star hotel, not a four star one. The furniture was really old, so were the baths. Our bathrooms were great, but the tubs weren’t. We stayed on the first floor, the same floor as the beach and the swimming pool and so our view wasn’t good at all.

The hotel facilities are all alright except the swimming pool, now the swimming pool is freaking amazing. First of all it's large and has two separate pools. The view is great and the design is good too. I really enjoyed swimming in the pool and just relaxing by the pool area. We ordered some drinks, and sat there chilling by the pool; it was really memorable and calm. The other facilities include a pool table and a tennis table. The hotel has a fitness center or a gym but I think it wasn't open when we visited the resort so I didn't see it for myself, so that was a bummer. I do think there is a lot of room for improvement in this resort and a lot of things need fixing. Although for the price of the rooms, the facilities are alright.

(The swimming pool, by the way guys these pictures have a lot of filters on them so like, don't be too deceived but the place still looks magical)

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Their service is good, the staffs are friendly and their English speaking abilities are adequate, which was a relief for us, since we did not speak the local language. As for the restaurant of the hotel, their food is normal and it's pricey if you choose the menu items. We bought sandwiches for like 40 ringgits so that’s crazy, it is much cheaper to exit the resort and discover what the local restaurants in the area have to offer. The local food is similar to the food in Kuala Lumpur, it's cheaper but it's not as diverse. I guess it's worth a try.

(The hotel restaurant)

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Now as for the breakfast buffet, as you all can guess it was meh. I don’t think they had a good variety. The options were really limited even though we went there quite early. There were only a few options; there also weren’t any staple food such as omelet or even eggs. There were no pancakes either, so yes I was a little bummed about that too. Well I'm sorry guys I think I'm just pointing out the downsides but honestly I still think the swimming pool and the beach of the resort make it worthwhile to pay a visit there. I realized I'm really honest in all of my posts; I don’t try to oversell a place, which is definitely good because this way you all can make really informed decisions.

As for the beach of the resort, it's perfect. It's as good as it gets in all of Cherating and so I definitely think the beach makes the whole resort really worthwhile. The beach side was clean and was perfect for sunbathing. We spent some time by the water, just hanging out and staring at the view. To be honest we really wanted to go into the water but the problem was we were scared of jellyfish. The amount of jellyfish in the water greatly increases in certain months and so we were unfortunate enough to go in February which was like jellyfish season; I don’t know that for sure, I'm just making it up. After realizing there’s probably no way we can actually swim in that water, we went back to the swimming pool and spent some more time there, which proved to be even nicer.

(The beach)

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Lastly when we wanted to check out from the room, we went to the beach one last time and sat in a small restaurant by the beachside. We ordered coconuts for all of us and savored the hell out of it. Fresh coconuts by the beach, what more could we possibly want? It was an overall amazing experience in the resort and despite a few minor flaws, it was still memorable.

2) Residence Inn Cherating

I travelled to Cherating for a second time back in July, this time not with my usual gang as they had all left Malaysia; please don’t get me started on that. This time I travelled with my best friend. We had an amazing time in Cherating, but it was no thanks to the resort we were staying in. Well I started rough, let’s forget I said that. I'm going to talk about the resort a little bit more before jumping into that conclusion. Well when we were booking for our second trip, I told my best friend to book a new place, as I wanted to try new things. That was our first mistake, because first of all, Legend resort was so much better than this one and well this resort sucked if I'm being honest.

(Residence Inn swimming pool area at night)

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The prices were pretty much the same for each person; we booked a room for two this time. Both of the resorts were located nearby each other, there was maybe a 5 minute drive from one to the other. So when we reached Cherating and entered our resort we realized that there was no beach nearby the place. It wasn't like Legend which was a beach side resort. That was the first sign that we should just leave the same way we got there but we didn’t. The resort was dead as hell it felt like there were no other inhabitants in there, which was understandable because we went during the week. We paid for the whole of our stay; we were staying for two nights in the hotel. They showed us to our room, it was located on the first floor and had the crappiest view on earth, please don’t mind my language.

We were really determined to not let these small setbacks to ruin our mood so we settled in the room. The room was really clean and comfy. I actually liked the bed a lot; it was smaller than our other room in Legend resort but it was comfier and the furniture was newer. So finally a plus point for Residence Inn; now as for the hotel facilities, don’t even count on anything. There is just the swimming pool which is a good swimming pool, I don’t really have any adjectives to describe it because it's really average and all around it there are the hotel rooms, so it doesn’t really have a view. I would definitely say that the pool in Legend resort is like 20 times better.

Okay I think you all get the point, I'm saying don’t go to this resort and just go somewhere else instead. Mission accomplished. I feel like I'm a nagging 14 year old girl writing a blog. Anyhow to top it all off, our breakfast was abysmal. I never call anything abysmal I'm serious, imagine how horrible it was. There was no buffet, we went inside the hotel restaurant and gave our breakfast coupons. They brought us a so called English breakfast, which was quite bad as well. I don’t want to nag any further, it wasn’t good. I mean a resort is supposed to have a buffet or at least a list of options to choose from. Not just something they choose to prepare for you and you have to eat it. I guess I have said enough about the resort, there’s no more complaints. Hopefully they take our reviews as constructive criticisms and use it to improve their services.

(The restaurant of the resort)

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Things to do in Cherating:

Surfing

As for things to do in Cherating, like I mentioned before there isn’t much to do in there; that’s the truth. Like I said if you are lucky enough to go in the surfing months, then you definitely can take part in those activities. Now let’s see how the surfing is. Well since I was a beginner, we attended one of the many surf schools during the weekend; my friends were just goofing around the whole time but I really wanted to learn and surf like a pro. Of course that wasn’t possible with just one weekend but a girl could dream. We went to Cherating point, which is a surfing school. Man I'm such a big nerd that the moment I hear the name school, I immediately get all disciplined. Anyways moving from my weird personality traits, the school was pretty fun. They are open from November to March, we went in February and the waves were just perfect.

(A picture from cherating point's website, showing some of their surfers)

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They provided lessons for beginners, our instructor was really nice, although I really can’t recall his name and I can’t stop feeling bad about it. Their prices and packages really vary and so you should check it with the website and email them for further clarifications. We didn’t get a package since we only went once and also that we provided our own accommodation. Their packages come with accommodation and some extra stuff. We took a one and a half hour lesson, my friends were just horsing around but I tried my best and failed while trying my best. It was a great experience nonetheless and you guys should definitely try it. They are the best and the biggest surf school in all of Cherating so it's reasonable to check them out first. Their official website which contains all of their information is called cheratingpoint.com. You should check it out if you need further information that I did not provide.

The turtle sanctuary

Just the name of that activity is super cute; you immediately want to just go there. Come take my money, just let me see the turtle, that was my first thought. Visiting the turtle sanctuary is considered one of the main activities in Cherating. Lots of people visit the sanctuary yearly and it is a really popular activity. I literally had to drag my friend there, he didn’t want to come at all. He was like you want us to go see turtles? Are you for real? But well I'm Saba and so I finally forced him to do what I want. Ok that’s not true, I just repeatedly asked him till he gave up and accepted to accompany me. So we headed there. The exact address is: Bukit Cherating, 26080 Balok.

(The turtles in the pools)

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It wasn’t too far from our resort but well we had a car, the actual journey took about 10 minutes. There is like 5 Kilometers of distance. Like I mentioned before Cherating is small and that is a big advantage for you guys, you can move around really conveniently. We went in the morning to the sanctuary, they told us that it is open every day from 9 am to I think 1 pm if I'm not mistaken. You can call the place ahead if you decided to visit it. Anyways watching the turtles were more than adorable one can imagine, the staffs also provide some really useful information which I guess would add to your general knowledge of the place. We didn’t stay long, my friend kept wanting to leave, so we just walked around for about 15 minutes and then headed out. There was a pool which you could watch the turtles in and there was another section to see those cute turtles hatching. Like oh my god.

There is something cool you can do in the sanctuary which I never got the chance to do and I'm salty about it. So basically during the months April to September the turtles emerge from the eggs and make their way to the sea. I mean imagine looking at those baby turtles while they move to the sea with their tiny feet. Oh gosh I'm melting from the cuteness. Anyhow I never got to sleep the night and watch the turtles emerging and I'm going to be salty about it till I get the chance. As for you guys, don’t be like me, seize the opportunities. You can rent a tent and then a tent space and stay overnight to watch the turtles. The charges vary but usually to get a tent and the tent space you need to pay about 45 ringgits to 60 ringgits and apparently for the other facilities such as electricity and all you gotta pay separately which is quite bizarre.

Anyhow hope you guys get to do this activity; just pay attention to the timings.

Okay so that is pretty much all the things I did during my visits to Cherating, keep in mind that it is a rather tranquil and calm island and if you are looking go wild, Cherating is definitely not the place.

Hope you guys find this entry helpful and well-put. As per tradition, talk to me sometime, I love connecting with you guys.

Cheers

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