Last month the New Zealand Herald published my article about why Penang in Malaysia should be on your radar if you’re after a holiday on tropical island that’s a little different from all the rest. There are plenty of warm weather islands in the world with beautiful scenery and nice resorts to de-stress yourself, but there aren’t too many with the diversity of experiences that Penang has.
Days could happily disappear in Penang getting lost on foot in Georgetown, gorging on the street food, marvelling at the street art, popping into galleries and museums and picking which boutique hotel you’d like to stay at on your next visit. For many tourists, that would be sufficient, but with Penang there’s still so much more. Things like hiking through tropical jungle in Penang National Park, lounging by an enormous hotel pool in Batu Ferringhi, counting butterflies at the remarkable indoor Entopia butterfly farm, attending a cooking school at the world-class Tropical Spice Garden, sipping sunset cocktails on the 68th floor of the Komtar tower or riding the cable car to the top of 800m Penang Hill.
Click here to read the full article and if like me, you’re taken in by Penang, have a little think about combining a vacation there with the Asia Pacific Masters Games taking place in September. Anyone can enter, even if you’re not particularly great at you’re chosen sport! Just so long as you’re over the minimum age requirement (in most cases 30, though for some events 25 or 35), check out the full list of the sports on the official website apmg2018.com.
As for where to stay while in Penang, my wife and I can highly recommend the Edison in Georgetown if you want a gorgeous, historic boutique hotel, the Eastern & Oriental (also in Georgetown) if you want one of the most famous large scale historic luxury hotels in Asia and the Parkroyal in Batu Ferringhi if you want an excellent (and recently refurbished) 4-star family beach resort.
It was while staying at the Parkroyal that we did one of the more unusual things to do on a honeymoon – we went to a brand new waterpark that wasn’t yet open to the public! Pretty much the greatest scenario of my childhood and all explained in the article.
Thanks for reading and enjoy the photos below – my top 60 from our time in Penang late last year:
Click here to read about staying in an eco-lodge in the jungles of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo.
Click here to read about Kuala Lumpur’s oldest 5-star hotel, the Majestic Hotel.
