After spending 5 days on Pangkor Island, we learned that there are so many great things to do here!
Apart from the expected exotic beaches, you can explore Pangkor’s thriving wildlife, see the beautiful religious sites including a floating mosque, and go get lost in the fishermen’s village.
We literally found Pangkor Island by looking at green spots in the ocean on Google Maps. I’m not even joking.
So we arrived with absolutely no expectations, but were pleased to leave with rich memories. Pangkor Island really took us by surprise, and we cannot wait to be back in the future!
In this blog post, we want to show you all the things there is to do in Pangkor Island, how to get there, where to stay, how much it costs, and other useful tips. That way, you can start planning your own trip to this fantastic island.
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Plan your trip to Pangkor Island
In this section of the travel guide, we’ll help you plan your own trip to Pangkor Island.
So here you’ll find why you should visit, when to visit, how to get there by bus and ferry, where to stay on the island, and other general travel tips for Pangkor Island.
Why visit Pangkor Island
Not sure whether you should go for Pangkor Island or some other beautiful Malaysian Island? Then you landed on the right page.
Before diving into all the best things to do in Pangkor, we’ll quickly go through the top 3 reasons to why you should visit this island.
First, the island is easy to reach from Penang and Kuala Lumpur, which are two major tourist spots in Malaysia. So you can easily get there in half a day, which means spending the rest of the day on the beach!
Second, we never heard about the island before. That is pretty saying when you’re backpacking through Southeast Asia, and it means that Pangkor Island is not overrun by tourists. In other words, it’s kind of a hidden gem.
Third, we found that there are so many great things to do in Pangkor Island! If you rent a scooter, then you can spend the mornings exploring all corners of the island, and spend the afternoons relaxing on the beach.
When is the best time to visit
We recommend you to visit during the week days. In the weekends and on Malay holidays it can get really busy because a lot of Malays go on vacation on Pangkor. However, if you come during the week days, you basically have the whole island all to yourself.
The weather on Pangkor island is actually okay throughout the year. However, during September and October the rain can be much heavier and more frequent. This doesn’t mean that you can’t visit during these months, just be aware that the weather can change quickly. We visited in late August and the weather was just fine.
How to get to Pangkor island
Compared to most of the other countries in Southeast Asia, Malaysia has an amazing public transportation system. It’s comfortable, efficient, and cheap!
But since we never heard about the island before, we first had to figure out how to get to Pangkor. And after about a small hour of research, it was clear to us where we had to go. So to spare you an hour of your life spend on research, you can just follow this quick guide instead.
First of all, the ferry to Pangkor island leaves from a little port town called Lumut. So Lumut should be your destination from wherever you are.
Last time we visited, the ferry left every 45 minutes from Lumut to Pangkor Island, and the price was 14 RM for a return ticket. So check if you still get discount by purchasing a return ticket right away.
Kuala Lumpur to Pangkor island
From Kuala Lumpur (TBS) you can take a bus to Lumut for around 30 RM, and from Lumut you take the ferry to Pangkor island for 10 RM for a one-way ticket. The bus takes 4-5 hours, and the ferry takes about 30 minutes.
So going from Kuala Lumpur to Pangkor island will take 5-6 hours and cost you around 40 RM (without a return ferry ticket).
Penang to Pangkor island
From Penang (Butterworth) you can take a bus to Lumut for around 20 RM, and from Lumut you take the ferry to Pangkor island for 10 RM for a one-way ticket. The bus takes 3-4 hours, and the ferry takes about 30 minutes.
So going from Penang to Pangkor island will take 4-5 hours and cost you a total of 30 RM (without a return ferry ticket).
Where to stay in Pangkor Island
There are several areas to stay at in Pangkor Island. We recommend staying around Teluk Nipah Beach on the West Coast because you can find many restaurants here, there are a lot of water sport activities close by, and it’s only a short walk from Coral Beach, which is the best beach in Pangkor.
There aren’t that many hotels to choose from in Pangkor Island, but we’ve gathered what we think are the best ones in the list below.
Hotels in Pangkor Island
- Utan Teluk Nipah: Stay above sea level in a rustic cabin in the jungle and get close to nature. Breakfast is included in the price of this hotel.
- Pangkor Nature View House: Stay in your own chalet away from the main road and enjoy the peace and quiet of this hotel. This is the cheapest option of the 3 suggestions here.
- Nipah Guesthouse Pangkor: Stay in your own cottage in the middle of Teluk Nipah. This place is only a stone’s throw away from the beach – if you prefer that over the pool.
Pangkor Island Travel Tips
In the last part of the planning section, we just want to share a few travel tips for Pangkor Island.
- ATM & Bank: There is an ATM on the east side of Pangkor island close to the harbour in the main town. So you don’t need to carry a lot of cash with you prior to your visit.
- How to get around: When we needed to get around Pangkor Island, we just took a taxi. All the taxis in are pink, so you really can’t miss them! Ask at your accommodation for the price since we don’t remember it. The prices are fixed though, so you shouldn’t have to haggle.
- How long should you stay: We stayed in Pangkor for 5 nights and it was the perfect amount of time for us. We had enough time to spend days relaxing on the beach, yet we still got to see all the attractions and things to do in Pangkor island.
The best things to do in Pangkor Island
Now that we’ve covered all the practical things to know about Pangkor island, let’s get into the fun stuff!
It turns out that there is a lot more to Pangkor island than beaches – in fact there are quite a few attractions to see. So here is a small guide to all the best things to do in Pangkor island.
1. Beaches and water sports
There are many beaches to visit on Pangkor island. We lived close to Coral Beach on the west side of Pangkor, and we spent most of our time here. In our opinion, Coral Beach was the nicest beach on the island.
You can also rent a kayak from Coral Beach and go to the small island Pulau Giam. Pulau Giam is supposedly one of the best places to go snorkeling in Pangkor island. Unfortunately, we went to Pulau Giam on a windy day, so we never tried snorkeling.
Apart from kayaking and snorkeling, Pangkor Island also offers other fun things to do in the ocean. You can go on a banana boat with your friends, rent jet skis, or book a diving tour to see what’s below sea level.
If you prefer sunsets and calm beach days, then Coral Beach is a great spot!
2. Wildlife Spotting
Since most of Pangkor is still jungle, you will definitely spot some wild animals during your visit. It’s also possible to do a jungle trekking. However, you don’t have to go trekking in order to spot hornbills and monkeys.
Pangkor Island is especially known for its many hornbills, more specifically the Oriental Pied Hornbill. The hornbill is characterized by its massive yellow beak. You will know it when you see it!
Other animals to look out for are monkeys. One of the days, when we returned home from the beach, a whole family of monkeys was hanging out on the roof of our bungalow.
Monkeys are so funny to observe! But they’re also quite intimidating sometimes, so please keep your distance. They are wild monkeys, and they can be quite aggressive – especially when they are hungry… Which they always are.
3. Rent a Scooter
Pangkor is not very big, so renting a scooter is the perfect way to get around! We actually tried to rent bicycles, but we were luckily convinced by a local man to rent a scooter instead.
He gave us good advice because it turns out that the roads on the island are very hilly! Knowing us, we would probably have suffered going up and down those hills on rusty bicycles.
We paid 35 RM per day for scooter rental, maybe the price have gone up a bit since then. You can easily find scooter rentals around the island. Just ask your guesthouse for advice and they will help you.
The roads on Pangkor are well paved and there aren’t much traffic, which means that even beginners can give a scooter a go!
We spent a whole day exploring the East side of Pangkor Island, where most of the attractions and things to do are located.
4. The Floating Mosque
Masjid Al-Badr, also known as Pangkor island’s floating mosque, is probably one of the best attractions on the island.
It’s basically a beautiful mosque that’s build out in the ocean. How amazing does that sound?!
Since it’s a religious site, it’s completely free to visit Pangkor island’s floating mosque. By the entrance you can even borrow a robe to cover yourself up. So don’t worry if you’re not properly dressed, the mosque got you covered!
5. Fu Lin Kong Temple
One of the most bizarre, yet amazing things to do in Pangkor island, is to visit the Taoist temple – Fu Lin Kong.
It’s full of colorful figures and statues, the garden is built like a maze, and it has a rather sad-looking pond full of turtles. You can easily spend a long time discovering this amazing temple. Make sure to make it all the way to the top of the temple for an amazing viewpoint over Pangkor island.
And just like the floating mosque, the Fu Lin Kong Temple is completely free of charge!
6. Hindu Temple
The Hindu temple is situated in the Fishermen’s village right next to the ocean. Apparently it actually used to be a temple for fishermen before it turned into a Hindu temple. Its official name today is Kaliamman.
Just as the two other religious sites, visiting Kaliamman is completely free of charge.
7. Fishermen’s village
Pangkor is mostly known for fishing – in fact most of the East side is still one big fisherman village. Here you can go for a walk among the old houses and eat some good, fresh fish.
Overall, we think it’s safe to say that if you get tired of beach life, then there is a lot of other things to do and see in Pangkor island.
By now, you’re hopefully prepared to go visit Pangkor yourself. We were surprised with how many things that you can actually do on Pangkor Island, and we genuinely hope to be back in the future.
If you have any questions about Pangkor, then please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.
Thanks for reading and happy travels!
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This looks like a lovely place to visit with lots to see and do. I’d enjoy all the wildlife and water activities.
Oh it really is such a lovely island 🙂
Pangkor island is a beautiful little gem in Malaysia! Watch out for the monkeys though haha, they could become quite aggressive.
We absolutely loved Malaysia. Missed this gem though, although we did go to Langkawi which was incredible.
I heard many good things about Langkawi! This island is worth a visit for next time 😉 Enjoy your day.
Gorgeous. You can just see the lushness and beauty of this paradise. I would love to be sitting on that beach by the kayaks, looking out at that scene. Great post …thank you!
Thanks!! It really is a lovely place. We could all use a beautiful sunset on a beach these days 🙂
You’re welcome! You will have a wonderful time in Malaysia, there is so much to see. Thank you so much! 🙂
This is actually exactly how I discover hidden gems! Those unknown places on Google Maps are really the ones that intrigue me the most. I’m happy to see that you stumbled upon such a pretty island!
Haha Google Maps is the best!
I’ve never heard about this island, but it looks like and amazing place to visit, full of wildlife and beauty! I actually found a lot of beautiful beaches in Sri Lanka this year the same way using Google Maps 🙂
Do you need a special license to rent a scooter?
Haha there is no better way than looking at spots on Google Maps! 🙂
It’s very different from place to place, sometimes they don’t ask for anything. In our situation, they wrote our driver license numbers down. That was all. If you have a drivers license for a car you can always rent a scooter legally.
Malaysia is just beautiful! We’ve not (yet) made it there but it’s definitely on our bucket list and Pangkor Island will have to be part of our trip. Loved your photos and details, thanks for sharing!
That’s good to hear Arielle! There is so much to see and do, not only on Pangkor but in all of Malaysia. Definitely worth a spot on the bucket list 🙂 Thanks!