I may have found Paradise

I  find it such an honour to still be blown away whenever I travel despite having been to 108 countries. Yet, this world is so large that we can never finish exploring it even in a million lifetimes.

It is a double-edged sword to write this post. I think I may truly have found Paradise. Writing about it and sharing it with the world would make it less a secret, but this place is so brilliant, I just have to write this blog post.

The Paradise I may have found is a place called Wisana on Redang Island, situated on the northeast coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

10 reasons why Wisana Redang may be Paradise on Earth:

1- The Exclusivity

There are only ten units that make up Wisana Redang. So although the Seychelles and Maldives were equally amazing, the seclusion and exclusivity of having very few people around, is what makes this place so special.

I couldn’t believe it when told that they do zero marketing. They aren’t on booking.com or any other websites. The marketing that is done is purely by word of mouth.

As there were so few guests, it also meant that it was easier to bond with one another. We had fun learning to play the ukulele with some new German friends we made on the beach one afternoon.

2- The white sandy beach

The beach is perfect. As good as the Maldives, Seychelles, the Caribbean, anywhere.

It is a long stretch of beach (around 200 meters perhaps) just for Wisana Redang guests.

The little black dot in the picture below is our 4 year old son.

3- Crystal clear blue waters

I couldn’t get enough of the beauty of the crystal clear blue waters. After doing yoga at sunrise on my last morning there, a lady came up to me and asked if I had seen the baby shark that swam right up to the beach near me whilst I was doing yoga. Sadly I didn’t see it!

There were many times too when our 4 year old would be the only person swimming in the sea as far as the eye can see.

4- Turtles every day of the year

The real reason I wanted to go to Redang was because of the turtles. I had seen enough pictures and videos of friends who had been to Redang swimming with turtles and couldn’t wait to experience it firsthand.

What made Wisana special was, you didn’t need to go on a snorkeling trip to Turtle Point to see the turtles. All you had to do was swim out from the beach just a few steps from your accommodation!

First swim within the buoys from our beach, I sadly saw none. Second swim taking Ilyas our 4 year old with me, I saw my first turtle. It was wonderful seeing it eating the sea grass with the pilot fishes attached to it.

I sent Ilyas back and ventured out further on my own and saw 3 turtles this time.

Next morning around 11 am, I saw 5 turtles. On my last morning at 8 am, I saw 3 turtles.

The Finnish woman who stayed next to us said she had seen 21 turtles last year during a 7 am swim. Amazing!

I was told that there are turtle sanctuaries on the west coast of the island and if you arrange it beforehand, it could be possible to visit them – roughly 30 minutes speedboat ride away.

5- Amazing sunrise

It was such a treat to be able to walk just ten steps towards the beach and witness the sun rising above the five islands in the distance every morning just before 7am.

I made it a point to wake up early every morning to do yoga as I watched the sunrise during our time there. What a treat!

6- Malaysian home cooked meals

There is nowhere else to eat when staying at Wisana as there is a hill right behind the property. The full-board option comes with breakfast, lunch, tea break and dinner.

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of food they prepared at every meal. It felt as if I had gone home to see my late grandmother and she was the one in the kitchen cooking for me.

For the foreigners, there is always a western food option at every meal – pasta, fries, mushroom soup and garlic bread, etc.

Apart from cereal and toast with butter and jam which were available 24/7, the kids always loved the cakes (pandan cake in picture below) they served at every meal.

7- Kind, respectful staff

Lini, the lady at Reception told me that she is the 8th generation from Redang Island. The owners of Wisana are her uncles and till today is a family run business, the only other Malay run business on the island. Everyone working there is related somehow.

The staff were super kind and always attentive to our every need.

8- Hiking possibilities

We were told that it would take 45 minutes to hike up the hill behind Wisana. Peter went with a guide one morning so he could be my guide the next day in order to watch the sunrise from another view point.

It took him and us 25 minutes to reach the top. A fairly grueling hike of what amounted to climbing 56 floors according to the iPhone Health App.

We were drenched in sweat from head to toe. We left the room at 6.10 am in the dark and arrived around 6.35 am at the top, ample time before the sun rose around 6.50 am.

We left the kids in the hands of one of the staff members.

9- Safe environment for kids

As there are only ten units that make up Wisana and the only access there is by boat, there really is no one else around apart from the staff and guests of Wisana itself.

We let our two older boys (ages 4 and 2+) roam around the area on their own. The kind staff would always keep an eye out on them for us, telling them not to venture too far away from the reception area.

They had fun playing with sand and constantly washing their feet after, watering the many plants around the reception, and honestly, I’m not even sure what else.

Whenever the kids were hungry, I would tell them to ask one of the staff members for something to eat and they would come back with a piece of cake or toast with butter and jam.

10- Peace and tranquility

If what you need is to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life, Wisana couldn’t be more perfect. It is secluded, it is beautiful, it is calm, peaceful and tranquil.

We appreciated the area where guests can lie, relax and chill at by the restaurant, looking out to the sea.

Another point is there are basically no boats coming up to the beach to drop tourists off except the guests which are very few. What we didn’t like about Krabi in Thailand was the constant sound of boats coming in and out of Railay Beach.

How to get there:

Flying from Europe to Malaysia is cheap and easy (as cheap as EUR 450 from Zurich and less from London via Dubai, Istanbul, Doha, Singapore, etc.).

We then took an Air Asia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Terengganu. From there we took a Grab (like Uber) car to the Merang Jetty (roughly 30 minutes ride for RM 30).

It is a 45 minutes speedboat ride from there to Wisana Redang. Return for RM 110 per adult, RM60 per child between 3 and 12 years old.

Other guests’ reviews:

We met a Moroccan family living in Brussels during our time there. Muhammad told us that he had been to all the other islands in the area many years ago (Tenggol , Lang Tengah, Perhentian and Kapas) and Wisana Redang was by far the best. He wanted to stay longer at Wisana but as it was fully booked, he had to stay at another resort on Redang beforehand and move on to the another island after.

Before we left, a family from Kazakhstan had just arrived and was going to spend 13 nights at Wisana Redang. If only we had as much time!

The Dutch-Finnish couple with their 2 year old that stayed next to us were visiting Wisana for the third year in a row.

The downsides:

1- Wi-fi

You can forget access to wi-fi when you’re at Wisana. Even 3G was sometimes challenging to get. The upside is of course that we finished reading the books we brought with us as there was ample time for reading.

2- The Food

If you’re not accustomed to eating local Malaysian food, the one Western option at each meal, might still not be sufficient. It wasn’t a problem for us luckily.

They also don’t serve alcohol but we saw some of the Germans had brought beer with them.

3- Accommodation

Even with the Deluxe option, the rooms are fairly basic. There is no TV in the rooms. The furniture seemed like they were built by someone from the village that didn’t quite learn how to put finishing touches to what they have built.

4- Entertainment

The lack of entertainment might be a problem for some, but it wasn’t for us. It was wonderful for the kids to not have any screen time and go back to reading their Mr Men books.

It also meant I was doing yoga twice a day!

Other points to consider:

Wisana also provides free boat shuttle to the sand bar and Kerengga Island that you can see across from the Wisana beach which we took advantage of one morning.

There were barely any mosquitoes at Wisana Redang. We were shocked. Having said that, our middle child was bitten quite a bit, but the rest of us were not. I was told that sand flies are brutal in Tenggol Island. We did not have this problem at all at Wisana Redang.

I remember being bitten alive at every cenote in Mexico. The mosquitoes there were out to get any living being and I will never forget the kind locals who shared their insect repellent with us.

There are 3 types of accommodation at Wisana (children below the age of 7 is free):

Standard Terrace: RM 245 per adult per night
Standard Duplex: RM 270 per adult per night
Superior Chalet: RM 295 per adult per night

We paid roughly USD 140 or EUR 126 per night – full board in a superior chalet with the most amazing beach and sea with turtles!
Click here for more info on their rates.

Finally, this island is closed due to the monsoon rains from December to February.

How does that compare to what you get elsewhere around the world?

Playa del Carmen, Mexico:

EUR 30 upwards gets you a nice AirBnB apartment about 5 blocks from the beach, access to amazing local food, but the seaweed issues that has hit the coast makes it no longer a great beach destination, and there are a lot of people.

We were lucky to have found this cenote that led to a beach (See the line of seaweed between the two in picture below) after talking to the guard of our AirBnb apartment.

Cartagena, Colombia:

EUR 50 upwards gets you a Hotel room in one of the neighborhoods or in the center. The beach there is however black sand, and no turtles.

We did have a nice beach experience at Playa Blanca in Isla Baru. The hassle however wasn’t worth the effort.

We also did a day trip to Tierra Bomba Island and the beach is inferior to Redang. I also remember it being so extremely hot that it was unbearable!

Krabi, Thailand:

EUR 80 per night gets you a good or amazing hotel room and access to cheap and delicious local food. The beach however cannot compete with Redang. The sand is brown and when the tide is low in the mornings and late afternoons, no one is swimming in the sea, which is such a shame.

As mentioned, the loud sound of the boats coming in and out with tourists was not appealing.

Redang Island, Malaysia:

EUR 126 per night gets you a basic accommodation, solid local food, one of the best beaches in the world at your doorstep with turtles swimming distance away, with barely any people in sight. That is worth gold to me.

Mauritius:

EUR 270 and upwards per night gets you an amazing hotel room with wonderful views. However  many of the beaches (including the Oberoi because of stone fish) are almost inaccessible as there are many corals.

Maldives:

EUR 270 and upwards per night gets you superb accommodation with a brilliant beach. However you are sharing this with a lot more than just 9 other occupants in the same resort. And there are no turtles guaranteed swimming distance away from the beach.

Seychelles:

EUR 400 and upwards per night gets you half board in the Seychelles and although the beach and sea are amazing, there were so many (particularly Chinese) tourists and the accommodation and meal quality weren’t even that great.

 

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If this post has made you decide to book a trip to Wisana Redang, please let me know and feel free to share this with your friends and family!

Click here for my other posts on Malaysia.