Extra Photo Gallery: Room | Pool | Restaurant

LOCATION:
Right in the middle of the beach of Pasir Panjang Besar in Pulau Redang. Access from the mainland by boat at Merang jetty which is about 45 minutes north of Kuala Terengganu airport (TGG). If you are driving directly from Kuala Lumpur, the journey to Merang will take about 6 hours.

From Merang jetty, the fast boat journey will take anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour to Pulau Redang.

DESCRIPTION:
To be honest, I had quite a high expectation of this resort, especially after seeing the photos of Coral Redang Resort as shown in travel brochures and its official website. While you may have guessed that my experience was a few rungs short of the initial expectation, I can attest that nothing was really wrong with the resort, really. Overall, it was a decent experience, but not a spectacular one.

The resort is set on a lush landscaped garden of tropical shrubs, coconut trees and rolling greens. Most of the buildings are arranged to emulate a close-knit Malay kampong living of exquisite timber walls, red brick roof tiles, expansive gardens, et cetera. The only little exception is the standard room units which are placed in a two-storey building. Otherwise, you can find much better privacy and seclusion in the more premium semi-detached and detached units.

The standard room unit was average when it comes to internal furnishing. I really liked the entrance staircase that leads to the main door. It certainly gave a feel of a traditional village living. Added to that are fresh water pipes where you can wash up your feet before entering the room. The room amenities are quite basic - two single beds, timber-strip floor, a small wardrobe, electronic safe, kettle jug and attached bathroom with unappealing blue tiles and glassy shower door.

This is among the few resorts in Pulau Redang that boasts a swimming pool (others are Berjaya Redang Beach Resort and Laguna Redang Beach Resort). The pool is built on a slightly raised timber platform and lushly landscaped with tropical flowers and coconut trees. Having said that, I noticed that the swimming pool was severely under-utilised, mainly because the beautiful sandy beach of Pasir Panjang Besar is just right nearby. There is a groovy-looking poolside lounge called The Chicak bar which I liked a lot with both pool- and beach-view to boot. Newly arrived patrons (fresh off the boat, pun intended) will gather at The Chicak bar for check-in procedures.

The resort's only F&B outlet is the Matahari Restaurant which is opened at certain periods of the day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I had my breakfast here and I thought the food was ordinary. Other than that, the resort hosts a good dive centre which is also a water-based activity centre for those looking to rent snorkeling equipment or to hire tour boats.

REVIEWED ON:
July 2006

MY VERDICT:
Great resort ambience and superb landscaping. Average overall experience.

MY RATING: