Originally Posted by
essexnyc
Thank you, Nov11 and miuk - I can dive in the Caribbean over the summer instead.
Which would then lead to the question - if I did not dive, then traveling from Kota Kinabalu and to Singapore (from which we will fly from back to New York), what would be the most luxurious beach resort to spend a few days at the end of our trip?
We would swim, eat, snorkle, etc. but also explore the area.
The St. Regis Langkawi looks beautiful and I have heard great thing about the service, and the price is good for a beachfront pool suite.
The resorts near Kota look nice, but not to the level we would want. The One and Only Desaru looks awesome but is close to double the St. Regis price, and the Anantara is kind of in between. The St. Regis sounds like the sweet spot, or am I wrong?
I think based on your travel plans, Desaru seems to fit your bill since its close enough to Singapore where you easily get a transfer via land. I don't really recall much in that area (i probably visited that area like 20-30 years ago) but looking at social media posts of folks that i follow, One and Only really looks good and it was very popular during Covid when the country was in lockdown as a luxury get away.
As for Langkawi, i've stayed at both the Kuah part of the island, ie Westin next to St Regis and also the west part where The Datai is. Exploration wise, Kuah really has nothing much to do except for shoplots selling duty free booze and dollar stores. The yacht club is pretty cool for a sundowner. The other side of the island, west/sunset side/airport side, has this place called Cenang, think of it like Aonang in Thailand or that main road in Phuket. You also get the rice fields and the mountains/waterfalls as well. Takes about 30 mins driving from one end to the other end.