My fiancee and I are currently in the planning stages of our honeymoon. It looks like we're going to head to Penang and stay at the Bayview Beach Resort.

From all reports the hotel is great (please, do tell me if that's not right...) but it's out of the way.

Is there enough transport on Penang to make staying at this hotel beneficial, or are we better off staying somewhere closer to Georgetown?

We'll be in Penang over Chinese New Year, so I'm hoping that there will be things to do all over the island. Would I be right in that assumption?

Please, bombard me with any information on the hotel, the island, the transport on the island, the food, the culture, whatever you can!

Batu Ferringhi is the main beach strip for tourists on Penang - there's a reasonable selection of hotels along there (including the Shangri-La and Holiday Inn, along with a few others). If you're going for a beach holiday, you'll be disappointed - the beach isn't that great and I wouldn't recommend taking a swim in the water. As for romance, it wouldn't be my first choice for a honeymoon destination anyway.

As for getting into Georgetown, it's easy enough to do by taxi (about RM30-40 I think) and there's a regular bus as well. Takes about 30 minutes. There's decent sights around the city centre if you're interested in the heritage buildings, and plenty of good food to be found too. Can be worth taking a day tour to see some of the other sights as well, such as going up the cable car and visiting some of the temples.

Penang's got enough to keep you entertained for a few days, and so long as you keep the expectations low about the beach side of things it's alright.

Agree with above poster. Penang is okay, not exactly the place I'd expect one to choose for a honeymoon, but it's pretty nice there. Is there a reason you didn't choose Phuket or Fiji or French Polynesia or something like that? Those would seem to me to be more "honeymoon-like" to me. As the above poster mentioned, the beaches in Penang are okay, but they're nothing like Hawaii, California, Florida, Bora Bora, etc beaches. I've stayed at both the Shangri-La properties on Batu Ferringhi, and they were both fairly nice, but I've never stayed at the hotel you mention. There are lots of taxi's on Penang that are cheap and easy to find. You should have no problem getting from anywhere on Penang to Georgetown by taxi for fairly cheaply. There are some fun tourist things to do on the beaches, like parasailing, jetski rentals, and horseback riding that are all pretty fun. I don't know why the previous poster reccommended against swimming in the ocean there, it seemed nice enough to me. Granted it was slightly dirty but not that bad IMHO.................

I LOVE PENANG

So i am biased, but Penang has always been an ideal location, the weather is always sunny with a sea breeze, there's history in all the old buildings, plenty of good food and if you can wrench yourselves away from the hotel the food along Batu ferringhi on the street side cafes is brilliant. Last trip we stayed at the shangrila and down the road we found a spot that was full every night with tourists. There were maybe 20 or so vendors selling all style of food from satays to crabs to curries, and we ate there most nights for as little as $20 which included a beer or two. Taxis are cheap, but if you want one cheaper grab one off the street. getting the doorman to bring one in and it's extra. From memory we used to go uptown for $5, but we found staying in the area for a while that there was a fairly set rate for tourist. Malaysia is a muslim country so don't be surprised when there is no bacon to go with your eggs, and just make sure you don't have a mosque under your bedroom window which we had when we stayed at the Golden sands. 5.30am each morning the loud speakers would blare out a welcome to all the faithful. They move us three times during that stay. BEACH, well the hotels have such good pools ,there's little reason to venture onto the beach but if you do there are the hawkers and the massage guys but that's Asia all over, everywhere you go there is someone trying to sell you something and initially it's fun but it can become tiresome. You will have a wonderful time in Penang, the exchange rate is unbelieable, the food is brilliant, the sun is hot and the happy hours are generous. Gurney Plaza was good for shopping and so were the markets in Penang, visited 5 different lots and found the prices cheaper than BKK, but you had to bargain hard. The airport is laid back and old and not a problem to sort out. regards bkkrop

Yes, I second the reccommendations on the shopping and markets as well as the food hawker stands down by the Shangri-La. Definitely fun to haggle with the people while shopping for some stuff...........................^

Well I'm afraid I have to disagree. We DID go to Penang on honeymoon and it was awful.

We stayed in the Mutiara which was dated and remote. We spent plenty on taxis to Batu Ferringhi and I was amazed we survived any of the journeys, they drive all over the place and most of the roads are coastal cliff roads and scary!

I found Georgetown to be scary and intimidating.

The only part of our Malaysian honeymoon I'd recommend to anyone was Kota Kinabalu.

Or better still, avoid Malaysia altogether and go to Vietnam, way more special IMO.

Though I agree Penang has its own charm, it isnt exactly a honeymoon destination. And a place to avoid during major festive seasons, when "half the country" converge there since its a very popular local destination.

I also agree that Penang would not be in my top ten for honeymoon destinations. Bali, Phuket, or Koh Samui offer far more for the same price. I have heard good things about Langkawi which is very close to Penang but I've never been there.