Tioman Vacation

Usually people spend 3 days at Tioman (or most nearby vacations). We opted for 4 days, over the weekend.

So a few weekends ago I went to Tioman Island with a group of friends, 3 people in total.

So Tioman Island is an island off the East coast of West Malaysia, under the state of Pahang.

We stayed at Berjaya Resort, and travelled with WTS Travel Agency. So a journey from Singapore to Tioman entails a coach from Singapore to Mersing, Johor, then a ferry from Mersing to the island itself.

For a 4D3N trip, the price worked out to less than SGD$350 per person, for accommodation and transport there. Also included in this package were a total of 5 meals, and a 1 hour snorkeling session.

First impressions: If you've never been to Tioman before, you'd not know how disconnected the attractions are from each other.

I made a rough map of the island and various attractions where we wanted to explore:

Turns out, even the walk from the City Centre (actual name: Tekek) to Berjaya Resort spanned across a moderately tall hill, sandy tracks and was basically an unwalkable distance and terrain.

The idea was that each resort had enough amenities / entertainment / facilities to keep you occupied for your entire trip, and you wouldn't need to leave the resort for other necessities.

Of course, you are not barred from travelling, and to travel from point to point on the island, the taxi service was very established. There were Transport Counters at the entrance of the resort, and offered to give us a lift to various places, for reasonable fees.

Upon realising this, we spent most of our time there at the resort, which had access to the beach, a pool, restaurant, a game room and some souvenir stores.

We did spend half a day at Tekek's Duty Free Store, where the alcohol was dirt cheap since Tioman is a Duty Free Zone, and a day out to Juara Beach. There was also a lot of kayaking, walking down the beach and snorkeling.

Here's me in a kayak: