A very unique and unusual resort situated on the beautiful Malaysian Island Langkawi…
TEMPLE TREE RESORT IN LANGKAWI
Temple Tree resort is located 10-minute drive from Langkawi’s airport, and just 5 minutes drive from Pantai Cenang beach. Built on a 100 years old coconut plantation, and the idea of the resort is very interesting. It’s basically a collection of 9 beautiful traditional Malay, Indian, Chinese, and Eurasian private villas that are 70-110 years old, and every house is unique and has its own style. The houses are styled with Asian antiques and decorations, to give you the feeling you’re staying at your very own Asian house.
The location of the resort is ideal, as it’s close to Cenang street and that’s basically where all the restaurants and cafes are. It’s also close to the airport, and many places on the island. We have stayed at many different places on the island during our visits to Langkawi, and we found that the most convenient location to stay in is around the area of the Temple Tree resort. We also strongly recommend that you rent a car at the airport upon arrival, as it will be very easy for you to explore the island and drive around from one place to another, plus it’s very affordable.
The house that you see in the picture above is a 90 years old Eurasian house, now named The Strait Club House, it welcomes the guests to the resort, there is also a restaurant, a pool table, a bar and a library there. It operates daily from 11 am until midnight.
We stayed at the black and white house, it’s a Malay house that was built in the 1940’s in Mantin in the state of Negri Sembilan, south of Kuala Lumpur. It’s a complete house that consists of a huge bedroom with a traditional wooden bathtub, a living and dining area, separate bathroom with 2 showers, and one more bedroom with 2 single beds. It’s a very unique house, and every room in the house/villa tells a story. It also comes with a lovely porch which is also the entrance to the house, and we were told that the original house came with a kitchen which was underneath the house, but it’s no longer there.
There are also bigger houses at the property (9 houses in total) that can accommodate groups of people, and some houses can accommodate up to 5 bedrooms which is perfect for a group of friends or a huge family!
You can enjoy a relaxing morning by the swimming pool, there are 2 pools in total, with some sun beds and a relaxing atmosphere.
There is an interesting story behind the name of this resort and why it was called Temple Tree; there is a real Temple Tree at the territory of the resort (pictured above). It has been said that the temple bought a lot of lucky numbers to the Chinese that prayed there, which resulted in them winning bets by choosing the correct lucky numbers!
Now back to the black and white house, we thought that the house was very special (as you can tell from the name), but comes with very special and cheerful windows. The windows are made from colourful glass and give a beautiful effect when the sun shines through. The contrast is just wonderful with the black and white walls which is definitely very unique.
There’s a vintage wooden bathtub at the end of the room, with a beautiful tap, and a little bottle of natural massage oil is also provided.
The dining room is very special, again it comes with the gorgeous colourful windows, and an old wooden table that is very photogenic for food photography. And yes you guessed it, I took a few pictures of fruits to use on the blog!
There’s also a little fridge in there, and every evening it’s filled with breakfast food to have on the next morning. You can also make your own coffee and tea, as everything you may need is provided.
There were fresh flowers in a vase on the table of the dining room, and that touch definitely adds a lot to the place as there are never “too many” flowers in the world! Because who doesn’t love flowers?
I was absolutely in love with the carpet (Picture above) and now I will have to order one for my own house, it’s very cheerful and such things in life make me very happy!
Now to my favourite part of this resort, and why I would LOVE to go back one day. If you love cats and dogs, THEN THIS IS THE PLACE FOR YOU! The lovely owner of the resort Narelle McMurtrie (She’s Australian by the way) decided to make a shelter for stray animals (mainly cats and dogs) on the island. It is also worth mentioning that 50% of profits go straight to Langkawi Animal Shelter & Sanctuary Foundation (LASSie). So you’re not only staying at the resort to enjoy the unique experience, but you’re also spending your money on a good cause. And all I can say is that the cats & the dogs are spoilt and happy living there, I mean, who wouldn’t be happy to live in such a resort?
And we made quite a few friends there, meet Tofu (in the picture below), who happens to be the most popular cat at the resort. He is very loved by the guests and if you go to the Tripadvisor website and find Temple Tree Resort, you will find lots of pictures of Tofu! He’s very handsome, photogenic, and friendly!
The bathroom was very spacious and interesting. There were 2 showers inside, 2 sinks, and a wooden floor. Clean fresh towels are brought in every day, and high-quality shampoo and shower gel are also available.
The villa was so big that there was an extra room with 2 single beds that we didn’t get to use, as we were only 2. But this villa can also be perfect for a family.
Our little porch came with a bench, a table and 2 chairs. And that was basically the entrance to our Black & White house.
Now meet OUR cat (Picture above), we don’t know this cat’s name, however, I called him “Beesi” (That’s how I call any cat that I see). He seems to live at the Black & White house as he was always waiting for us at the door when we came back, and would sleep on our bed at night! But don’t worry, he doesn’t move much, he’s not noisy, and is very friendly, so if you stay at the Black & White house please do let him in, the little cute fur ball will curl at the foot of your bed, and he will not annoy you I can guarantee that!! If he’s not sleeping, he would just follow you around. He’s also one of the main reasons why I would love to go to Langkawi again!
More cute purring cats at the Straits clubhouse…
And at the reception…
Outdoors…
Oh, look there’s sleepy Tofu again (picture above!) – Strait’s clubhouse.
Stretching because life is good at Temple Tree 🙂
Now you might think, when is the best time to visit Langkawi? I would recommend going between February and April if you want to go and get lots of sunshine, and not too much rain! I personally would go any time of the year if I get the chance to, as I love this island so much I wouldn’t mind living there!
So if you’re looking for an interesting resort to stay at while in Langkawi, I highly recommend that you book a stay at the Temple Tree resort, it’s a very unique experience that you can only find there! And you will love it, especially if you love cats!
Disclosure: We were guests of the Temple Tree Resort, they invited us in exchange for a review. Thank you to Temple Tree for inviting us and we hope to visit again in the future. This post contains affiliate links.