Perhentian Islands Beach Life & Backpacker Walk
Experience the Perhentian Islands' legendary beach culture — the Perhentians have been one of Southeast Asia's most celebrated backpacker destinations since the 1990s, combining budget beach bungalows, fresh seafood restaurants, and the some of the cheapest dive courses in the world with genuinely excellent marine biodiversity.
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Long Beach Backpacker Scene
Long Beach on Perhentian Kecil is the social centre of the Perhentian backpacker scene — the long, curved beach with its row of budget chalets, dive shops, beach bars, and the outdoor restaurants where fresh seafood is grilled over charcoal to order creates the most complete budget beach resort environment in Peninsular Malaysia. The evening atmosphere at Long Beach, when the string lights come on over the beach restaurants, the sound of the sea mingles with the music from the beach bars, and the day's snorkelers and divers gather for the communal dinner, is the most evocative experience of the classic Southeast Asian beach backpacker lifestyle.
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Coral Bay Perhentian Kecil
Coral Bay on the western side of Perhentian Kecil is the calmer and more sheltered alternative to Long Beach — the smaller bay with its gentler surf and the budget chalet operations overlooking the reef is preferred by those seeking a quieter beach experience than Long Beach provides. Coral Bay's house reef, accessible directly from the beach, has some of the best coral coverage on Kecil's western shore, and the sunset views from Coral Bay over the calm western sea are among the most photographed on the Perhentian Islands.
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Fresh Seafood Beach Restaurants
The beach restaurants of the Perhentian Islands serve the fresh seafood that is the culinary identity of the islands — the fish, prawn, squid, and crab brought in each morning by the local fishing boats are grilled, steamed, or cooked in Malay curry sauces and served at tables on the beach with the sand between the diners' toes and the sea visible in the darkness beyond the restaurant lights. The fresh fish grilled with the lime and chilli sambal, the tiger prawn curry, and the garlic butter squid served at the beachfront restaurants at prices far below mainland Malaysia are the most anticipated meals of the Perhentian visitor experience.
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Island Hopping Boat Tour
The island hopping snorkel tour between the Perhentian Islands visits the most celebrated snorkel sites in a half-day programme — the shared boat that takes visitors to Turtle Beach, the Coral Garden, the Shark Point shallows, and the shipwreck (a small vessel deliberately sunk as an artificial reef) provides the most comprehensive overview of the islands' marine environment in the shortest time. The boat tour format, where a dozen visitors share a boat between sites with a guide who locates turtles and points out marine life, provides access to the offshore sites that are difficult to reach by swimming from the beaches.
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Perhentian Budget Diving Culture
The Perhentian Islands offer the cheapest PADI Open Water diving certification in Malaysia — the dive centres that line Long Beach and Coral Bay compete intensely on price, making the Perhentians the first choice for budget travellers who want to learn to dive in Southeast Asian waters. The affordability of Perhentian diving (an Open Water course typically costs 30-50% less than the same course in the Maldives or Thailand's more expensive dive destinations) has made the islands one of the highest-volume dive training locations in Asia, and the quality of the marine environment (genuine coral reefs, abundant marine life, reliable turtle and shark sightings) ensures that the certified divers gain genuine reef diving experience during their training dives.
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Perhentian Sunset Viewpoint
The hill separating Coral Bay from the small beach on the northern tip of Perhentian Kecil provides the most elevated viewpoint on the island — the walk up the roughly maintained trail through secondary forest takes 20 minutes and rewards the effort with views over both bays, the sea between the islands, and the open South China Sea to the west where the sunset produces the most photogenic light of the Perhentian day. The viewpoint is most popular at sunset when the western-facing aspect provides the full colour display of the tropical sun setting over the sea, and the silhouette of Perhentian Besar in the middle distance frames the view.