Ritz Carlton Langkawi
I had found this place accidentally while searching around Asia for resorts, and despite having a friend who is native Malaysian, I had never heard of Langkawi. After some research I found it is basically the Malaysian Smokey Mountains, the park/nature/tourist location most visited by locals. I looked up flights from the Capital and found them ridiculously cheap, and having a pile of Marriott points, I booked 5 days at this resort. The website was a bit enticing for me, which also helped cement the deal.Arrival
I flew into the Langkawi airport from Kuala Lumpur mid-afternoon, and I had pre-arranged a car to the Ritz Carlton Langkawi so all I had to do was collect my luggage from the domestic side, and walk out to the driver. Kinda effortless, but it is a smaller airport so you have to use the stairs to get down from the plane.Located on the other side of the bay from the airport, it took only about 15 minutes to get to the resort and into the reception lounge where my loyalty concierge informed me that not only had I gotten an upgrade (which I knew, thanks to the app) but that he selected the best of that room type for me. He wasn't lying as you will see below. Well, then it was on a cart to be driven to my ocean front villa, still with the sun up.
The Room
So, on to my upgrade. I was able to get the Larger Ocean Front Villa, which... is a 3,000 square foot villa with huge bathroom, dressing room, living room, dining area, private huge pool, private overwater balcony/gazebo and private entrance from the road.But on the way to the villa, I was informed this was the best of the large villas. They have 3 or 4 of them, but this one sits farther out on the shore than any other, so the view is spectacularly uninterrupted. If there is more you could want, I don't have an idea what that would be right now.
3D interactive room tour, use your mouse or fingers to move around and see other rooms.
The Floorplan for direct room click access which was so huge I had to spring for an upgraded blueprint project to get a bigger floor image.
Dining and Drinking
4 places to eat formally, and of course, your room. They have international, bar, steak, and Chinese restaurants. I ate at all of them with a grand finale of an in-villa bbq dinner orchestrated by one of the executive chefs of the hotel. Some of them have so much they are their own sections for display purposes.Beach Grill
The main steak restaurant, but also the fallback for the breakfast when Langkawi Kitchen is having work done. Just an amazing place, indoor and over the bay.Langkawi Kitchen
The Kitchen, is the everything place with food from all over the world as well as the regular breakfast buffet location, in the forest.In Villa BBQ
I figured the in-villa bbq deserved its own section, so here it is! It wasn't cheap, but it wasn't bad either. Around $300 for 2 people including wine, which is what you would spend at a high end place in the United States.This was such an exceptional experience that normally I would never have tried, and now I don't ever want to miss such a thing.
Hotel Amenities
Nighttime
As with many tropical resorts, at night the glow is pretty magical. This one isn't fully lit every square inch, but you don't need a flashlight either. The serenity of walking around at night is not to be missed though.Extraneous Shots
Things that didn't fall into the other categories well.
Nice place to sit and get acclimated while your introduction the resort is happening
Some drinks and snacks of the Malaysian persuasion
The map of the resort
My welcome letter, and my special rewards card of freebies for being high Marriott status
Crazy thing Indra did while servicing my room
The minibar, and the first time in 16 years, I used items out of it
Treats in a traditional game
Sunrise first day
Sunrise day 3
Sunrise day 4
What a glow
Daytime view which tells you that a reservation here is kinda of special with the limited seating
Some of the menu items (the food here was incredible)
Chef's treat, I still don't know what this was
The chicken and sauces and the beef, and just making my mouth water again looking at this picture
First nights snack dinner at Horizon, the beach bar
Horizon's bar leaves very little to be desired
Horizon drinks are very fanciful
Dinner/snacks another evening at Horizon
The suns last kiss on my cocktail
Sunset at Horizon is a very beautiful spectacle
Ships far off on the horizon from Horizon waiting to lure Squid in the burn of the death of the day
Had to get steak at least one night
The full menu at the Beach Grill
The Beach Grill drink menu
The Beach Grill bar, if you are here for the evening and not at Horizon
The breakfast stations while this was the location for the buffet (which I really liked it being here)
All the juices
Tasty specialties
Roti John, Malaysian egg sandwiches
Rote Canai, just delicious crazy good
Exceptional and delectable pastries
Asian Noodles, which I did have one of the days. A nice mellow option
Nasi, I didn't touch this
More pastries, and if you know me, you know I took donuts
Line of stations
Bottomless mimosas. Yes, literally
More Malaysian standards
This is the Roti Canai, I had several servings
More inviting roti
Pastry orgy
Breakfast menu with no prices because it's all in the buffet
Kickass over the jungle seating
Seductive lighting on the interior
Ah yes, the mimosas, as long as you can continue to order them they continue to give them
Lots of sweet bread items
The nasi again, just wasn't my type of food
Cheeses and cold cuts
Complicated Malaysian breakfast items of rice and noodles already prepared
This is the full English area, minus pork bacon (all halal here)
Like you walked into a patisserie
Noodles!
Porridge with all the things you can add. I don't get the beans part
Fancier take on the full English foods
My omlette and about 5 eggs in just for breakfast that day
Fancy foo foo mocha
The grill where the magic happens. The tiger keeps away the local monkeys (no, for real)
The menu of the evenings offerings, each is a full item, not a taster sample
My private balcony all setup for the dinner
Such overkill
Almost ready for dinner
Starting with wine, breads and the salads
More of the salads
Lobster and fish, the lobster was actually quite flavorful and wasn't just a butter injection delivery method
Striploin and chicken skewers, so over the top.
The chocolate bombe for desert, plus fruits to help move all this food along
I got to use the gym once, just because of my work times I had to meet and being wiped out for a couple days
Kids center, Ritz genius marketing to get you to bring along more people, which means more dining
All kinds of activities and classes for the kids
Arranging a car from the resort was another great decision that worked out so perfectly
When I come, and I am going to come back (which is kind of a first for me at a resort) I will spend time here in the gameroom, with a drink
Water garden with beautiful flowers that are open in the morning, but close in the evening
Functional garden that supplements the food usage at the resort
The herb garden, used at the restaurants
Traditional Malaysian dance saying farewell to the day and honoring the ocean
Paddleboards, kayaks, snorkeling, right on the beach
Of course nighttime at Horizon is something that needs to be experienced
The forest is alive, with light
The beach at high tide. Those green lights are shrimp boats
Your daily weather report
The 3 bedroom villa, which was empty and used for a special elite Bonvoy members gathering put on by the resort
The condos/towers with the non villa/beach front rooms. The single kings, queens, junior suites, etc.
A flying squirrel resting on a tree
Come and make new friends
Summary
This is such a perfect resort. It's not so far over the top that eating and doing things is out of reach, but it's so far above normal you'll never forget it.The in-villa bbq - I still dream about it. Haiyan food still makes my mouth water. The tranquility is soul nourishing. Everything is taken care of for you. This is the life of luxury.
Rob's big tip, spend 1-2 days at least in Kuala Lumpur getting time zone adjusted so you don't waste resort living getting acclimated.