Bubu Long Beach Resort in Perhentian Kecil Review

Bubu Long Beach Resort in Perhentian Kecil Review

bubu long beach

Perhentian Islands is consists of two islands, the Perhentian Kecil island and the Perhentian Besar island. They are located in the east coast of Peninsula Malaysia under the state of Terengganu in the beautiful South China Sea. Kecil means small in Malay and Besar means big. It has been a while since we visited an island in the east coast of Peninsula Malaysia and thus we decided to visit Perhentian Kecil recently before the start of the monsoon season. After many good recommendations from friends and number one in TripAdvisor, we decided to stay in Bubu Long Beach Resort and Bubu Villa in Perhentian Kecil Island. We stayed two nights in Bubu Long Beach Resort and two more nights in Bubu Villa.

How to go to Perhentian Islands?

Well, there are two ways to go to Perhentian Islands. Either we drive all the way from Kuala Lumpur or fly to there. The jetty to Perhentian Islands is Kuala Besut and the nearest airport is Kota Bahru airport and not Kuala Terengganu airport. The journey from Kota Bahru airport to the jetty takes an hour while it takes double the time from Kuala Terengganu airport.

bubu resort speed boat

The beauty of staying in Bubu Long Beach Resort is you can get the transport arrangement sort out by them. They will arrange a dedicated van to pick you up from the airport to transfer you to the jetty. Thus, from the jetty they will transport you to the resort via their own speed boat. From jetty, it takes around 45 minutes to reach the Perhentian Kecil island.

perhentian kecil jetty view — Check out the water from the jetty.

There is a jetty on Perhentian Kecil island and the Bubu Long Beach Resort is located just beside the jetty. On the jetty, you can see the crystal clear sea and you can actually snorkelling below the jetty.

For your information, the Long Beach in Perhentian Kecil island is voted as the 13th best beach in CNN Travel World’s Best Beaches in 2013. It is not just the award as you can see the beauty of the beach with your eyes.

bubu resort beach — The Long Beach in front of Bubu Resort.

We were there during the end of the season as the monsoon season is reaching in the middle of October. Many people told us it will be raining every day in October in Perhentian Kecil. In our four nights stay on the island, there were rains in some days for a few hours only and usually in the evening. Some days were sunny and some days were cloudy, it didn’t rain non-stop as we were told. To be fair, do check the weather forecast as it was quite accurate.

bubu resort lobby view — The view of the beach and sea from the lobby

We were greeted by the friendly staffs of Bubu Long Beach Resort with the welcome drinks. The view from the ‘lobby of the resort’ is breath taking. We have been to many islands in South East Asia but the view here is definitely one of the best.

bubu resort rooms — Bubu Long Beach Resort Perhentian Island

The resort is a three storey building with limited units of rooms. This is what we love about the resort as the rooms are limited so it is not filled with guests. If we want an island getaway, we want a quiet, retreat and comfortable resort and Bubu Long Beach Resort fits our requirement.

The Room

bubu resort twin bed room

To be frank, the room is not that huge but it is clean and well maintained. Bubu Long Beach Resort has been around for years but they are still well maintained. We were told that every year, they will repair and refurbished the rooms during the monsoon season and that’s the reason the rooms are well maintained.

bubu resort bathroom — The bathroom with water heater.

The room comes with no TV, fully air-conditioned 24/7, wardrobe, two mineral water, security safe, water heater, towels and bathrobes. After a long day, you don’t need a TV but a good rest and sleep.

The Activities

perhentian island windmill view — The view from the windmill peak.

There are plenty of things to do on Perhentian Kecil. You hike up the hill to the windmill, walk to the other side of Coral Beach, snorkelling by the beach or island hopping, swimming and sun tanning. There are three snorkeling trips and they are Big Island Snorkeling, Baby Islands Snorkeling and Island Hopping.

perhentiand island snorkeling — Snorkeling time

Based on their recommendations, the best snorkelling trip is Big Island Snorkeling which is a three hours trip from 10am inclusive of snorkelling in turtle point, fish point or shark point. We saw three sea turtles and many sharks during our snorkelling trips for the Big Islands Snorkeling.

perhentian island coral beach — The Coral beach on the other side of the island.

The Food

Their restaurant is called Santai Restaurant. Santai simply means ‘chilling’ in Malay. For your information, Santai Restaurant is a very popular restaurant in Perhentian Islands. They are often packed during dinner time as they well known for its good food. There are many visitors from other resorts and also from Perhentian Besar island would come here for the food. This is how good Santai Restaurant is and it is a blessing the restaurant is part of Bubu Long Beach Resort. Santai Restaurant offers local and French cuisine.

bubu resort seafood platter — ‘Seafood Platter for Two’

We ordered the ‘Seafood Platter for Two’ for the first evening. It comes with a selection of seafood served hot and cold with slipper lobster, king prawns, giant clams, scallops, mussels, calamari, fish and smoked salmon. First of all, we were surprised by the freshness of the seafood. We loved the cream sauce that comes with the giant clams and scallops. The seafood is well seasoned and grilled to perfection. We would come back for this anytime and this is highly recommended.

bubu resort grilled platter — ‘Planche De Grillades’.

For the second evening, we ordered ‘Planche De Grillades’. The Planche De Grillades comes with grilled rack of lamb, beef mignon, king prawns, chicken, grilled vegetables and roasted potatoes with port wine reduction. It is hard to believe to find such good quality food in Perhentian Kecil. We fell in love with the grilled rack of lamb and the beef mignon. The seasoning and the texture of the meat was gorgeous. This grilled meat platter is better than many establishing restaurants in Klang Valley!

bubu resort top view — The view of the resort from top

We were more than happy staying in Bubu Long Beach Resort. Located at the 13^th best beach of the world and the breath taking view of the South China Sea, it is worth every penny staying in Bubu Long Beach Resort. Overall, we were impressed by the service of the hotel, the cleanliness of the room, the gorgeous food, the sandy white beach and the crystal clear sea water. This is totally more than our expectation. If you want a perfect island getaway, Bubu Long Beach Resort in Perhentian Kecil is one of top recommendations without breaking a bank. We will post our review on Bubu Villa soon.