San Francisco, CA - Luxury Travel Destinations in Asia - The Datai Langkawi - Luxury Travel Tips
SYNOPSIS: Located on a 46-acre site extending to a sheltered beach with a natural crescent of vanilla sand on one side and otherwise enveloped by virgin rainforest 10 million years old. The resort is a beautiful sanctuary for nature lovers. Flying lemurs, chee
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Located on a 46-acre site extending to a sheltered beach with a natural crescent of vanilla sand on one side and otherwise enveloped by virgin rainforest 10 million years old. The resort is a beautiful sanctuary for nature lovers. Flying lemurs, cheerful dusky leaf monkeys, great hornbill birds and hundreds of butterfly species call The Datai home; sharing their habitat feels an enormous privilege and visitors of all ages will be delighted by frequent wildlife encounters and the numerous walks on offer. The airport is within a 40-minute drive.
The austere interiors of the Datai purposely play second fiddle to the rainforest surrounding it. As designer Didier Lefort says: “If you’re in a remarkable setting, allow it to make the statement.” As such, the rooms are perfunctory and unfussy. Plain timber-framed buildings look out onto the dense canopy of the rainforest; clearly finished rooms are only rarely enlivened by bright yellow pops, new blues and other colors taken from the surrounding countryside. With so much natural beauty all around, the minimalist style Lefort finds appealing.
How wild would you like it to be? The bedrooms at the entry level have views over the treetops and are close to the pool on the forest side. More in the thick of it are the Rainforest villas— calm spaces in the midst of the thrum, buzz, and chirp with beds draped in white muslin, deep-brown timber floors, ceiling beams, and pop-open-and-close blinds. In the bathrooms, large windows keep things bright and airy. There's plenty of seating for wildlife spotting — but lock the door to your patio, otherwise the sly macaques break into the fruit bowl to steal mangoes. For the feeling of being right in the trees, the Rainforest villas would always be our choice but also find the larger beachside villas for the lappable swimming pools.
The Pavilion restaurant is built on stilts so that you can see colugos — shy, flying lemurs gliding through the canopy— while snuffing down creamy massaman curries and coconut sorbet pandan custard. From pain au chocolat hybrids to rainbow-colored juices and wok-fried noodles, breakfasts-included in the rate-are a feast of everything. At the Gulai House restaurant, there are traditional Malaysian and Indian dishes such as cauliflower masala, palak paneer, and beef rendang; head to the poolside bar to graze on Wagyu burgers and coconut and chocolate sundaes.
Langkawi's hotel scene has sprung up in recent years — with heavy hitters like Four Seasons, St. Regis, and Ritz-Carlton rubbing against smaller, more proven classics like Bon Ton and Temple Tree — but The Datai's jungle-beach setting and attention to detail sets it apart well.









