Langkawi, officially known by its sobriquet Langkawi, the Jewel of Kedah ( ms, Langkawi Permata Kedah ), is a
duty-free island and an
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
of 99 islands (plus five small islands visible only at low tide in the
Strait of Malacca) located some 30 km off the coast of northwestern
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
and a few kilometres south of
Ko Tarutao
Ko Tarutao island ( th, เกาะตะรุเตา) is the largest island of Tarutao National Marine Park in Satun Province of southern Thailand. The island is long and wide. It is one of the most unspoiled islands in Andaman Sea and in ...
, adjacent to the
Thai
Thai or THAI may refer to:
* Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia
** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand
** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand
*** Thai script
*** Thai (Unicode block ...
border. Politically, it is an administrative
district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
of
Kedah, with
Kuah
Kuah, Kuah Town or Bandar Kuah is a resort town, mukim and district capital of Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia. It is the entry point for those coming by ferry from either the mainland or Penang Island. The town is centered on its jetty, which is a ...
as its largest town. Pantai Cenang is the island's most popular beach and tourist area.
Etymology
The name ''Langkawi'' is thought to have existed by the early 15th century, although in the 16th century the
island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
of Langkawi was also marked on maps variously as Langa, Langka, Lansura, and Langapura.
There are many suggestions for the origin of the name of Langkawi. According to one interpretation, ''Langkawi'' means island of the reddish-brown
eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
, a
Brahminy kite in colloquial
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
.
The Malay word for eagle is (colloquially shortened to ), and is a red stone used as a chalk to mark goods.
This interpretation was used to create the landmark sculpture of an eagle as the symbol of Langkawi at Dataran Helang (Eagle Square) in
Kuah
Kuah, Kuah Town or Bandar Kuah is a resort town, mukim and district capital of Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia. It is the entry point for those coming by ferry from either the mainland or Penang Island. The town is centered on its jetty, which is a ...
.
Some believed that Langkawi is the same as, or related to, the
Lanka
Lanka (, ) is the name given in Hindu epics to the island fortress capital of the legendary asura king Ravana in the epics of the ''Ramayana'' and the ''Mahabharata''. The fortress was situated on a plateau between three mountain peaks known ...
or Langkapuri mentioned in Indian sources. This ancient name Lanka (or Lankapura and Lankapuri) is found in Indian literature from an early period (named in ''
Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
'' as the city of the king
Ravana
Ravana (; , , ) is a rakshasa king of the island of Lanka, and the chief antagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' and its adaptations.
In the ''Ramayana'', Ravana is described to be the eldest son of sage Vishrava and rakshasi Kaikesi. He a ...
), although the identification of the original Lanka is not certain. or in Sanskrit means a town or city. The name Langkawi is also thought to be related to
Langkasuka, an old kingdom believed to have links with Kedah.
Some also thought that Langkawi means "many beautiful islands", being a Sanskrit word meaning "beautiful" while means "many".
In 2008, the then-sultan of Kedah,
Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah, conferred the title of (meaning 'Langkawi, the Jewel of Kedah') upon the island as part of his
golden jubilee
A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations.
Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali ''"সু ...
as an affirmation of Kedah's ownership over the island.
History
Langkawi had long been at the periphery of, but closely associated with, the domain of the
Kedah Sultanate
The Kedah Sultanate (كسلطانن قدح) is a Muslim dynasty located in the Malay Peninsula. It was originally an independent state, but became a British protectorate in 1909. Its monarchy was abolished after it was added to the Malayan Unio ...
. Legend tells of a great snake ''ular besar'', the custodian of the Langkawi Islands, to which a new king of Kedah must sacrifice a virgin daughter whenever he ascended the throne, or when war was declared with another state.
The island of Langkawi was recorded in history by various travellers to the region. It was called ''Lóngyápútí'' () in the 14th century by the
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
traveller
Wang Dayuan Wang Dayuan (, fl. 1311–1350), courtesy name Huanzhang (), was a Chinese traveller of the Yuan dynasty from Quanzhou in the 14th century. He is known for his two major ship voyages.
Wang Dayuan was born around 1311 at Hongzhou (present-day Nanch ...
. When the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
admiral
Zheng He
Zheng He (; 1371–1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred ...
visited the region, the island was marked as , ''Lóngyájiāoyǐ'', on his map. In the 15th century, it was known to the
Acehnese as ''Pulau Lada'' ('Pepper Island'). In 1691, the French general
Augustin de Beaulieu
Augustin de Beaulieu (1589–1637) was a French general, who in 1619 led an armed expedition to the East Indies composed of three ships (275 crews, 106 cannons) and called the "Fleet of Montmorency", after its sponsor the Admiral Montmorency.''A ...
recorded going to the island of "Lancahui" (Langkawi) to buy pepper,
and de Beaulieu was required to obtain a license from Kedah's heir apparent then in
Perlis before the ''
penghulu'' or chief of Langkawi would sell pepper to him.
Langkawi was historically home to
Austronesian peoples
The Austronesian peoples, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples in Taiwan, Maritime Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesia, Polynesia, and Madagascar that speak Austro ...
, such as the
orang laut or sea people originally from the southern part of the
Malay Peninsula
The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...
and
Malay people
Malays ( ms, Orang Melayu, Jawi: أورڠ ملايو) are an Austronesian ethnic group native to eastern Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and coastal Borneo, as well as the smaller islands that lie between these locations — areas that are ...
. It had been thought to be cursed for a couple of centuries. According to local legend, in the late 18th century, a woman named
Mahsuri
Mahsuri binti Pandak Mayah was a young woman who lived in Pulau Langkawi, an island in northwestern Kedah, Malaysia, during the late 18th century. According to folklore, she was accused of adultery and executed by stabbing. Her tomb, ''Makam Mah ...
was wrongfully accused of adultery and put to death. Before she died, she placed a curse on the island that would last for seven generations. Not long after Mahsuri's death, in 1821, the Siamese army invaded Kedah and attacked Langkawi. In the first attack, the locals burned down the granary at
Padang Matsirat
Padang Matsirat is a mukim in Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia. It is situated on the western part of the island.
Transportation
* Langkawi International Airport
Langkawi International Airport is an airport in Padang Matsirat, Langkawi, Kedah, Ma ...
to starve the Siamese army. The Siamese nevertheless captured the island in May 1822, killed its leaders, and took many islanders as slaves, while others fled. Before the Siamese invasion, there was an estimated island population of 3,000–5,000, but only a small proportion was left after the invasion.
The island was recaptured from the Siamese in 1837. In 1840–1841, the Sultan of Kedah, who went into exile after the Siamese attacks, was allowed to return by the Siamese. Langkawi islands' population recovered afterwards. However, the ''Orang Laut'' who fled after the Siamese attacks did not return. In 1909, the islands came under British rule following the
Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909. The middle of the channel between
Tarutao National Park
Tarutao National Park ( th, อุทยานแห่งชาติตะรุเตา) consists of 51 islands in the Strait of Malacca, off the coast of Satun Province of southern Thailand. The Tarutao National Park consists of two isla ...
and Langkawi became the
Siamese border, with Tarutao to the north forming part of Siam, while the Langkawi islands to the south came under British rule. During the
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Siam took control briefly as
British Malaya
The term "British Malaya" (; ms, Tanah Melayu British) loosely describes a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British hegemony or control between the late 18th and the mid-20th century. U ...
fell to the Japanese.
Langkawi was a haven for pirates who attacked
junks
A junk (Chinese: 船, ''chuán'') is a type of Chinese sailing ship with fully battened sails. There are two types of junk in China: northern junk, which developed from Chinese river boats, and southern junk, which developed from Austronesian ...
in the northern part of the
Strait of Malacca. In a series of operations, between December 1945 and March 1946, the British cleared the pirates' land bases on Langkawi and Tarutao. The British continued to rule until Malaya gained its independence in 1957.
Langkawi remained a quiet backwater until 1986, when
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Mahathir Mohamad
Mahathir bin Mohamad ( ms, محاضير بن محمد, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author, and physician who served as the 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the office ...
transformed it into a major tourist resort, helping to plan many of the islands' buildings himself.
Mahsuri's seven-generation curse was said to have lifted as a seventh generation descendant of Mahsuri was born in the Thai
province of Phuket. The island rapidly grew as a tourist destination, and by 2012, it received over three million tourists a year.
Geography
Langkawi, a cluster of 99 islands separated from mainland Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca, is a district of the state of Kedah in northern Malaysia and lies approximately west of Kedah. The total landmass of the islands is . The main island is about from north to south and slightly more from east to west. The coastal areas consist of flat,
alluvial plain
An alluvial plain is a largely flat landform created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms. A floodplain is part of the process, being the sma ...
s punctuated with
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
ridge
A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...
s. Two-thirds of the island is dominated by forest-covered mountains, hills, and natural vegetation.
The island's oldest geological formation, the
Machinchang Formation, was the first part of
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
to rise from the
seabed
The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'.
The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...
in the
Cambrian
The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...
more than half a billion years ago. The oldest part of the formation is observable at Teluk Datai to the northwest of the island, where the exposed
outcrop consists of mainly
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
(
quartzite
Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tect ...
) in the upper parts and
shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...
and
mudstone
Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from '' shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology. ...
in the lower parts of the sequence. The best exposure of Cambrian rocks (541 to 485
Ma) in Malaysia is the Machinchang Formation, composed of
quartzose
Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...
clastic rock
Clastic rocks are composed of fragments, or clasts, of pre-existing minerals and rock. A clast is a fragment of geological detritus,Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak, p. G-3 chunks, and smaller grains of rock broken off other rocks ...
formations, in Langkawi; the other known example, the
Jerai Formation Jerai may refer to:
*Mount Jerai
*Jerai (federal constituency)
Jerai is a federal constituency in Yan District and Kuala Muda District , Kedah, Malaysia, that has been represented in the Dewan Rakyat since from 1959 to 1995, from 2004 to present.
...
, emerges near the west coast of Kedah on the mainland (peninsula). Geologically, all these rocks are in the Western Belt of peninsular Malaysia, which is thought to be part of the
Shan–Thai Terrane
The Shan–Thai or Sibumasu Terrane is a mass of continental crust extending from Tibet into Southeast Asia sharing a similar geological history. The Shan–Thai Terrane rifted from Australia in the Permian and collided with the Indochina terran ...
.
Climate
Langkawi receives more than of rain annually. Langkawi features a
tropical monsoon climate
An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ...
(
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
(''Am'') ) Langkawi has a short
dry season
The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The te ...
from December until February. March to November is a long
rainy season
The rainy season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs.
Rainy Season may also refer to:
* ''Rainy Season'' (short story), a 1989 short horror story by Stephen King
* "Rainy Season", a 2018 song by Monni
* ''T ...
. September is the wettest month, when it can receive more than .
Government and Politics
Langkawi Municipal Council, officially known as the Tourism City of Langkawi Municipal Council ( ms, Majlis Perbandaran Langkawi Bandaraya Pelancongan, MPLBP) and formerly known as the Langkawi District Council ( ms, Majlis Daerah Langkawi) from 29 April 1987 until 23 March 2001, is the local authority of Langkawi.
Administrative divisions
Langkawi District is divided into 6
mukim
A mukim is a type of administrative division used in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The word ''mukim'' is a loanword in English. However, it was also originally a loanword in Malay from the Arabic word: (meaning ''resident''). The clo ...
s, which are:
* Ayer Hangat
* Bohor
* Kedawang
*
Kuah
Kuah, Kuah Town or Bandar Kuah is a resort town, mukim and district capital of Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia. It is the entry point for those coming by ferry from either the mainland or Penang Island. The town is centered on its jetty, which is a ...
*
Padang Matsirat
Padang Matsirat is a mukim in Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia. It is situated on the western part of the island.
Transportation
* Langkawi International Airport
Langkawi International Airport is an airport in Padang Matsirat, Langkawi, Kedah, Ma ...
* Ulu Melaka
Demographics
Only four of the 99 islands are inhabited: Langkawi (, the main island), Tuba, Rebak and Dayang Bunting. The population is approximately 99,000, around 65,000 of them in Langkawi, of which 90% are
Malays
Malays may refer to:
* Malay race, a racial category encompassing peoples of Southeast Asia and sometimes the Pacific Islands
** Overseas Malays, people of Malay race ancestry living outside Malay archipelago home areas
** Cape Malays, a communit ...
. The other
ethnic groups consist mainly of
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
,
Indians
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
, and
Thais.
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
is practised primarily by ethnic Malays. Other major religions are
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
(mainly among
Indians
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
),
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
(mainly among Chinese and
Thai
Thai or THAI may refer to:
* Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia
** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand
** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand
*** Thai script
*** Thai (Unicode block ...
), and
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
(mostly Chinese).
Standard Malay
Malaysian Malay ( ms, Bahasa Melayu Malaysia), also known as Standard Malay (Malay: ''Bahasa Melayu Standard''), ( English translation: Malaysian language), or simply Malay, is a standardized form of the Malay language used in Malaysia (as o ...
is the official language.
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
is widely spoken and understood by the locals. Most natives speak a Langkawi variant of
Kedah Malay
Kedah Malay or Kedahan (); also known as ''Pelat Utara'' or ''Loghat Utara'' ('Northern Dialect') or as it is known in Thailand, Syburi Malay () is a variety of the Malayic languages mainly spoken in the northwestern Malaysian states of Perlis ...
, with minorities also speaking
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
,
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nati ...
and
Siamese.
Federal Parliament and State Assembly Seats
Langkawi district representatives in the Federal
Parliament of Malaysia
List of Langkawi district representatives in the
state legislative assemblies
Tourism
On 1 June 2007, Langkawi Island was given a
World Geopark status by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
. Three of its main conservation areas in Langkawi Geopark are Machincang Cambrian Geoforest Park, Kilim Karst Geoforest Park, and Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest park (Island of the Pregnant Maiden Lake). These three parks are the most popular tourism area within Langkawi Geopark. In 2014, UNESCO issued a "yellow card" warning threatening the status of the Geopark.
Cable car and Sky Bridge
The
Langkawi Cable Car takes visitors up to the peak of Gunung Mat Chinchang, where the
Langkawi Sky Bridge
Langkawi Sky Bridge is a curved pedestrian cable-stayed bridge in Malaysia, completed in 2005. The bridge deck is above sea level at the peak of Gunung Mat Cincang on Pulau Langkawi, the main island of the Langkawi archipelago in Kedah. The ...
is located. The Sky Bridge was closed in 2012 for maintenance and upgrading but reopened in February 2015. An
inclined lift
An inclined elevator or
inclined lift
is a form of cable railway that hauls rail cars up a steep gradient.
Introduction
An inclined elevator consists of one or two inclined tracks on a slope with a single car on each carrying payload. In t ...
called SkyGlide that would take visitors from the top station to the Sky Bridge was completed in late 2015.
The start of the cable car ride is located in the Oriental Village where there are several attractions, including a 3-Dimensional art museum known as Art in Paradise.
The Kilim Karst Geoforest Park (The Kilim River)
The Kilim Karst Geoforest Park is a mangrove forest park which consists of limestone caves and interconnected three river estuaries that stretch from Kisap village approximately 10 km to Tanjung Rhu. Bats, crocodiles, eagles, kingfishers, monitor lizards, macaques, otters, snakes and tree crabs are some of the most commonly found wildlifes in the park.
MAHA Tower Langkawi
MAHA Tower is a tower in
Kuah
Kuah, Kuah Town or Bandar Kuah is a resort town, mukim and district capital of Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia. It is the entry point for those coming by ferry from either the mainland or Penang Island. The town is centered on its jetty, which is a ...
, it is the latest addition, also part of the Langkawi City's project. The tower is approximately 1.40 km to
Dataran Lang.
Transportation
The island of Langkawi can be reached by sea and air. The Langkawi Jetty Point connects the island to main destinations like
Kuala Perlis
Kuala Perlis is the second-largest town in and the main port of Perlis in Malaysia. It is in extreme northwest Peninsular Malaysia, near the border with Thailand. The older part of town has houses and mosques built on stilts over mangrove swamp ...
,
Kuala Kedah
Kuala Kedah is a mukim and parliamentary constituency in Kota Setar District, Kedah, Malaysia. It is a fishing port, located at the mouth of the Kedah River, and serves as a terminus for ferries to the tourist island of Langkawi. It is home to a ...
,
Penang
Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...
and Tamalang. There's also ferry service to
Satun town and to
Ko Lipe
Ko Lipe ( th, เกาะหลีเป๊ะ, ) is a small island in the Adang-Rawi Archipelago of the Strait of Malacca, in Satun Province of southwest Thailand, close to the Malaysian border. Its Thai name, the corrupted form of the orig ...
island in Thailand. The ferry between Langkawi and Ko Lipe operates from October until June. The departure/arrival point in Langkawi is at Kuah Jetty, Langkawi and Telaga Harbour, Langkawi. The departure/arrival point in Ko Lipe is at Pattaya Beach. As there is no pier in Ko Lipe, transfers to the beach are done with local
long-tail boats. The journey takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Langkawi International Airport
Langkawi International Airport is an airport in Padang Matsirat, Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia.
In 2015, the airport handled 2,336,177 passengers and 30,853 aircraft movements.
The airport serves as a venue for the Langkawi International Maritim ...
is one of seven international
airports in Malaysia
This is a list of airports in Malaysia, sorted by location.
Airports
In total, Malaysia has 63 airports (39 in East Malaysia and 24 in Peninsular Malaysia). Among them, 38 airports have scheduled passenger service on commercial airlines (shown ...
and connects the island to
Kuala Lumpur
, anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera''
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia
, pushpin_map_caption =
, coordinates =
, su ...
,
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
,
Penang
Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...
and
Subang.
International relations
Twin towns – Sister cities
Langkawi currently has two
sister cities
A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.
While there are early examples of inter ...
:
See also
*
Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition
Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) is a maritime and aerospace exhibition that takes place once every two years in Langkawi, Malaysia. The last event took place in 2019.
The event is one of the largest maritime and a ...
*
Langkawi Island bent-toed gecko
The Langkawi Island bent-toed gecko (''Cyrtodactylus langkawiensis'') is a species of gecko that is endemic to Langkawi Island
Langkawi, officially known by its sobriquet Langkawi, the Jewel of Kedah ( ms, Langkawi Permata Kedah ), is a du ...
References
External links
Official Langkawi WebsiteTourism Malaysia - LangkawiOfficial Langkawi Tourism Site
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Global Geoparks Network members
Northern Corridor Economic Region
Geoparks in Malaysia
Islands of the Strait of Malacca