What to do on Tioman Island and how to spend a few days in this place. Mainland Malaysia is not just a continent, but several islands off its coast. So, we decided to include at least one of them in our trip. To the east of the continent there are three larger island archipelagos: Redang, Perhentian and Tioman. Redang is too luxurious and expensive, we do not like them.
The Perhentian archipelago is more suitable for budget tourists and has beautiful beaches. However, Tioman has not only beaches, but also mountains with virgin equatorial jungle. Tioman was named “the most beautiful island in the world” in the 1970s. That’s why we chose Tioman – just like us. We had bought tickets for the ferry in advance and early in the morning, even darker, we went to the port, exchanged tickets at the office and boarded the ferry. The voyage lasted about 2 hours and at 9 am we were at the main port of Tioman, which is located on the west coast of the island.
However, we had booked bungalows on the east coast, in the resort village of Juara, near the sandy beaches with the waves. And accordingly, we had to move from the west to the east coast of Tioman Island. There were three options: First, to arrange transport in advance from the bungalows (they arrange transport), to come and transport us to Juara.
What can we see on Tioman Island
There is only one narrow asphalt road that connects Juara with the port. Second, get there by taxi. And third – to cross the island in the middle through the jungle on one of the paths, for a total of about 3 hours. And we, of course, chose the third option. The transition through the jungle was impressive. Anyone who remembers from the geography lessons about the Equatorial Belt, where the equatorial rainforests grow (like those in the Amazon, Congo and Papua), grows the same forest here on Tioman.
The whole jungle was full of life, with all sorts of bird voices. We saw forest iguanas, monkeys in the trees, turtles, and all sorts of other animals rustling in the thicket, but we couldn’t see what they were. The trail climbed to the main ridge of the island and descended on the other side, to the east coast. He reached the asphalt road, and in the afternoon we went down to Juara.
Juara consists of about a dozen complexes of bungalows, bars, cafes and restaurants located along the two eastern beaches of the island. It was full of young people, surfers and all kinds of adventurers. There were also jungle monkeys rummaging through garbage cans. We found our bungalows, settled in, and spent the rest of the day at the beach (our bungalows were by the south beach) – a real treat after a trip by sea and trekking through the jungle.
We would stay here for two more days and try the most interesting things on Tioman island. On the second day of our arrival in the village of Juara on the island of Tioman, we decided to walk around the interior of the island, and also to make a walk along the coastline away from the beaches. On the hike in the interior, however, I went alone – Ing Ing and the children chose to rest on the beach and in the bungalows.
How many days to stay on the island
There was a wild path through the jungle that led to a small waterfall that I tried to reach. I didn’t see a real waterfall, only a few rapids along the river, the path was already lost there and I was just walking on rocks and through a thicket. But it was really wild, beautiful and mysterious. I saw a flying squirrel, but I couldn’t photograph it, it was too fast. In the afternoon we all walked along the coast north of the beaches, as far as we can.
Everything was like a tropical paradise. After focusing more on the interior of Tioman Island the day before, we were now heading for the sea around the island. For this purpose, the day before I had signed up for a diving cruise (I would be alone again, because the children still preferred to play on the beach. So, in the morning I went to the pier of the village of Juara, and with a speedboat, in which we were given masks and snorkels, we went on a cruise around the island.
The boat skirted Tioman on its northern side and we stopped in the crystal clear waters of an island nearby. There we dived and marveled at the fabulous underwater world – corals, colorful fish, shells and many other amazing shapes and colors. I swam to the jungle-covered island and then back to the boat. Then we stopped on the other side of the island, on a small sandy beach.
From there I went into the jungle for a while, then diving again. Then we returned to the main island of Tioman, where we had lunch at a restaurant on the west coast, and in the afternoon again a little dive between the main island and another island next to it. Finally we returned to Juara and the cruise was over. We spent the rest of the day on the beach, the last hours of enjoyment on this fabulous island.