RTW Trip Day #30: Langkawi Mangrove Boat Tour

andrewsco3
Oct 30
4 min read

Updated: Nov 1

28 October 2025

Steps: 6,678

Today we caught a Grab taxi up to the northern tip of the island for the Langkawi Mangrove Tour, which is one of the most popular tours in Langkawi, along with the island-hopping tour. The girls both preferred the look of the mangrove tour, and it was the right decision as they had an absolutely great time. They didn’t stop smiling the whole time!

The Langkawi Mangrove Tour

Once we decided on the mangrove tour, we decided it was worth paying a bit extra for a private boat with Royal Mangrove Tours, and I’m glad we did. It gave us the flexibility to end the tour at a different location (more on that later), and it meant that we could spend more or less time at stops depending on what we wanted to see. With kids that’s really important!

The total cost of the tour was 330 MYR (just over ($100 CAD), with the private boat costing around 130 MYR extra (around $40 CAD), but in my opinion, it was absolutely worth the extra.

The tour started fast and furious as our speedboat took off. It didn’t seem mandatory to wear life jackets which was a little unnerving, but since the driver was going pretty quickly, we asked for the girls to wear them just to be safe. They had plenty on board.

Our first landmark was Gorilla Mountain, which (as the name suggests) looks a bit like a gorilla from the boat.

We then headed into a wider part of the mangroves where eagles were circling overhead. At one point, there must have been around 50 of them flying above us. We didn’t get to see them being fed, although in hindsight I wish we had asked to stay a bit longer here as it was pretty amazing to see.

Next, we cruised through a narrower part of the mangrove, where there were loads of monkeys hanging out along the riverbanks, which the girls loved.

Some of the monkeys even jumped onto other boats where people had brought special food for them. If we had known, we would have brought some monkey food from the jetty.

The next stop was a fish farm, which we found a bit odd to be honest. There were several large tubs containing different species of fish, including a stingray. It seemed cruel to me as the stingray really didn’t have much space to swim around.

There’s a floating restaurant there, and the staff asked us if we would like to eat there, but we just said ‘no thank you’, and that we wanted to move on. They do have toilets there if you need a stop.

After that, we visited the Bat Cave, which was another part that the girls really enjoyed. You get off the boat and need to pay a small entrance fee (2 MYR for adults and 1 MYR for kids, cash only), and I highly recommend hiring flashlights for 1 MYR each.

We rented a flashlight for each of the girls, while Susie and I just used our phone lights, which weren’t anywhere near as effective. They loved being in charge of the light though!

The final stretch of the tour took us out into the open sea, and if we thought the first part was fast, this part was even more intense!

The waves were bigger, and we hit a few strong bumps along the way, which the kids thought was hilarious. We stopped for a quick photo by the Kilim Geoforest Park sign.

Normally the tour ends back at the jetty, but our driver offered to drop us off at Tanjung Rhu Beach instead. He mentioned it was easier to get a Grab taxi from there and that it was one of the best beaches on the island, and he was absolutely right.

Girls on the Tanjung Rhu Beach — The Girls on Tanjung Rhu Beach

The beach was stunning, with soft white sand and calm turquoise water. We hadn’t brought our swimsuits since we didn’t expect to swim on the tour, but I’d definitely recommend packing them.

One big advantage of doing the private tour was having the flexibility to end the boat ride at the beach instead of going back to the jetty.

On a group tour, if someone wanted to stop for lunch at the fish farm you’d have to wait around, and if someone had a scooter parked at the jetty you wouldn’t be able to get dropped off at the beach. We really enjoyed having that flexibility.