Japamala Resort

We felt at home from the very first moment. I booked a house on the cliffs overlooking the sea. The view was fantastic!!! And we often sat on our balcony and enjoyed the view, the sounds, and the monkeys. Our house was ready for us when we arrived. Every evening, the bed was made, drinks were refilled (water is always provided), and every other day we received a lovely handwritten note. Unfortunately, my daughter fell ill, and the lovely people at the resort took wonderful care of us. We had fresh ginger tea with honey for dinner—without a word from us. Breakfast was amazing! And the freshly squeezed juices! Amazing. The evenings were also incredibly delicious. And yes, sometimes it took a while. But they talked to us about it, and we didn't have a problem with it. At sunset, there are drinks with the most magnificent view. On day two, ours were already there when we walked across the jetty. Snorkelling from the resort was lovely. We were "seen" at all times, and our wishes were fulfilled. We felt completely at home. Now the BUT. Nobody says how to get there. At first, I thought the ferry was included. But it's only the ferry to Tioman. That could have been described better. The accommodation is typically Malaysian – quite poorly maintained. The stairs have holes in them (there are many steps), and the stilts the houses stand on look dilapidated. There weren't enough loungers for us. So sometimes we didn't even lie on the beach. There are also no loungers by the pool (and somehow it wasn't very inviting). We would have liked a mosquito net over the bed – that would have given us a bit more relaxation – and we would have skipped the air conditioning. Yes – it really is EXPENSIVE for Malaysia: But we enjoyed every day!

This resort is a lovely hidden gem we luckily found, it is just so stunning, peaceful and tranquil. We stayed in one of the seaview treehouses and wow what an experience. You are really living amongst the animals in the jungle with this resort, from monkeys outside our room to the friendly gecko that visited every night. The food at this resort every dish we had was amazing and the staff truly make this resort too , always friendly always smiling and forever helpful, although we didn’t get all names we would like to say a special thank you to the following as they truly looked after us , they got to know us so well and even had our favourite drinks waiting for us (shuvo, John , Mike,Ricky and Ryan you all made our holiday the best, we are just sorry we didn’t get to say bye and thank you to Ricky . Also a mention to the lovely manager Kenny him And the female one (sorry I can’t remember the name) were so helpful and always happy to chat and tell you everything about this resort, you can tell how proud they are of it . Also a big thank you to the room cleaners who did all the lovely messages and went above and beyond in cleaning, It is just such a beautiful place and we were very sad to leave , if you are looking to stay somewere relaxing with loads of wildlife , beautiful food , beautiful beach stunning unique rooms and just the best staff then this is your place , we can’t recommend it enough, thank you for such a lovely 60th for Martin

We had a wonderful, relaxing four nights here. Kenny and his team made us feel very welcome. Our Cliff Side chalet was amazing. Incredible views. The food was superb, despite (which is the fun of the place) everything having to come in by boat - there are no roads to the place. The snorkelling was excellent. We took two boat rides out to more distant places - well worth it - but there is good snorkelling at the resort, too. Don't miss the sun downer cocktails! Highly recommended.

Great location, excellent staff, brilliant food. We had a Seaview sarang, it was spacious and cleaned daily to a high standard. The prices for food and beverages was very reasonable for a resort of this quality. Beach was long, sandy and clean of rubbish. Free use of snorkeling equipment, shuttle transfer from the main ferry terminal to the hotel only took 10 minutes

Japamala Resort is a wonderful place to stay and we cannot recommend it highly enough. What makes it particularly special are the team here who do everything they can to make you feel at home and totally relaxed. Our special thanks go to Shuvo for always being so friendly and taking such excellent care of us at breakfast time and at afternoon tea. We really enjoyed talking with you every day and it started our day on a lovely, warm note. A big thank you too to Ricky for your great service and smiles at dinner and sundowners. Thank you also to Ryan and John for looking after us so well and for the wonderful welcome by the whole team when we arrived. Everyone at Japamala is really excellent and we cannot praise them enough. Thank you too to the housekeeping team for making our beautiful room so clean and for all the special touches such as the lemongrass scent, candles and welcome notes left by the housekeeping service. It is these very personal gestures that make a stay at Japamala so memorable. We had one of the treetop rooms and it was such a great position looking out into the trees and seeing all of the wildlife. We must also commend the food which was beautifully prepared, delicious and plentiful. We also very much appreciated our speedboat transfer from Genting! All in all, a fabulous place to stay which we are very sad to leave.