Cycling to Pangkor
Alternative routes for cyclists

It's a well known secret long distance cyclist do not get much attention on commercial websites. Many of the independent cyclist do find their way by themselves. However, since we live in Sitiawan, the town close to Pangkor, I found it necessary to include a short description of two nice ways for cycling to Pangkor from both directions: Kuala Lumpur and from Penang.

From Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur or KL as the locals call it is NOT a nice city to cycle in. But it is not suicidal as some sources suggest. Of course you have to take care but then again, don't you have to take care anywhere?

Don't get me wrong, I am NOT underestimating the risks of cycling in metropolis. Bangkok wasn't fun but do-able. So was Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Istanbul and Paris. Fun is a different thing. That's why I can recommend a route to Pangkor which is fine to do.

Coming from Kuala Lumpur you can cycle over amazingly small and quiet roads

The easiest road out of Kuala Lumpur north for cyclist is along the coastline. Leave Kuala Lumpur in the direction of Rawang . Once you arrive in Sungai Buloh follow directions to Kuala Selangor which is the city of fireflies.

It's road number 9. Going this way, you will avoid Klang, an unpleasant big city on the Straits of Malacca.

From Selangor on, follow road number 5 direction Teluk Intan. About 5 km before Teluk Intan, take the junction to Lumut and Sitiawan. You're still on road 5. It's a reasonable big road but not too busy. There's no alternatives until you reach Kayan. Kayan is about 24 km from Sitiawan.

Take the junction to Kayan and follow this road. It's a back road, hardly any traffic and a few tiny kampongs. This road is about 13 km's long. Then you'll be back at the main road number 5. Follow this to Lumut/Sitiawan for another 5 km. There is no marking for a junction but once you see a road marker Ipoh 90, you take the junction to the left. Just follow this road until the very end. Here's a sluice. Just cross the sluice and go right. Follow this road until the traffic lights (it's about 2 km) and turn left until the next traffic light and turn left again. Lumut is about 7 km away.

These little back waters are very quiet and very scenic with hardly more traffic then a few cars and motorbikes. Most traffic here goes by bicycle and motorbike. There's a few little road stalls in case you get thirsty or hungry.

From Penang to Taiping

There are two main directions to cycle from Penang available. The easiest and most used follows the trunk road number 1 from Butterworth to Parit Buntar, Bagain Serai and Taiping. You may want to leave the trunk road at Parit Buntar. Follow the direction to Kuala Kurau, a little fishing village. After the village, cross the bridge and follow directions to Kuala Gula, the bird sanctuary. It's a surprisingly quiet road. When you come back at the trunk road, cross to follow to Taiping. This will lead you to the road to Kamunting and Taiping and it is preferable then to follow the trunk road.

Johan and I cycled the alternative road from Taiping to Kuala Kurau

If you decide to take the road from Parit Buntar to Kuala Kurau, you will skip  Bagan Serai. My little friend Johan and I cycled this road in 2006, see our report about this journey.

The second road goes to Bukit Mertajam, Kulim, Selama and then on the old road to Taiping. It's described in more details here

The amazingly quiet and beautiful road from Kulim to Selama

If you decide to stay a night in Taiping, which is more then worth, see our Taiping page for details about Taiping.

Taiping to Pangkor

Leaving Taiping is easier and nicer than at first sight looks. You will get out of town following the directions to the motorway but before the big bridge, you will see directions leading to Air Kuning and Changkat Jering. This saves you the bridge and the busy road and a piece of the trunk road to Changkat Jering, even though it's only 7 km or so.

At the crossroads in Changkat Jering, follow the motorway signs (if you come from the trunk road, follow direction Lumut). The junction is right at the market of Changkat Jering. There's also a little bicycle shop for some basic help.

There are two ways to follow to Pangkor. Many locals will advice you to follow the direction to Pantai Remis. And for good reasons. This road is easier to drive by car. But the road is also busier and less scenic. There are several junctions you can take, the first is in Trong (also spelled as Terong). Here you can have basic meal in one of the little restaurants, I usually eat (lunch) in a small basic but OK shop before the crossing to Pantai Remis.

If you don't want to decide between Pantai Remis or Bruas, the other direction, you can decide later. There are three more junctions to Pantai Remis. But you can stay on this road too and follow the directions to Sitiawan. This will leads to the small town of Bruas at the southern foot of the hills south of Taiping. Nearby are some nice waterfalls. There are a few plantation roads and although they may look shorter on the map, they are in fact longer and it's not impossible to get lost in the plantations.

If you have time, you can do some detours on the plantations, this the plantation path that leads to Teluk Senangin

Contrary to Bruas, Pantai Remis has a few hotels. The Lam Seng Hotel on the north end of the town is nice enough for RM 50.

The Turtle Breeding Station

For those who stay here, you may like to do a bit of a detour. Leave Pantai Remis south. After about 7 km there's a junction to the Powerplant Lumut. Take this junction and follow it for about 6 km until you reach another small junction leading to a (to me unknown named) beach. Here is more about the turtle breeding station.

Instead of cycling back to the main road, you can take your luck and cycle over the plantations to Teluk Senangin. After visiting the turtles, take the dirt path to the picnic tables and follow that for a few hundred meters. Once you see a reasonable big path to your left, take that. It will lead to a sandhole. You pass the sand hole and go into the plantation. Go left (south) and basically keep going south. You will end up in Teluk Senangin, only 10 km from the turtles.

Turtles in the Segari Turtle Breeding Station

Damar Laut

No interest in the turtles or afraid to get lost in the Plantation? I understand. You cycle back to the main road (Road 60). It's about 25 km to Lumut. If you decide a splurge, you may want to stay a few days at the Swiss-Garden resort. Follow the signs after Segari, it's the same junction as Teluk Senangin but beware, you need to book in advance!

The next junction after the Swiss-Garden is the Damar Laut. (not to be confused with Damai Laut). Damar laut, although big on the Perak map is no more the a house at the Dinding river side and a ferry pier. Every 45 minutes or so.

Damar Laut is no more then a board and a jetty pier. A tiny ferry brings you for RM 1 to Lumut. Ferry times are: 7.30, 8.35, 9.35 and then from 10.15 to 18.15 every hour. It saves you probably about 15 km cycling over 3 bridges and crossing 3 river arms of the Dinding river.

A young lizard on the water side

Alternative roads

There are alternatives for coming in this direction. Most people come either from Penang or Kuala Lumpur. However, there's another, far more quiet road to cycle.

The details of this road are described here. Roughly this road goes from Hat Yai in Thailand to Betong and then south to Kuala Kangsar and Pangkor Island.

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