“If we are allowed to combine travel and work again, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur from Langkawi with the Datai is a perfect new start for business and bleisure life. This secluded and safe paradise is open again from mid June 2020.“ Kai Böcking
Even before Corona, Time Magazine named The Datai one of the “World’s 100 Greatest Places” in the world. After that it will be a bit more for travel hungry people like me. At the small airport I was greeted here on my last visit with a snow-white luxury limousine. It takes every guest to the hotel 40 minutes away. The drive along lush green nature is accompanied by the digital rainforest sound track: chirping, monkeys, birdsong. Perfect attunement to a very special place.
Soundtrack Nature
The Datai is located on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, surrounded by a 10 million year old rainforest. The combination of nature and discreet luxury is extraordinary even on first sight. The Datai offers 121 rooms, suites and villas. For me, the Rainforest Villas are the ultimate in the hotel. Just imagine that a nice page leads you into a house that seems to be grown in the gigantic rainforest. Naturally made of wood, inside and outside, a large living room, spacious bathroom, four-poster bed, terrace. What was streamed during the car ride is here the 24-hour soundtrack. Nature! From here it is only a few minutes walk to the main house with pool and breakfast restaurant, including, if you don’t mind, Bloody Mary at the buffet.
The adjoining pool offers excellent views over the forest to the beach. From here you can watch the local monkey families and their gymnastics on the hotel roofs. But the star is the beach. From the rainforest villa, the path leads along winding paths to the private beach with views of the bay, small islands that can be visited by kayak, and into the distance on Thailand’s islands.
Better Malaysian cuisine than oysters & co
The Datai is an extraordinary place. Whoever lives here is allowed and encouraged to truly feel the rainforest, the fauna and flora. There are free daily guided tours through this unique biotope. In the morning and evening a guided rainforest tour, a tour to the newly built Canopy Walk over the treetops on shaky suspension bridges, or a kayak tour through the magnificent mangrove forest. All mock the description experience. And for those who get their feet a little bit damaged on these excursions, Langkawi offers the unique opportunity to have the foot heal itself, Bastien Gonzalez and his “assistants”, repair the damage. The treatment does not require any milling, grinding or planing; here, the feet are gently waxed, stroked and polished. Afterwards, you can also treat yourself to a massage in the open-air spa and then march in good spirits to one of the three restaurants of the Datai.
Because Arnaud Girodon, General Director of the hotel, is French with all his heart, there is of course the department of oysters, Foie gras & co. in the Dining Room. But I would recommend either to have a stop at the Thai restaurant, The Pavilion that is carried on stilts or to enjoy the typical Malaysian cuisine at the highest level at the rustic wooden tables of The Gulai House. But whatever here in this archipelago, the Datai is for Bleisure Travellers the ultimate compensation for the strenuous “flying around the world”, which hopefully will soon be part of our lives again.
Kai Böcking …
celebrates every day for the next few months when he can rejoice in the carefree business stress travel with Bleisure extension again. The Datai is at the top of his trip list.
At a glance
Getting there: The Datai is located at the north-western tip of the Malaysian island of Langkawi, in the middle of an ancient rainforest overlooking the tranquil Datai Bay. From Kuala Lumpur you fly one hour to Langkawi, from Singapore one and a half.
Hotel: The luxury resort consists of several buildings with a total of 54 rooms, 42 rainforest villas, twelve suites and 14 beach villas. There are also several restaurants, including the Gulai House Restaurant, two large pools, a spa and the Els Club Teluk Datai golf course, designed by golf legend Ernie Els. Other highlights include the Canopy Walk, which offers spectacular views of the rainforest from a height of 18 metres. Guests can join naturalists on guided hikes through the mangrove forests and to waterfalls.
Address: The Datai, Jalan Teluk Datai, 07000 Datai, Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia, +60 4 9500 500, reservation@dataihotels.com
Fotos: © The Datai, © The Datai / Eric Martin, Böcking
