The towering of centuries-old trees surrounding the Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa, and it created the feeling of the hotel stands in the jungle, allowing people to feel they are in the embrace of nature, feel the sun on the beach, and enjoy the beauty of the greenery. Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa is located in Batu Ferringhi area of Penang island, with a distance of 20 minutes drive from the George Town, the capital city of Penang state in Malaysia; meanwhile approximately 45 minutes from the Penang International Airport.
This 5-star resort was officially opened by our then Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein during the year of 1973. This resort able to provide one of the most perfect views over the Batu Feringgi beach in Penang, and it is surrounded by 30 acres of tropical gardens. It offers spacious rooms, 5 dining options and a garden wing. There are 2 swimming pools (Garden Wing) and an adult swimming pool in the Rasa Wing.
The lobby uses a large number of wooden furniture with exquisitely carved carvings can be seen everywhere. Even the traditional Malaysian musical instruments are displayed. Apart from that, the diversify ethnic cultures of the locals are displayed, and it presents a mature and stable image to the tourists. Towards the check-in counters, while the guests are waiting for the check in, they can sit on a comfortable sofa and drink a cold cup of Nutmeg juice, the famous traditional Penang’s drink. The attentive staffs were all smiling, friendly and able to make people feel at home.
The hotel’s rooms are divided into Rasa Wing and Garden Wing. Rasa Wing has only 115 rooms and Garden Wing has 189 rooms. Garden Wing’s rooms are recommended for family travel. The rooms are connected and the rooms are designed for family-friendly travel. However, Rasa Wing’s rooms are recommended for couples or couples and are more suitable for honeymooners.
The Garden Wing’s room displays the tropical beauty of the resort and adds earthy colours, citrus tones and ocean blue wind styles to the rooms, creating a stylish, spacious and airy effects. The rooms use floor tiles instead of carpets, had added some colours and textures to the overall atmosphere. Of course, there is no need to say more about the completeness of the rooms. Each room and suite has a separate terrace. All the Garden Wing’s rooms have LED lighting system, energy-saving key card, and the air-conditioner will automatically close when the patio door is open, responding to the energy saving trend and carbon reduction call. The room also has a fan. If you don’t need an air-conditioning, you can use a fan instead.
Whereas for the Rasa Wing, the room has a small living room, dressing room and bath tub on the balcony. There are multiple showers in the bathroom, so that you can enjoy your showers from various angles and directions. Apart from these, guests of Rasa Wing can enjoy the exclusive Rasa Wing swimming pool, but children younger than 16 is prohibited to use. In other words, guests staying at Rasa Wing can enjoy 2 pools, one is in Garden Wing and the other is in Rasa Wing. However, those who are staying at Garden Wing can only enjoy the Garden Wing swimming pool.
The resort offers a 9-hole golf course, an Eco Centre and Adventure Zone and a spacious children’s play area at the sister hotel. Guests can also enjoy their workout in the well-equipped gym or enjoy massages and aromatherapy treatments at CHI, The Spa. Shangri-La’s dining standards have always been known, especially the international buffet at Spice Market Cafe, which is almost known by all Penangites and foreign tourists. In addition, the FIP Lounge (Fun, Interactive & Play) for the young people’s market also has an extraordinary charm. Beautiful environment, as well as some changes in the food, so that some inconspicuous snacks into an interesting game, Macarons tic-tac-toe, snacks, such as Othello, so that you can enjoy the food while playing some games. Whereas in the Feringgi Grill, it serves European dishes and offers great views of landscaped gardens. A wide range of wines and cigars are also available here.
Last but not least, the signature of this resort is Rasa Wing’s rain forest, this is the popular place for family or friends coming for photo shooting purpose. This ambience gave the guests a good spot to close to the nature and will not feel too much of the sun exposure, only the feeling of the coolness of the rain forest will be enjoyed and watching at the seascape in front. Not to mention that you may not know, there is a hundred-year-old tree in the Garden Wing. The old trees have been preserved for more than a century. This is the effort from the Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa to preserve these trees when they first developed the hotel. The other Batu Ferringhi hotels do not have the dense rain forest as like Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa, which is invaluable for them.
By: Marcus Chia
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