There aren’t many things to do in Kuantan, it seems, as the top visitor attraction on a number of websites is Teluk Cempedak, or Breadfruit Bay, which is a stretch of sandy beach about a kilometre long. At the north end there is a load of chain restaurants, a couple of food court style outlets, and a variable number of temporary and more permanent stalls selling rubbish, mostly beach themed. There are also lots of monkeys (to a Batu Caves level) which try to steal your stuff.
About half way down the beach, you’ll find the Hyatt Regency hotel. Opened in 1980 originally, it recently reopened after a 4 year refurbishment. There are four accommodation blocks (called villages), with a main block holding the reception area, restaurants, bar, conference rooms, gym, and beach/pool shop. There will soon be a spa, but not right now. There are two swimming pools, one deeper for adults, which was really good as the kids stayed at the other, and a couple of tennis courts too. I actually only just realised on reviewing my pics that the swim up bar was in the kids’ pool!
Our room overlooked the adult pool, but more importantly it had a sea view, which was very nice. The room was quite big, with a slightly soft bed, a small balcony, a two piece mini day bed, and table and chairs. There is a TV with a few local channels, four news, four sport and one film channel, and a minibar with complimentary contents. Refilled daily, that included 5 or so soft drinks, a Kitkat, and a small tube of local crisps. Nice touch.
The bathroom was reasonable sized, featuring a decent shower with only minor temperature fluctuations – and a mirror which slid to one side so you could show your loved ones in the bedroom how you like to wash or go to the toilet. I think they missed having a spa, as looking for soap all I could find was a “soothing massage bar”. Perhaps I should have checked the clarifying shampoo.
We had a lunch and a dinner at the main hotel restaurant, Kampung. The lunch was a pair of slightly above average quality dishes (vegetable jalfrezi and char koay teow). The evening buffet was a mixed experience – of the entire savoury selection, there was only one vegetarian dish! Fortunately they made me a vegetable curry and didn’t charge me the buffet price for it; unfortunately it was the same as I had eaten for lunch. Wife said the overall quality was excellent though, particularly enjoying the spicy prawns and roast fish paste, with the satay also getting an honorable mention.
At breakfast there was more choice for me from a slightly odd mix of west and east – for instance the western cooked breakfast section had steamed cauliflower as an option. Luckily the vegetable jalfrezi made another appearance, as I was starting to have withdrawal symptoms! There were stations doing eggs, Indonesian, Malay, Chinese, Indian, Western, continental, and cereal. Good range.
Overall, we didn’t really find anything to fault the place on seriously. Staff were very good, and everything else was worth the money. It’s the best place for a while that we have stayed in at around that price in Malaysia. Shame there’s not much to do in walking distance, but it makes a good long weekend destination if you want to get away from KL and relax. Remember to close your balcony doors or the monkeys will nick your things.
Address: Teluk Cempedak, 25050 Kuantan, Pahang
Telephone: 095181234
Website: https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/malaysia/hyatt-regency-kuantan-resort/kuakt
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