I've been meaning to write about Port Dickson for a while but never got around to it-but recently a friend of mine went and recanted his story and we shared similar experiences....
The short answer is that it's not really worth the effort.
It's about 100km south of KL and is the closest thing KL has to a beach (not counting artificial Sunway Lagoon) Getting there really means you need a car or hiring a taxi for the day.
If you're truly adventurous it can be reached by bus from Pudaraya.
The town and the coast are dominated by Oil & Gas refineries and despite the fact that parts of the town look a bit quaint with some old shophouses and a railway line,there's really nothing there of any interest.
The coastline is the only attraction and if you follow the coast road south you will come across mile-after-mile of self-contained resorts and abandoned construction sites.
They all look pretty-much identical,best beach is probably at Blue Lagoon about 8km out of town. I used the word "best" in a vague sense as it's still nothing special. The sea is a very,very shallow and can be a bit oily and yucky. Beach litter is also a bit of a problem.
But,at least you're out of KL for a while and the natural scenery is better to look at and the air can be a bit fresher.
Lots of locals come to Port Dickson for weekends or for company training sessions and stay in the self-contained resorts whilst others just come for the day,have a beach barbecue and leave their rubbish behind.
Many visitors don't even swim,they just stay at the resort and stare at the sea.
Service and food are,at best,pretty average.
Another wasted opportunity,it could be so much better with a little planning and better management. Like so many seaside places in Malaysia,there is no real centre, just a long ribbon of "development" all offering exactly the same experience.
You may as well stay in KL,get a nice hotel room and look at the pool-and probably save a bit of money over the weekend as places here aren't that cheap...
If you really need to get out of KL and see some sea then it would be far,far better to fly-up to Redang or the Perhentians on the East Coast for a 3D/2N stay.There are some pretty good deals on Airasia and some good value packages.
It was reported in "The Star" 12/3/10 that almost half of the restaurants recently inspected had to be closed-down due to poor hygiene standards.....
You have overlooked Morib. While Morib is definitely NOT fantastic in any way - the usual rubbish mamak store food and the most polluted water in the world - it is contrary to Port Dickson not pretentious in any way and it is quite peaceful and rural.
ReplyDeleteMorib is only about 50 km from KL center (sort of in between Klang and KLIA). It's got a beach that is just about as good as any in PD (which is not very good), some mamak stores, one resort (which is dirt cheap and just as good as any of the ones in PD) and I do believe there's a golf course too somewhere.
Again - Morib is by no means great, but if the purpose is to get out of the concrete jungle for a few days it is as good as PD and it is much closer and much cheaper.
Oh - and I forgot to mention that Morib got a tad of history to it :) It was the first place you Brits landed to liberate Malaysia from the Japs after WW2. You obviously didn't go yourself but send a bunch of Indians to "clear the way" and the "liberation" was delayed until after Japanese unconditional surrender - but still :)
ReplyDeleteI just heard or should I say read of Morib here. Thanks for the info Ibthomsen.
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