Tanjong Jara Resort

9.2

Wonderful

181 Guest reviews

9.2

Wonderful

181 Verified Reviews

Read all reviews

Cleanliness9.2/10

Service9.4/10

Comfort9.4/10

Condition9.0/10

location8.2/10

Neighborhood7.8/10

Value8.4/10

Amenities8.4/10

The beautiful photos on the hotel website influenced our decision to try the resort and indeed on arrival we were very impressed with the lovely lobby and reception area with its many water features. We can only assume these photos were taken many years ago as sadly the rest of the resort did not live up to this and has a very run down and neglected feel to it. Also, the website states it is one hour from the airport but it is a good 1.5+ hours, even with drivers who drive very fas The gardens are lush and have so much to offer but are in desperate need of attention, with the grass areas looking very barren. The adult pool is a very strange colour and not inviting at all. The kid friendly pool is nice enough with comfortable sun loungers but the umbrellas are too small to offer much shade. We only stayed one night in the end and ate dinner at the main breakfast/lunch/dinner restaurant. The food was delicious and chef Ann a character! We were however disappointed that there was no satay on the menu?! A Malaysian staple!? We found the terrace restaurant a very strange concept with just a handful of tables and a movie playing throughout? We would not choose to have any kind of movie playing whilst eating dinner. Our room, 1601, was spacious and the bed comfortable. However there was not enough hot water for my husband to have a bath and for me to shower at the same time. Only enough hot water for one or the other? We also had issues with the toilet flush which kept sticking.

Noisy AC

Generally good and staff very polite but air conditioner very noisy, wife went to spa and enjoyed it.

Great resort with beautiful beach and nature. Many activities provided. Top services by staff. 2 nights stay is recommended

Beautiful hotel on good beach. It is a bit tired but still a great place to relax. Staff generally helpful & attentive. Food is pretty good overall. Biggest complaint was air con in bedroom sound like 747 on take off. No ability to change this - either on or off. Overall a good hotel but certainly not at international 5 star level.

All the staff were very friendly and helpful. They'd come around the pool serving water and ice lollies. We visited to celebrate our anniversary and was pleasantly surprised by the effort (no spoilers here). Not the resort's fault, but the private beach had some oil spills which were very difficult to wash off. I had to send my shoes for professional cleaning. The resort was undergoing renovation, glad to see improvements/maintenance!

Good people

I like what Ramesh did and he was helpful. Need a facelift and more upkeep. Otherwise the staff was good. People are friendly and at tentative

Very unique Kampung style resort experience. Outstanding hospitality from staff team especially Anna & Amira from front desk and the Room Manager, Jazz. The food at Di atas sungei for both breakfast and dinner and the ala-carte lunch at Nelayan was certainly top notch and delicious. Will definitely return after the rainy season to better enjoy the resort facilities.

Beautiful location and quiet and relaxing. Initially put in rooms at far end of resort which was odd as it was not busy but moved to rooms in a more central location which was much better

excellent

very good service. friendly staff, beautiful and clean resort. Very good for short or long escaped from the city. Hope Tanjung Jara maintain all the good service.

YTL hotels pretentious & overrated

We stayed three nights at YTL Tanjong Jara Resort last month. YTL Tanjong Jara Resort is overrated. Unless you book the most expensive sea villa, other rooms at the resort are pretty standard. Rooms are large but not well maintained. There was a huge crack in one of the bathroom wash basins. Small TV in the room with not many TV channels. Housekeeping not so efficient. The day bed in the room was dusty and not clean. F&B is even worse. Breakfast was mediocre at best. Pancakes were dry. Kuey Teow soup tasteless with very little ingredients and the Mee goreng too salty. Wonder what kind of chefs they employ? We had lunch at the hotel and one plate of char kuey teow costs 40 ringgit! There are two swimming pools. One smallish pool with a deep end and not very clean. The other pool, which looks bigger in photos than actual, is crowded unless you go early in the morning when everyone is still in bed. Tennis court is old and just for show. Tennis court needs resurfacing. In fact most of the resort, especially the hotel rooms need a refurbishment. Some parts of the hotel landscaping is quite well designed but a large part of the resort is just jungle. Beach at the resort is boring. Definitely No Wow Factor! One does not have to pay quite so much to enjoy more pristine beaches in Terengganu. The only plus factor of this resort is the quality of service which was overall good. TJ resort needs a facelift badly. YTL hotels are rather pretentious & overrated.

perfect place for couple getaway, nice beaches and super good staff

This was an Amazing resort. The staff is always friendly, and helpful. Very quiet, and secluded the beach is nice with hardly no one on it. Can’t say enough about the hospitality. We went during the Coronavirus and had to leave early, but the resort manager made a point to meet us, and offer was discount rates if we need it. Thanks for such a memorable vacation

Nice place with beautiful sea

The room which we check in time was very very noisy due to some machine trouble. The staff immediately arranged other room. It takes 10 minutes, but I think that was their best and we were very happy with it. Facilities are a bit old, there are some small problems but acceptable. The view from the room is very nice. We can sea beautiful sea. Family pool is also with nice view. We could relax. The foods were delicious especially in western restaurant near family pool. Main dining which serves Malay food was also good but there was some smell from river.

The property is remote and very, very quiet which we loved. The staff is excellent and cannot do enough for you. We had great service in particular from Amira and an intern named Sabrina. They helped us with activities and special events that we were celebrating. The check in was flawless, the room was beautiful (Serambi room) and the pools exquisite. Great spa with wonderful services and staff. The two restaurants were great with a good menu and a wonderful set of staff, especially Ann the main cook. She made everything so special. The only downside is having to make a reservation for dinner. I don't think this was emphasized enough on check in and one night a couple who we had made friends with had not made a reservation and only got a table because we invited them to dine with us, which wasn't a problem but with so little to choose from in dining possibilities, they could possibly have been left hungry. The restaurants are a little expensive so be aware of that, but the food is delicious and varied. The pools are fabulous, one infinity pool overlooking the South China Sea and the adult only pool. I personally feel that they should be switched and the adults should have the more luxurious one (infinity). The staff are always bringing water and happy to help with anything you need. Although at the adult only one they tend to be there a little later in the morning, around 11 or so.

The place eas gorgeous and great thought has been given into every detail. Service by each and every staff was excellent. Certainly an unforgettable place.

Though the photos looked grand, the room was poorly maintained. I had to call housekeeping service several times to send their repairmain to fix the shutter blinds, and replace the door locks, and then the Astro service couldn't function properly. I've dined at all 3 of their restaurants and the quality of food is mediocre. Apart from the food being served fresh, the Western fare was just average and the local food was definitely not up to expectations for a luxury resort proclaiming their "unmistakably Malay" tagline. I will not come back again nor recommend this resort to anyone. The only redeeming factor was that a few of the staff was friendly and helpful. In short, for a resort under the YTL chain, I was really disappointed with my hotel experience. Perhaps, Pangkor Laut would be better.

Great experience and beautiful resort but choices of food is limited to the hotel which is quite pricey.

Relaxing stay.

Amazing stay

Our stay in Tanjong Jara was amazing. The resort staffs make us feel so welcome and the room was great! A big applause to Ms. Amirah as our tour resort guide. Looking forward for another stay.

Excellent Staff

The staff was wonderful.The service was polite and they were ever ready to assist in making our stay a pleasant one.

Love the Kampung Style

Room is spacious, facilities are great. It's just that, your trainee staff at reception counter still do not know much regarding room's location. It's monsoon there when I checked-in last week. My mom is on her wheelchair. Two of the trainees escort us to our room after check-in, and they stop in the middle of the way as they did not found the way to the room, in the rain. My family and I decided to get into the room even though it was raining as it was already 5pm. My mom really frustrated when she has to stop on the way to the room, and asked me why stop. I said they did not know the way to the room, until one of them called a guy receptionist to escort us to our room. Other than this matter, everything is just great. Buffet breakfast is awesome, my parent had Nasi Dagang which is so delicious, staff at Di Atas Sungei are awesome and warmth, their housekeepers smile always to us. Anyway, thank you very much for the hospitality from your team to my parent and myself, I really appreciate that. Please improve on trainee staff at the reception as reception is the first impression which customer's value the service of one hotel. Thank you.

The room ID was wonderful, the surrounding jungle environment was amazing, staff professional, competent and friendly. The Chef's tailored our dishes for us, the portions were generous and delicious. Generally the best staff team we've come across. Although some touch ups are needed, it was the monsoon period. All in all a wonderful and relaxing experience. Planning to go back again soon.

We had a really nice 1 night stay. A very nice resort close to the beach. Room is spacious.

Everything is NICE to this Tanjong Jara Resort!

Perfect for honeymoon! Love it so much. Such a memorable and loving memories at this resort. Do select this resort as your 1st honeymoon!

Absolutely lovely 😊

The hotel was amazing, service and food all excellent... you can definitely see why it is listed as one of the luxury boutique hotels of the world. The service was faultless, we were checked in early and allowed to check out late with no additional cost. The only things that could’ve made the trip better would have been a balcony and more maintenance to the room (there was what looked like to be previous water damage to the ceiling that had not been properly repaired)... all in all, a great trip and Ann is a legend!

Hotel review.

A nice resort for relaxing,staff is Friendly and Helpful.

Excellent, beautiful, quiet & peaceful hotel. Food was good with lots of choice. Staff were very welcoming & always helpful. Cant wait to go back.

Beyond words...

The whole experience was heaven, near perfect! Except for the traces of rubbish and all sorts of plastic dumpings along the beautiful beach by irresponsible idiots!

Place a bit too run down for 5 stars and food ok but not 5 stars.

Very relaxing

The hotel room looks exactly as advertised. This is my 2nd visit to this place & will be more visit to come in the future

amazing stay

Great place to unwind

The resort is run by very very professional and well trained staff- our water glasses were never empty despite us lounging at the poolside from 2 to 6pm. The service staff on duty, Babul, was extremely attentive yet unobtrusive in ensuring that our glasses were filled, and out food trays were cleared. The resort is very well maintained, save for the gym equipment, but was not an issue with us.

Nice Short Stay

I booked 2 rooms (Serambi) through Hotels.com and specifically mentioned that the two rooms MUST be adjacent to each other as I travel with my kids. As usual, I need to key in two names for 2 separate rooms but has a common booking number. As we arrived at the resort, it seems that they do not know under such a booking number I have booked and paid for 2 rooms. So they give us only 2 welcome drinks (well it doesn’t matter to me). However, the worst part, for the 2nd room (for my 2 kids) they are giving us a room which is 1 block away (equivalent to 20-25 meters away) from the 1st room. How can it be? As I specifically mentioned in my booking that both rooms must be adjacent. We keep on pushing for the adjacent room as we know that the resort is not fully occupied. At first, they even offered me Bumbung (1st floor room) of the same block as it is downgrading room from the original booking. While waiting for the management to decide for our 2nd room, we stayed in the 1st room for about 30 minutes and finally they say it is ok to get the next door room. If we not pushing for the adjacent room, my 2 kids will be stayed quite far from us (my wife and i). Surprisingly, when they told us about getting the adjacent room, they said that they are upgrading the 2nd room, to Serambi (What??? Upgrading??) I have a proof that booked 2 same type of room, if not why should I requested the 2nd room to be adjacent to the 1st??? I do not wish to argue further with these people, thinking that I

Wonderful stay

The resort was superb. What makes it even better is their service and hospitality. Will definitely come back here again. The only downside is that there's not much things to do outside the resort which makes your entertainment confined within the resort. But we came here to relax and celebrate our anniversary so it fits our purpose.

Perfect gateway

amazing stay with them. friendly staff, amazing view and beach, good food. everything was perfect.

nice stay

the staff was super friendly, good upkeep of the facilities. very large area with dedicated pools for adult and kids. the view was superb.

Great resort on the beach

12 nights at Tanjung Jara a wonderful holiday. Great location, great facilities, super friendly and attentive staff. For my wife's birthday on our last evening, they arranged a special birthday dinner under a pergola at the adult pool. A truly memorable evening. Highly recommend if you're looking for a relaxing holiday either by the beach or at the pool. Our room, second floor, Bumbung room, was of an exceptional size with a large bathroom. The bed was comfortable, the shower excellent and an abundance of fluffy white towels. We were fortunate to see the release of 150 baby turtles on one night and 95 on another. A magical experience facilitated within the grounds of the resort.

Wonderful hotel

We loved this hotel. Everything about it was 5 out of 5. The room was beautiful, the location was excellent. The staff were so helpful and friendly. We had breakfast included and ate twice at the main restaurant and once at the beach buffet. The food was outstanding and the chocolate croissants fresh from the oven at breakfast meant one was never enough! I know this is a review full of superlatives, however this resort is a place that deserves them. I also thought it was outstanding value for money considering the level of accommodation, food and service.

Beautiful Resort With Personal Service

This is one of Malaysia best resort. It is uniquely designed with Malay kampung (village) style at heart. The whole resort is spacious with ample of lush plants and trees. The air in this place is so fresh and you can hear the bird chirping in the morning from your suite. You can also hear the calming sound from the sea. We stayed in Serambi suite (lower floor) which is huge. The bathroom is amazing with a huge bathtub. On our first night stay, we were lucky to witness the release of turtle hatchlings into the sea. The Resort corroborated with Lang Tengah Turtle Sanctuary to rescue turtle eggs and to hatch them before releasing them into the sea. The staff are friendly and helpful. On Saturday, the Resort organised an activity called "Kampung (Village) Style". Traditional Malay games are staged / played in the Resort vast compound. Guests are invited to join in the games such as "sepak takraw", "congkak" and bamboo dance. Food such as prawn / fish crackers are cooked and served to the guests. Coffee and cold drinks are available freely. A kid (baby goat) wearing a t-shirt was seen amusing children. A monkey is also seen plucking coconuts from its tree. The monkey's owner would then removed the husk from the coconuts before serving them to interested guests for free. The Resort even gave me a surprise cake on my birthday. This is a personal and touching gesture.

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Our initial room was very dark with no real view - very disappointing. We were offered an alternative room at an additional cost of RM250 per night. Most unsatisfactory

The place itself was lovely, service was superb. They had an outdoor cinema which was a cute idea but mosquitos were in sufficient supply here so we did not visit that. The beach was pristine and the tranquil ambience permeated the entire resort. Rooms were spacious and could fit 3 people comfortably per room.

Fabulous! Awesome! Excellent!!

Loved the Tanjong Jara Resort

Beautiful hotel and area, the staff is so nice and welcoming, doing their best and careful about details. The restaurants offer great Asian / Malay or Western options. Loved the activities (night cinema, walk in the garden and forest, Malay culture evening, etc) but the best was the half day trip to Tenggol Island for snorkeling and lunch on the beach.

Quiet Beach Resort

My wife and I stayed at the resort for a short break from work. The service was fantastic, the beach amazing (empty! - no high volume of tourists!) food excellent, bar/food prices were OK but you expect to pay more for a 5 star resort anyway. Very relaxing place to go on holiday. Rooms... Great! Wifi....Great! Food...Great! Just a fantastic trip overall which I would highly recommend to anyone wanting to have a relaxing beach holiday with basically a private beach all to yourself. Unlike packed beaches in Thailand the beach at the resort is near empty... which is perfect for a quiet, relaxing holiday.

Could be better for the price paid.

Pros: Very good service level, staff were helpful and always smiling. I chose Anjung which had a very nice view and spacious room. Cons: There were a lot of bugs and mosquitoes that made my stay less enjoyable. Woke up in the middle of the night because of mosquitoes in the room. The outdoor bathtub was not used because it was littered with leaves, large ants and bugs. The air conditioner's position is less than favourable as I kept getting cold air in my face which was very unpleasant. Food options could be better.

Beautiful Hotel but food and service is not on par

We stayed two nights with our friends and loved the resort even though we had just left another lovely resort on Perhentian Kecil after a 4 night stay there. TJ was luxurious, rooms were great, environment just lovely. The food and the service was however terribly disappointing. We ate at two restaurants there in addition to breakfast and was not satisfied with the quality at all. Drinks by the pool took a long time to order and to get service...seems like a waste of opportunity for the hotel to generate revenue when people could be drinking two drinks instead of 1 in the same time frame. We asked for more Tobasco and Worcheshire Sauce for our Bloody Mary and the response was, "we ran out and you have to wait half an hour until we walk to the other restaurant"! Management really needs to be more hands on. To be honest, we did not see a single manager walking around the three days and two nights we were there. If not for the food and service, I would have given the resort a 4.5. There are no other restaurants near the hotel...so I hope they improve the food and service as it is such a shame considering it is such a beautiful place.

Most enjoyable stay

We thoroughly enjoyed the location, adjacent to the sea, the landscaped gardens, the peace and quiet

Rooms are incredibly spacious and well appointed.

Amazing setting and location. Atmosphere a bit "precious" eg. the gong being struck to signal your arrival and departure My favourite place to stay in Malaysia

Nice relaxing hotel

4 1/2 star hotel in quiet location. Really good hotel for just relaxing and chillin. Time of visit just after really bad weather, so resort still sorting out repairs and maintenance after monsoon season.

High standard of service quality

Service and courtesy by staff was excellent. All employees at the hotel are very helpful and proactive. No complaints whatsoever.

Not toddler friendly

1. Room deco: toddler can reach vases lining up the wall - 6 breakable vases, despite being glued to the wood base 2. Toilet flooring: slippery for toddler when wet 3. Wifi: requires deposit of MYR 500, uses YES services. Provide dongle that can be carried anywhere. 4. Aircond: felt cooler after 7pm. From checkin at 2.30pm until 7pm, room felt warm despite aircond turned on 5. Room lighting: side table lights do not come with a switch beside the lamp. You have to switch off from the wall plug. 6. Room lighting: no lighting in centre of the room. Dim lighting from a switched on TV 7. Complimentary events: staff went at great length to show where restaurants are within the hotel compound but missed out on the Malay hi tea buffet in seafront on Saturdays, ends at 6pm. We found out from one of the restaurants when enquiring about room service 8. In room dining: no menu for in room dining provided in room information. We were told by reception to call individual restaurants for their menu and request for room service 9. Dining at restaurants: hotel information booklet requests that guests make prior booking for seats at restaurants because seats are limited. This is a first for us because never have we encountered such dining restriction 10. Check in: no priority given to adults with restless toddler. Slow check in. Had to wait for staff to send guests to their rooms before it came to our turn 11. Security guard at entrance: they should be trained to read hotel confirmation doct

World class hotel

5 star hotel with excellent service

Beach resort hotel.

Self-contained beach resort with 3 restaurants. Nice grounds and rooms, and right on the beach. Food was OK but limited selection - apart from breakfast which had a good spread. Food / drinks quite expensive because no other options nearby. Hotel taxi service very expensive. Also 'local' taxi service arranged through the hotel was expensive (I guess in agreement with the hotel). No other options nearby so they can charge what they like.

Will not visit again

Towel and bedsheet are dirty, TV out of service, the operator not familiar with their own restaurant details. We order in room dining, after finished the meal, we called the operator to clear up because we put the dish outside the room.. next morning when i open my door i see the dish still outside my room which covered by the insects.. so disgusting.. the breakfast area cover by alot of flies insects too.. bad experience.. i paid 3500 for two nights end up like this...

Very quite & relaxing

Went for a 3 day break from KL during Hari Raya and enjoyed every minute, a great recharge.

It was a nice place to stay. The staff are friendly. There is a beautiful beach behind the hotel. It is very stunning in the morning.

The perfect getaway

This resort simply is a paradise and oasis of tranquility

Pleasant stay

Had a wonderful snorkeling trip to Tenggol Island. The hotel staff took good care of us and we had a delicious bbq lunch prepared by th chef who accompanied us. Night time movie under the stars was good fun (but take mosquito repellent!). Food was mostly good. Overall the resort is showing its age and it's a shame they don't have any bigger villa or suite to accommodate family of four (we had to book two rooms). Staff were friendly and provided good service. I would go back.

Wonderful position with a fabulous beach

While the weather was perfect the red flag was up on the beach throughout our stay as it was just too rough to swim. That said we much enjoyed the beach and wandering up to Nelayan where Chef Saleh and his team cook us one delicious dinner after another.

AMAZING experience, great resort!

We spent two days with my parents in the resort. Overall it was a fantastic experience. We arrived hot and sweaty, but was greeted with great service and refreshment at check in. The rooms were spacious and the view was fantastic. All the staff at the resort were friendly and helpful. At the pool, cold water with lemon and towers were offered every 15 mins (fantastic for a hot day). The hotel is clean, the beach is cleaned daily and the garden is maintained well. We received free smoothies and snacks in our room. The hotel staff also made an effort to try to make my parent's 40th anniversary special with a complimentary cake. It's the small touches that counts and we are really impressed with the management of the resort. Highly recommended for everyone, either for family holiday or for a romantic relaxing retreat. We will be back.

Third Time....still Amazing

Our third stay at this wonderful resort. As always, picture postcard beautiful with friendly service. So peaceful, only the sounds of nature to disturb. If you can't relax here then something wrong with you :-).

Nice hotel but not good food

It is a nice hotel but it lacks good food. Considering there is nothing around or any place to have lunch or dinner outside the hotel they need to improve quality, variety and price food. Employees were very kind to us and good service.

Relaxed Luxury

Just spent 3 days at this wonderful resort, and loved the laid back style whilst no compromise on service. The lovely staff were all very friendly and always happy to assist. Our Anjung room was wonderful with view of the golden beach, and outside private bath. The current Haze weather over Malaysia dampened our sunbathing plans somewhat but although the resort is pretty remote there was plenty to do, including a nighttime trip to see baby turtles released into the Water by the local conservation team, which will be lifelong memory. The food was wonderful, and we especially recommend the steamboat dining which was great fun.

Beautiful expensive resort.

Stayed one night as a stop over. This is a beautiful resort with fabulous surrounding and excellent spacious comfortable accommodation. The food in the Asean restaurant is exquisite, and the breakfast was fantastic with an array of choices being offered. The other restaurant, the Nelayan is comparatively expensive, which can also be said of this resort.

A hotel worth coming back

Service was excellent and hotel staff was very polite and helpful. There is nothing negative that can be said about the hotel. Lighting in the bathroom could be brighter but this does not spoil the positive feel-good factor one enjoys when staying at the hotel.

Malay style hospitality and accommodation

Everything from the warm greeting at Reception to the same at departure was perfect. Ganeral Manager was much in evidence and introduced himself to us as did his deputies. All the staff were happy to do whatever they could to enhance the experience. Accomodation was local style and luxurious. Beach is idyllic. Excellent food.

A beautiful resort

A beautiful resort. Excellent beach and sea for playing in waves (sadly no snorkelling off beach). Rooms have a single day-bed, which is behind a screen, as well as a large king size.

Great resort, kampung style, tranquil beach

Definitely will return again!!! Friendly staff..love the room near to the beach.. Great food & swimming pool

remarkable Stay At Tanjong Jara

Everything was good from parking,cleanliness, rooms, hotel staff, reception, food, facilities,and extremely clean and wonderful beach. A good place to rest and relax. Seeing is believing.

Amazing stay

My husband and I stayed for 7 nights. The staff were amazing. There was nothing that they wouldnt do for you. I had a knee injury and they were very happy to accommodate me needs.

Hidden secret at 4.5 hrs driving from KL

Excellent Hotel, with a fantastic beach, service and facilities. They have several activities but two of them were exceptional, the trip to Tenggol Island and the Picnic offered by the hotel on Saturdays and Sunday to resemble the typical Malay/Commonwealth gathering. I will definitely come back

Awesome Family Trip

Friendly staff . Long Q at Restaurant during breakfast time .

The hotel is really nice & very comfortable. The only downfall is the price pre room. But it is all worth it

Good location over looking the South China sea

Nice small friendly hotel, staff were helpful Restaurants were nice but slightly pricey There is no night entertainment each in evenings and can get a bit boring

Beautiful hotel in stunning grounds

This was our first trip to Tanjong Jara, but it certainly won't be our last. The hotel is really beautiful and the beach clean and deserted.