Malaysia's Duty-Free Island — 99 islands of jungle, mangroves, and white beaches in the Andaman Sea, where a cable car climbs to the sky bridge above the clouds and alcohol is half the price of anywhere else in Malaysia
Langkawi is an archipelago of 99 islands off Malaysia's northwestern coast in the Andaman Sea, designated a UNESCO Global Geopark for its extraordinary geological diversity — limestone karst hills, volcanic rock formations, and mangrove forests that record 550 million years of Earth history. As a designated 'Duty-Free Island', Langkawi offers cheap alcohol and cigarettes in a country where both are heavily taxed, which has made it an unusual destination: observant Muslim Malaysian visitors, expats from the Gulf, and Western beach tourists coexist in a resort landscape that is more developed t…
Langkawi's name derives from the Malay words for 'reddish-brown eagle' (helang — corrupted to 'lang') and 'marble' (kawi). The islands were a source of regional legend: the story of Mahsuri, a young woman unjustly executed for alleged adultery in the 18th century who cursed the island with seven generations of bad luck, is the centrepiece of Langkawi folklore and a major tourist attraction (the white blood that flowed at her death is the detail that determines the curse's authenticity in local retellings). The islands were part of the Kingdom of Kedah and changed hands between Siam and the Br…