For quite some time I had been thinking that I should take my parents on an international trip. They had travelled within India quite a bit, but a proper international holiday had never really happened. So that was one of the motivations behind planning this trip.

The next question was where to go.

When you are travelling with senior citizens, the destination matters a lot. My dad is 75+ and my mom is 67. Long flights, multiple connections, rushing through airports – all of that can make the trip quite tiring even before it begins. So my criteria was very simple.

The destination should be reachable from Bangalore in a single flight.
The journey should ideally be within four to five hours.
And most importantly, it should be a place where we could take things slow.

I did not want a trip where every day we had to wake up early, rush to see five attractions, then move to the next city. The whole idea was to relax, spend time together, and explore at a comfortable pace.

That is where Langkawi fit perfectly.

Langkawi is an island in Malaysia. It is not a very big island, but it offers enough things to do so that you don’t get bored. At the same time, it is not chaotic or over-crowded like some big tourist destinations.

Most people do Langkawi for three or four days. But since the whole intention was to slow down and enjoy the place, I booked the trip for a full week.

The Flight from Bangalore

Our onward flight from Bangalore was at an odd hour.

It was one of those early morning flights that leaves around 3:30 a.m. Which means you practically don’t sleep the previous night. I was a bit worried about this because we were travelling with both parents and our kid.

I kept wondering if the lack of sleep would make everyone cranky.

Thankfully, things went quite smoothly.

The flight duration from Bangalore to Langkawi is roughly 4 hours 15 minutes, which is quite comfortable for an international flight. Not too long, not too short.

We landed in Langkawi around 10:25 a.m. local time.

Immigration was quite straightforward and within a short time we were out of the airport.

Grab – The Lifesaver in Langkawi

Before travelling, I had spoken to a few people who had visited Langkawi earlier. Many of them suggested renting a self-drive car. Apparently Indian driving licenses work there.

For a while I was quite tempted.

Driving around an island sounds nice. But when I thought practically about it, it did not seem necessary.

With parents and a child along, I knew we would not be exploring aggressively anyway. And renting a car always brings a small tension — scratches, parking issues, or any minor damage turning into a headache.

At the same time, everyone said that Grab (the Southeast Asian equivalent of Uber) works very well there.

So I decided to keep things simple. We would just book cabs on the go.

The moment we came out of the airport, I opened the Grab app, booked a ride, and within minutes we were on our way to the hotel.

That decision turned out to be perfect for the rest of the trip.

Our Stay – Dayang Bay Resort

Our stay in Langkawi was at Dayang Bay Resort, located near Kuah Town.

Kuah Town is one of the older parts of Langkawi. The coastline here is more of a rocky bay rather than a typical sandy beach. So you don’t get the postcard-style beach directly outside the hotel.

But what you do get are stunning views of the ocean.

I must admit I was slightly apprehensive about the hotel before arriving. Its Google rating was around 3.9, which is decent but not spectacular.

But once we reached, I realised that ratings don’t always tell the full story.

The hotel was actually quite nice.

Our room had been booked with an ocean view, and the view from the balcony was beautiful. The sea spread out in front of us and the bay made the whole place look very scenic.

But the real highlight of the hotel was the swimming pool.

It had a massive pool for adults and a separate kids’ pool with slides and play areas. Our daughter absolutely loved it. Almost every day she would spend a couple of hours in the pool. For her, the swimming pool alone was enough reason to love Langkawi.

The First Day – Just Relax

The first day in Langkawi we did absolutely nothing.

And that was exactly the plan.

After reaching the hotel and checking in, we freshened up and headed straight to the swimming pool. Everyone was a bit tired from the early morning flight anyway.

So the first day was simply about resting, swimming, and settling into the holiday mode.

No sightseeing. No rushing around.

Just relaxing.

Food Arrangements That Worked Surprisingly Well

One unexpected advantage of our hotel location was what lay just outside the property.

The moment you step out of Dayang Bay Resort, there is a small stretch filled with shops and restaurants.

You have everything there.

A 7-Eleven.
Multiple Malaysian, Chinese, Indonesian restaurants.
A few cafes.

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And thankfully — an Indian restaurant.

When you are travelling for a week with parents, this becomes quite important. Eating unfamiliar food continuously can sometimes cause stomach issues.

There was also a fantastic fruit shop just outside the hotel.

Our daily routine soon became very simple.

The hotel breakfast was included in the stay, so we would have a heavy breakfast.

After that we would go out for sightseeing or some activity.

Then we would come back and have lunch outside, trying different cuisines on different days — Malaysian, Thai, Indonesian.

Dinner was usually kept very light.

Some days we would just walk to the Indian restaurant and have a couple of dosas. On other days we would buy cut fruits from the fruit shop, come back to the room, and eat those.

This combination worked extremely well.

Before the trip I was a little worried that eating outside food continuously for seven days might upset my parents’ or my child’s stomach. But surprisingly, everyone remained perfectly fine throughout the trip.

Taking It Slow

One of the best decisions we made for this trip was keeping the itinerary relaxed.

Langkawi has plenty of things to do:

• Island hopping tours
• Mangrove forest tours
• The famous Sky Bridge cable car ride
• Beaches
• Oh! the super interesting night market

But instead of packing everything into three hectic days, we spread things out across the week.

That meant many afternoons were spent doing something as simple as sitting by the pool or looking out at the sea.