Welcome to my family-friendly review of the Golden Sands by Shangri-La Penang! We were so excited to be staying in a Sangri-La! A Shangri-La! We never (rarely) stay at big resorts but having just come from the Jungle of Bukit Lawang and sleeping on the ground I thought we should treat ourselves. Well, what did we think? I thought we might be staying at one of the best resorts in Penang. Read on to find out thoughts on the Gold Sands by Sangri-La review –
I’ll start by saying that we had 5 nights here. Honestly, we missed Bukit Lawang (even the no-flushing toilets!). The Golden Sands by Shangri-La just did not live up to its name.
Shangri-La Golden Sands is a 4-star resort catering to families with child-friendly facilities. Many people may call it a luxury beachfront resort in Penang or a family-friendly resort in Penang.
There are 387 guestrooms and suites throughout the hotel. What I was super excited by was they had interconnecting family rooms with little tents and bunk beds! This is so foreign to us! Not something we would normally book. The kids ran in and thought it was amazing. They had their own rooms with bunk beds, a tent with a single bed and their own bathroom, little chairs and table and fairy lights!!
You can see why the kids loved it. It is so cute and well thought out.
You can see why the kids loved it. It is so cute and well thought out. Love the fairy lights
Our room was a standard hotel-style room.
Our bed
All was fine until we opened the blinds! We discovered that we were at the back of the property looking onto the car park. It was awful. Staying in a room with no balcony was gross. We requested a room change but all the family rooms are on the back side of the hotel. If we wanted to change then we would have had to forgo the family room. The kids won as they loved it and we stayed. We had wet shoes and dirty clothes strewn around the room (would have been perfect to dry on a balcony!!).
Our bathroom had a shower over the bath (a hate of mine) but what was terrible was the design of the shower. Every time the shower was turned on, water ran around the edge of the bath and onto the floor. We went through so many towels. When we mentioned this at check out we were laughed at about ‘swimming’ in our room.
Our room package included a buffet breakfast. I used to think buffet breakfasts were the absolute best! Part of me still does and the kids love to be able to try a great variety of food but I am so particular about what I eat nowadays that I just have my couple of items and that’s about all!
Golden Sands by Shangri-La Penang is located in the Batu Ferringhi area of Penang. Unfortunately, the beach was eroded away and there were machines moving sand. I don’t think I even put my toes into the water.
We spent most of our days lazing around the pools playing Uno. The pools were too warm (!) and the kids were almost too big for the little waterslides but they did the job.
The little waterslides. Hours of fun even if the kids were almost too big!
The resort is green and lush and well spread out, plenty of space to eat, drink, relax and have fun.
There are many things to do in and around Batu Ferringhi including eating at the awesome Long Beach Food Court/Market. The best place to eat in Penang. So much variety. We didn’t try any of the western style of food and can’t imagine how the stalls can survive keeping chicken parmy’s frozen/fresh, fish and chips and taco’s! The best food was the Malaysian food – spring rolls, dumplings, noodles. Delcious and cheap! You order at each stall giving your table number and a waitress will come around for your drink orders.
Ta Da! The Long Beach Hawker Market set up.
We also ate on the beach at Frandy Beach Restaurant. It was a 1km or so from the resort along the beach. It was a lovely setting but the food wasn’t as good as Long Beach (the only thing needed to make Long Beach perfect would be if you could see the water!).
Is there anything better than a sunset over the beach at dinner in Asia?
We enjoyed a day out in Georgetown and a day at Escape Waterpark. We didn’t make it to the National Park on this trip.
We have so many awesome photos with the wall art
Overall Shangri-La Golden Sands review thoughts. The kids/family rooms were awesome and fun but in terrible locations. For that reason only I would never book them again. We didn’t get to view the ocean-facing rooms with balconies but I am sure they would have made the world of difference.
You can see all the ocean fronted rooms in this image.
Have you stayed at a Shangri-La? Are they all similar? Or should I give another venue a go? I am not sure I would now, to be honest. I think I still prefer the smaller boutique style of accommodations. Let me know what you think.
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