Hi - I’m looking to take the family to Redang Island on the north east coast of Malaysia. 

 

The ferry jump off point appears to be Merang on the mainland and it appears that the ferries go mid morning to midday, meaning that it will be impossible to do a same day connection off the back of a Air Asia flight into Narathiwat which lands about midday. 

 

Do people have any suggestions on how to make the trip as seamless as possible? 

 

making the trip probably necessitates an overnight stay in Narathiwat from my research (but happy to be advised otherwise). 

 

but what about transport. When I lived in Pattani 20 years ago there were private taxis you could get. Is this still feasible on either side of the border? Can anyone suggest what a reasonable price would be? We are a family of 4.

Have you considered flying to KL and connecting with the flight to Kuala Terengganu? It's only a 20km taxi ride from the airport to Merang. Air Asia have regular flights to Kuala Terengganu.

It seems the base for package trips for Redang is Kuala Terengganu.  There was one street there were maybe 6 places selling them: a van picks you up at your hotel and puts you on a boat.  I usually avoid such deals but it seemed there was no easy way to get to Merang jetty otherwise.  (this info is a few years old, also be careful, there is another place south of KT called Marang which also has a jetty and offshore resort)

40 km from KT to jetty, 200+ km from Naratiwat.

I've spent some time in KT, it's an ok place, not a lot to do but I liked it.

Enjoy your stay, pack snacks and treats.

 

 

26 minutes ago, bendejo said:

there is another place south of KT called Marang which also has a jetty

Yeah, my bad. Merang is about 25km north of KT airport, and Marang is 20km south. I've spent time in Kuala Terengganu, was there March last year on business, it's a pleasant enough part of the world. But I've not visited the islands. It's a short flight from KL and I've flown up variously with AirAsia, Firefly and Malaysia Airways all have regular flights. 

For the record from the airport at Narathiwat there is a mini van service meeting the planes to Narathiwat and the border. If you stay in Narathiwat then there are regular Songthaews to the border at Tak Bai and then short ferry crossing where there are plenty of buses into Kota Bharu. You can also take mini vans to Sungai Kolok and pick up bus on other side but much longer

 

You will easily reach Kota bahru with the Air Asia flight