Where to stay in Cherating

Around Cherating there are a variety of accomodatios you can choose from. You choose from quinte little chalets in Kampung Cherating to international classed hotels like Swiss Garden, Holiday Villa, Impiana and so on. Most of the hotels are located along the beach, so most rooms have a view of the sea. Below is my review on two hotels that I have stayed in.

Where I have stayed in Cherating

Impiana Resort Cherating
There are a few outlets starting with Kedai Kopi or the coffee shop which is a nice airy restaurant that offers Malaysian and Continental dishes. For drinks there is the Pelita Lounge overlooking the reflecting pool and spectacular sea view especially during full moon night and a Pub where a Philipine Band was playing. Also Kemaman is about half and hours drive where you will come across shops selling Keropok Lekor and Satar, great for afternoon teas. Towards Kuantan, you will come across Kampung Cherating which is littered with seafood restaurants.

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Swiss Garden Kuantan
Swiss Garden Kuantan is about 20 minutes from Kuantan town. It’s a beautiful resort with nice pools, well decorated lobby & restaurants. The room we got was very spacious and had a good view of the pool and the beach. But take note that all angles of the balcony are not seaview as there are tall coconut trees around the pool. The hotel is clean and its staff friendly and helpful.
Buffet breakfast was good as they had a wide variety of local and continental dishes. You can either dine in the restaurant or outside. As it was the off season there were not much people for breakfast, so we practically had the staff to ourselves. The beach is just a few meters from the pool and it’s sort of private as there were no other resorts around. The beach was fairly clean. As with all Malaysian holiday destinations, if you want some peace and relaxation avoid this hotel because it’s really big and you can imagine the amount of families running around.

Must try in Cherating

Sata
Sata is a mixture of fish meat and spices, wrapped in banana leaves into a cone shape. Then the cones are skewered on bamboo stick and grilled over a slow charcoal fire. It has a sweet taste and the delicate smell comes from the banana wrapping. Most shops sell this together with Keropok lekor and otak-otak as an afternoon snack.

Keropok Lekor
Keropok Lekor is a popular snack in Terengganu but nowadays you can find it anywhere along side “Goreng Pisang” or in English Banana Fritters. As Cherating is just twenty minutes from the Kuala Kemaman fishing village, you will find lots of small shops selling and making keropok lekor around. It is prepared from minced fish meat mixed with sago. Then the mixture is then rolled into the shape of long tubes similar to sausages. A sort of Malaysian fish sausage. They are boiled and can be eaten while they are hot together with a type of homemade chilly sauce. Another way you can eat it if you don’t like the fishy taste or smell is to deep fry sliced keropok lekor in which it makes it crunchy and you can also eat it with the homemade chilly sauce.
There is another type called Keropok Keping. Which is also made up of the same ingredients as keropok lekor but made into larger tube-shaped keropok that will be sliced thinly? Then they are dried under the sun. When you want to eat it you need to fry first.

Hai Peng Kopitiam
Hai Peng Is an old fashion kopitiam, with its marbled tables and its green flowered cups found in Kemaman town. But be prepared to wait for your table as it’s always packed with locals and tourists alike. Hai Peng Kopitiam serves a range of roti bakar (toast), kuih muih (Malay snack), nasi lemak. It is famous for its own roasted local coffee. It is really strong. Kedai Kopi Hai Peng is located at corner of Jalan Dato Omar and Jalan Sulaimani, one of the main roads at Kemaman town.

Cherating is truly an exchanted place to visit. In my upcoming Travels at Malaysia, I will add the Historical City of Melaka.

For some interesting read, click here The 5 Best Chalets in Malaysia

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