Weekend Getaway: Avillion at Port Dickson

I bet most of you have heard of Avillion at Port Dickson, and most probably already been there. This is not a new place, I think it has been around for at least 8 years or more. I finally had an opportunity to spend a night here, just last night! If it was not for an organized group event, I probably would not do this one my own, it just does not make much sense to drive an hour plus from home and stay in a luxurious resort for seemingly no reason. We organized a few rooms for our group at once go so we had a special deal.

I must say the place is really very pretty. The whole sea-front chalet thing is really romantic. You do get an out-of-city romantic country feel. It is a worthwhile city escape if you're willing to part with around RM500 plus for the water chalet, or more at peak season. Trust me, it has to be the water chalet if you're doing this, the garden chalets defeats the whole purpose. If you want to bring the whole family, that's cool as well, the chalets can easily fit in 3 toddlers or 2 bigger children. The management of the resort has thought of all sorts of activities to keep children entertained; treasure hunts, monkeys, animal petting farm, kid's fun land, kid's pool, etc.

Hotel staff are friendly, well trained and quite helpful overall.

The hotel do look quite old and since they use alot of wood, it gives the place a cosy worn out look. There are lots of greens and little creatures roaming all over the place; e.i. peacocks, monkeys, birds etc. Well, then they have the usual stuff like bars, restaurants, saunas, etc etc.

Breakfast is decent. We did not try their barbecue buffet dinner as we drove out for seafood.

The one cool notable thing is the traditional musicians. They have two little gazebos, one at the entrance and one near the adult's pool. There are 3 traditionally clad musicians playing traditional Minangkabau music to set the mood at various intervals. It was brilliant and really soothing. I actually fell asleep while getting a tan thanks to this. The children seem to love the tunes as well.

You can get all the information you need from thew website: http://www.avillion.com.my. Meanwhile, here are some pix I took of the place.

This place is apparently really popular with foreign tour groups from Taiwan, China and Singapore. When we were leaving there were two tour buses with tourists from Taiwan! Imagine the crowd and noise! If that sort of thing bothers you, then check with them first if they have any major tours which clash with your desired travel period, and avoid peak season.

Into water chalets but not into Port Dickson? Then the next best thing is YTL's Pangkor Laut Resort! Definitely one notch up in the posh factor, and more exclusive. Ideal for honeymooners, maybe not for a big group on a budget.

I'm cool with Avillion, sure won't mind going back there again. Except that there's really nothing much to do in PD and the waters itself is not exactly very appealing.