My wife and I chose to visit the National Park to do some hiking and see some of Penang's off the beaten track forests and beaches. If your motives are similar then it is definitely worth a visit! It costs 50 ringgit per person to enter the forest and you can boats direct to each of the beaches (if you want a boat just for the way back then organise this before you start walking, as they don't wait around at the beaches). We chose to walk to Turtle beach and back, which was about a 2.5 hour journey. The forest is great and there is plenty of wildlife to see. The trails are well marked and sign posted, so getting lost is not an issue. Nevertheless the routes are challenging enough that you feel completely immersed in the forest, which is awesome! If you are the adventurous type or simply fancy getting out of the hotel for a morning, then I would definitely recommend visiting the National Park. Wear long trousers though as it is a proper forest and there are leaches and loads of ants.

NEW FEE - 50RM for foreign tourists, conservation tax. Cash only. You have to register on line and need ID, passport or driving licence. There is Wi-Fi to help with registration. Watch out for the boat fees. An extortionate 50 RM one way! The walk to monkey beach was quite challenging, climbing over trees and navigating slopes. Whilst the walk is lovely, and the beaches beautiful the volume of rubbish is just awful. Monkey beach is backed by rubbish and collapsed buildings. I just hope the conservation fee is going to be used to clean up the beaches, restore the walk ways and clean up the beach. We came to Penang to especially walk in the park over a couple of days but the fee will mean we only visit one day. Quite honestly, if your trip to Penang is to come to the park, don’t bother, don’t make it the basis of your trip,

Almost didn’t go because of the bad reviews, but so glad we did! Tickets to the park are 50 myr per adult. Make sure you don’t arrive between 1-2pm as they close for break! We arrived at 1pm and only just managed to get tickets!! We already knew we wanted tk walk the trail to the beach with the turtle sanctuary on and from reading previous reviews knew we needed to book a return boat. We spoke to a lady at one of the stalls outside and booked a boat to collect us from the beach to return back. The cost she gave us was 100 myr to go straight back or 120 myr to call at monkey beach on the way. There was two of us. We decided to call at monkey beach. She advised us that the trail we wanted to do usually took 1.30hr to walk and so suggested booking the boat for 2.30hrs time to give us time on the beach. We booked and set off on our hike! The path is initially paved and we walked past monkeys and stopped to watch a lizard soak in the water. The path was extremely well signposted and was initially a 20 min uphill hike and then up/down the rest. I don’t do a lot of fitness but it was fine for me. The path is uneven natural trail so trainers are definitely a must. We also wore long socks in case of any leeches (didn’t see any but have walked a few forests with them!). We arrived at the beach having thoroughly enjoyed our jungle walk and looking out for animals along the way. We visited the turtle sanctuary and it was lovely to see the work being done to help. There is no drink stalls on the turtle beach. Our boat came and he was very informative on the way back, telling us about the different rocks, animals and forest. We stopped at monkey beach for a drink (stalls are here!) and then jumped back on the boat to go back to the pier. All in all a great afternoon out and we were so glad we did it. Note: definitely book your boat before you set off on the walk!

What a lovely gem to discover. You will have to take a public bus to the village or drive and park there. Hiking is an option to the beaches through the jungles or hire a boat to take you to monkey beach, turtle beach, meromiktik lake, view points. Stop by for a swim at monkey beach and have a coconut drink or enjoy the local food. Watch the turtle hatchery. Great activity.

Nice rainforest park with lovely ocean views. We took the trail from park entry to Monkey Bay. It was supposed to be an easy to moderate difficulty, we actually found it quite difficult. Both of us are regular and fit walkers. The trail is very poorly maintained, many sections washed away, steps and guard rails broken and fallen vegetation partly blocking the path. Would definitely not recommend for children or unfit adults. Even if you are fit I would say the effort is not worth it for what you will see. We took a boat back from Monkey Bay.