It's beautifully located, well run and not cheap. We enjoyed three nights here. On-site meals are costly, bars did interesting things, snorkeling and kayaking was beautiful. A good relaxing place, but don't look at the prices.

Oh, and it's int he jungle; that means you'd better be ready to meet geckos, monkeys and ants on a fairly regular basis. The numerous staff does a fine job of beating back the jungle, but it's nearly impossible to win that battle completely. If you can't handle finding a sugarbowl full of ants, I don't recommend this; then again, I don't recommend tropical vacations in general for such people!

We stayed at japamala, and really appreciated the fact that while this is a gorgeous luxury resort, it was also quite reasonable In terms of the food and daily living etc. We went in jan and the weather was dreadful due to the monsoon, but we still enjoyed ourselves eating the yum food and being served by the super friendly staff.

I was searching for a weekend getaway during Christmas and happen to chanced upon this site. I was very lucky as the first two places were fully booked during the Christmas period (I booked in August) that there was still available chalets.

After reading the reviews, I decided on room 16, a sea cliff chalet that have best (unobstructed) view of the sea. Through my correspondence while reserving a two night stay, I secured Chalet no. 16 and confirmed it with the reservations lady. This would then be perfect as this trip was a Christmas gift to my partner. So you could imagine my utter disappointment when I was shown Chalet no. 14 instead of 16! I checked with the staff that showed us to our chalet and she said there was no record of such arrangement on file and it was already occupied. My partner was ok and told me not to worry about it and was fine with the view but personally, it was more of a promise that was broken.

And this was after we had to wait 40mins at the marina jetty for the speedboat to take us to the resort. We understand that because of the monsoon season, the water was choppy and therefore, the speedboat could only accommodate a certain number of people for safety reasons. This resulted in the boat having to make two trips due to the number of us heading to Japamala. However, my point of contention here is since the resort is aware and has prior knowledge of us arriving, surely they could have anticipated that two boats would be required instead of leaving half of its guests that were bound for it sitting and idling around a jetty that had no shops/cafes/coffeehouse/restaurant opened.

Our stay at the resort was otherwise great and we really did love the whole serenity and the environment, albeit the heavy rain that poured almost non-stop throughout our stay. The chalet was just as how one of the reviews mentioned, 'cozy and warm and full of privacy'. The amenities were adequate and clean. Definitely well-maintained! There was a verandah just outside our room which we would gazed at the moody skies and out into the expansive sea. We even had unexpected 'visitors' at our verandah and on the day bed outside when we woke up in the morning. Monkeys! Very cute little monkeys! Just remember not to feed them though. (''p)

Due to the rainy weather, we were unable to have our dinner at the famed Mandi-Mandi restaurant although the food was made available in the Terrace restaurant. And the meals that we had were such a delight. The souffle so nice that we decided to have it on the second night! It was THAT wonderful! Breakfast was a killer! My scrambled egg came in a generous serving along with an authentic hash brown that was handmade by them! Yummy!

The resort staff would smile at you and although attentive to our needs, we felt their warmness and friendliness were genuine without trying to overly impress us.

Housekeeping was done competently and twice a day. One during our breakfast and the other when we had our dinner. In fact, we looked forward to returning to our chalet after dinner as candles and essential oil would have been lit with the spa-ish aroma filling within our bedroom. The bed would have been made with chocolates placed nicely above the duvet. We had such a great sleep that we were wondering if it was due to the essential oil or the coziness of the room or both!

The only grouse we had was the massage was only available for one person at any one time. Apparently, there was only one lady doing the massage and we had wanted to have the massage done at the same time. I wasn't too sure why that was so but we ended up skipping the massage and borrowed a couple of dvds to watch in the privacy of our chalet instead.

Overall, we still felt that this was probably one of the best place that one could go to really escape and chill. Also, the bad beginning to our getaway really did leave an unpleasant mark to what would have otherwise been THE best and most serene place anyone could ever ask for.

Japamala Resort is an isolate luxury boutique resort in Tioman Island.
Staffs are friendly and attentive, never forget to smile and greet you. Once you must try their superb menu at Tamarind Terrace Restaurant which serves Thai & Indochina cuisine and in fact for those pasta lovers, you should go for their Mandi-Mandi Restaurant which is at the jetty and it is the signature of the Japamala as well, the floating restaurant.
Rooms are all fabulous! Top up little bit more to get those Sarang with the private plunge pool. Do not worry about the views of the rooms as you are literally surrounded by the jungle and your privacy is guaranteed!
There is no mobile network coverage and phone in room. So, just indulge yourself in the peaceful moment where you are totally disconnected from the world. Do not worry as you can always divert your important calls to the resort before your arrival. The resort lives up to the many say - JapaMala is not just a place, it's a state of mind.