Lone Pine Hotel Penang - Ed Unloaded.com | Parenting, Lifestyle, Travel Blog

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Penang is one of the top holiday destinations for Singapore families. With it’s amazing Penang food and the strong Singapore dollar, lots of Singaporean families have been travelling up to Malaysia. As everyone is always looking for a good family hotel, the Lone Pine Hotel Penang at Batu Ferringhi is proving to be a great choice for tourists and families.

Lone Pine Hotel is Batu Ferringhi’s only luxury boutique hotel. Since reopening in 2010, Lone Pine Hotel quickly became Penang’s favourite beach-side boutique resort and was soon awarded the coveted 5-star from the Ministry of Tourism in 2012. With 90 sea-facing rooms and suites, one is assured of a relaxing, luxurious stay in a most beautiful colonial setting. The hotel lives up to it’s English history and it is obvious that much effort was put into the 1.5 years refurbishment and expansion exercise. It is therefore not surprising that it has won the TripAdvisor’s 2014 Travellers’ Choice® Awards in the Top Hotels category in Malaysia.

From the moment we stepped into Lone Pine Hotel, we could sense that this was a classy but yet relaxing hotel. Lone Pine Hotel goes back to 1948 when a bungalow along Batu Ferringhi Beach was turned into a family-run hotel with just 10 rooms, all of which stand to date. Although it is called Lone Pine hotel, there is NOT a single Pine Tree on the estate!

The owner, an Australian, Dr Albert S. McKern mistook the solitary casuarina tree he saw there as a pine tree and dubbed the property ‘Lone Pine’. And hence forth, the misnomer! 🙂 However, the tall casuarina trees still stand till today, providing a very homely feel to the estate. We have been resided at quite a few Hotels in Penang, and we definitely enjoyed our stay at Lone Pine Hotel. Here are some quick reasons:

5 Star Reasons why we love Lone Pine Hotel:

The Rooms are unlike regular hotel rooms

The smallest room offered is already 45 sq meters. This is large compared to a normal 30 sq meters room. Every travelling family needs room, as a good sized room is a good plus factor!

A consistent PERK of the rooms at Lone Pine Hotel, is that every room (yes, even the ones lowest on the price scale) has a balcony that has a spectacular sea view. It is totally unblocked and really adds that idyllic charm to your stay. The only exception to this balcony are the Premier rooms, with the option of sea or garden views, offer the choice of either a tranquil patio or courtyard.

And the best part? In every balcony, there’s a plunge pool!

Yes! Super fun for any family and couples on a Honeymoon! Together with a complimentary bar which has a good offering of drinks and snacks, it is the perfect place to hang out with the kids. The kids just enjoyed Daddy feeding them with Coke and chips, as they enjoyed life by their “pool side balcony”.

For our Review we were given the opportunity to sample the most basic suite (Deluxe Suite). It comes with a separate large day-bed area equipped with an additional wardrobe. The room was great for our family of 5, as it means that the kids can sleep in a separate room, and also have additional room to roam around! 🙂

2. The landscape around the hotel transports you to another world

The lush greenery and very tall Casuarina trees create a very relaxed feel to the entire hotel. The scattered beach chairs and huts around tempts one to take a book out to read or simply just lie and enjoy the beach air. Check out the surroundings!

3. The Bungalow offers a good range of yummy food

The Bungalow is the in-house restaurant and it’s Al Fresco through the day. We were pleasantly surprised how cooling it was despite being in the tropics. The layout of the colonial building and very high ceilings definitely contributed to our comfort at meal times!

Now, Penang is a food haven. There’s plenty of very good food out along the streets and food stalls. BUT there are times when you just want to stay in, relax and have a good meal. The Bungalow offers that! We had a most amazing breakfast with a wide range of traditional delights. We really enjoyed ourselves. If you have a weak stomach, and need time to acclimatize your tummy to street food, the Pine Tree Hotel is a safe haven for tourists.

4. Not your usual Hotel offerings in the common areas

While every hotel has a reception area, pool, gym etc, Lone Pine has many other areas for guests to enjoy themselves.

You can spend some time at the Lepak Corner (Lepak is a local term which means to hang out with friends, loiter about and do absolutely nothing).

Or as you hang out in the gardens, there’s hammocks to lie on and garden paths to explore.

5. Famous Batu Ferrenghi Night Market

One of the best things to do at Night in Penang, is to visit the Batu Ferrenghi Night Market. Located at the start of the night market, one just needs to step out of the Hotel, and you will be ready to soak in the night market. With the good exchange rates, tourists will just love shopping along the Night market, with plenty of food, massages and merchandise that will satisfy every tourist.