Langkawi

The cable car alone does not get you there. Two stages, then a walk, and the bridge appears. It is a curved 125-metre deck hung from a single pylon, with glass panels that show the drop. On a low cloud day the view is simply gone, so ask at the counter first.

Mangrove channels run between limestone cliffs. A boat is the only way in. Boatmen used to throw chicken to bring eagles down; it is banned now and carries a fine. The bat cave is only enterable at low water, so the hour shifts daily.

The busiest beach on the island, with the hotels and restaurants all on one road behind it. Jet ski and parasail touts keep coming and the price is whatever you settle on. After dark the restaurants put tables out on the sand.

Seven pools stacked down the rock give it the name Seven Wells. Over six hundred steps lead to the upper pools, and in the dry season the flow drops until only rock shows. The wet rock is slick, so crossing barefoot is not the idea.

The twelve-metre red eagle at the jetty comes from reading the island's name as eagle, and being the first thing anyone arriving by boat sees, it works as a photograph on the way past.

Check the tide before you set out. At low water it pulls far back and you can walk to the sandbar opposite, but it returns fast enough to catch you out. At the northern tip it is quieter than Cenang with finer sand, though shade comes from a handful of trees.

The grave of a woman executed on a false charge, who is said to have left the island cursed for seven generations. A white marble tomb stands beside traditional Malay houses moved here, and the site became a stop once the curse was reckoned spent in the 1980s.

A half-day boat run tying together the Lake of the Pregnant Maiden, eagle feeding and Dayang Bunting island. The lake is fresh water, and monkeys go through bags, so do not leave yours to swim. Rough days cancel the whole trip.

Somewhere to go when it rains. It sits at the end of Cenang beach and runs to a temperate hall with penguins and seals, enough for two indoor hours. It is not large, and without children in the party it need not be on the list.

Chocolate, drink and perfume run at about half mainland prices. Shops are scattered through Kuah town and Cenang, and the same item differs between them enough that comparing two is worth it. Spirits face an airline allowance: check before you buy.

At 881 m the island's highest peak, reached by a road twisting up through rainforest. The climb takes some 25 minutes by car, and hornbills often perch in the roadside trees. The top is frequently lost in cloud, so pick a clear morning.

A waterfall dropping over rock in several tiers in the forest of the island's northeast. Steps lead uphill past a pool at each level where locals take a dip. Come after a spell of rain, since months without it leave only a trickle.

A museum of the gifts former prime minister Mahathir received in office, over 10,000 pieces from cars to porcelain and portraits. Comparing what each nation chose to send is the fun part. It sits off a forest road near Kilim, on the east-side loop.

A marine park in the sea south of Langkawi, roughly sixty minutes out from the Kuah jetty. Baby blacktip reef sharks gather in the shallows, close enough to watch with a snorkel. With no lodging there, visits are boat day trips.

A mostly covered zoo near Kuah, with its aviaries gathered under one big roof, so rain does not spoil it. Buy a feed bag at the gate and hand-feed parrots and deer. With children, set aside around two hours.

A pasar malam that moves to a different spot each day, Kuah one evening and another village the next. Most of it is what locals buy for supper: satay, grilled squid, coconut drinks. Ask at your hotel where today's market is set up.

The beach just south of Cenang, split from it by a small headland and far calmer, with fewer touts. Resorts and restaurants are spaced out behind the sand. When the water is out you can walk round the rocks of the point to Cenang along the beach.

A rice-field garden and museum on the Cenang beach road, free to enter. Walk the paddy dykes past signs that trace the work from planting to threshing. Egrets stand in the fields, making it a sunset photo spot too.