Port Dickson is quiet and peaceful for budget slow travelers

Budget slow travelers to Malaysia will find Port Dickson to be quiet and peaceful – the opposite of hectic and congested Penang Island. It’s a former British port town on the southwest coast about an hour’s drive from Kuala Lumpur with many beaches and small shops and restaurants.

The beaches are the best part. On the Strait of Malacca, Port Dickson offers several beaches that are clean with public restrooms, changing rooms and showers for a small fee (50 cents to one ringgit, or 11 to 22 cents USD). Many mornings I walked the coastline and watched workers raking the beaches of trash and debris and emptying garbage cans along the walkways. The people of Port Dickson keep their home tidy and clean.

*Port Dickson has clean beaches.*
*Note: it’s a predominantly Muslim area, so skimpy bikinis are not recommended.*

Pantai Bagan Pinang and Pantai Saujana are the closest beaches to downtown Port Dickson. My walks ranged a little further south, starting at Pantai Cahaya Negeri Sembilan (which features mangroves, park, and campground).

Then there’s Cahaya Bulan, which is a small cove beach with a (closed) wooden bridge to a mangrove outcropping just off the coast. These two beaches become crowded on weekends due to the nearby camping ground and parking lots.

Keep heading south, and you’ll get to Pantai Bayu and Port Dickson Public Beach. These were a 30 to 15 minute walk respectively from our Airbnb. The coast turns into a rocky jetty and cruise ship dock (small day cruises) with more campgrounds.

Related: Port Dickson Airbnb video tour

The next beach is accessible from back on the main road. Pantai Teluk Kemang is the main beach drag (the long Port Dickson Public Beach) with shops and restaurants, a ‘wellness walk’, and a walkway that runs nearly the length of the beach. This ends near the Port Dickson Observatory (temporarily closed as of this writing).

*Telok Kemang (Port Dickson Beach), north of the Observatory.*

Go snorkeling or jet skiing for $20 or $30. Grab an ais cachang or coconut shake for a couple of bucks from one of the many vendors in the shade after you soak in shallow salty water. (Low tide is best to avoid jellyfish, although I never encountered any on this trip.

It’s easy to forget the world is falling apart in a place like this.

*Tedly enjoys an ais kacang at Telok Kemang, Port Dickson.*

Use a back road to go south of the Observatory to get to more beaches. (You cannot walk the coast here.) Pantai Purnama and Pantai Poli are two are my two favorites because they are always quiet. The only vendors here are near the parking lot atop a hill at the entrance of Pantai Purnama by the restrooms.

*Pantai Purnama, Port Dickson, south of the Observatory.*

There were weekday mornings I had the entire beach and park areas practically all to myself – with only workers cleaning the beach of any trash, seaweed, etc.

My serenity spot was between Pantai Purnama and Panti Poli. An odd elevated beach walkway with a couple of pavilions in disrepair. The mornings offer shade and cool the sea breezes after a long walk.

You can walk down the beach further, but there are no more restrooms and there are more exclusive resorts.

There is one public bus that runs from downtown Port Dickson to the Pollymall stop, which is a 10 minute walk inland from the beach. It runs every 45 minutes in both directions, starting at 6:00 a.m. and it costs 1.5 to 2.8 ringgit (roughly 33 to 58 cents).

Tip: if you are not near an official bus stop, wave the bus down – they seem to stop as needed.

Another tip: the Port Dickson Public Beach (near Pantai Bayu, not Telok Kemang) has a sand flea – aka no-see-um – issue. Spouse Theo was bitten (only on that beach) and suffered quite a bit. The couple of times I sat on that beach, I wore pants because I know how bad their bites suck. I was horribly affected by these buggers years ago on Boracay Island in the Philippines.

Sea love

Aside from beaches, check out the Port Dickson Ornamental Fish Center. This aquarium is a little gem – and it’s free. It features sharks, fish, sea eels and snakes, and sea turtles. It also has tanks growing coral.

*Coral growth and tiger fish under a black light at the Port Dickson aquarium.*

Ironically, we watched three Netflix documentaries about our oceans – we rarely watch TV but it was available in our Airbnb unit. Perhaps our interest in ocean conservation was reignited by the aquarium, and also at that time I was looking at volunteer opportunities for us in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which might be one of our near-future stops.

I highly recommend these documentaries: My Octopus Teacher (an Academy Award winner), Puff: Wonders of the Reef, and Seaspiracy. They all give a rare glimpse into the dynamics of the underwater world, and in their own ways they each show how important oceans are to our lives on land, and how humanity takes it all for granted.

Earth Vagabonds next adventures

We have more ocean-centric living in our near future. First we have jungle adventures to see orangutans in Sumatra, Indonesia, followed by volcanic lake experiences at higher (and cooler) elevations. Then we head back to the ocean and the northernmost islands around Banda Aceh.

After Indonesia, we return to Malaysia – to the country’s east coast, which will be new for us and our fifth visit to the country. After that…? Theo’s mom, Diane, who is traveling with us until then, will go home. And then perhaps we will go to Andaman and Nicobar as I mentioned, or maybe we will head back to Hua Hin, Thailand, again, or Danag, Vietnam, again.

*Mom Diane, Theo & Ellen on the public bus in Port Dickson, Malaysia, February 2025.*

Wherever Theo and I end up on our future ocean visits – or any place on Earth – we won’t take it for granted as insanity regresses scientific progress, and as lies cloud over climate change truth.

Life is now.