Desaru Beach

🌺🌺🌺 Highly Recommended · 🏖️ Beaches

🆓 Free☪️ Surau🧒

Why go

A long, clean beach on Johor's east coast, backed by resorts, Desaru Coast and a casuarina-lined shore. Quieter than Port Dickson and a good weekend run from Singapore and JB.

⭐ Don't miss: A sunrise walk before the resort crowd wakes up

Entry fee: Free; main beach car park about RM8 per car (flat rate)
Opening hours: 24 hours (check before you go)
Best time to go: Mar-Oct; Nov-Jan is rainy
Time needed: Half day
How to get there: About 1.5 hr drive from JB or Senai; Grab possible from Desaru Coast; free and paid parking.
Address: Pantai Desaru, 81900 Kota Tinggi, Johor
Area: Desaru, Kota Tinggi, Johor
Facilities: 🚻 toilets🚿 showers🅿️ free parking🍽️ restaurant
Muslim-friendly: 🕌 Prayer room (surau) on site · 🍽️ Halal food nearby
Resort restaurants have halal options; surau at public beach area
Accessibility: Flat access at resorts; sand is soft
Kids: Great for kids in calm months with shallow water

☪️ Halal status changes. For food, look for a valid JAKIM certificate (check at myehalal.halal.gov.my). Hotels and venues we have not verified are described as "pork-free", not halal.

⚠️ Safety & weather

Rough sea and rip currents during NE monsoon (Nov-Feb)
Few lifeguards on the public stretch

🧭 Get directions 📍 Google Maps

Also nearby

🌊Desaru

🌺🌺🌺Highly Recommended

Adventure Waterpark Desaru Coast

🌊 Water Parks · Desaru Coast, Desaru, Johor

☪️ Surau🧒

Johor's headline water park spreads across rainforest-backed lagoons, wave pools and 25-plus slides. Big enough that you can spend a day without repeating yourself.

Don't miss: The Kenyir-style Wave Pool and Rainforest Rapids family raft ride

ℹ️ Why go 📍 Google Maps

🏯Kota Tinggi

🌺🌺🌺Worth the Detour

Kota Johor Lama Historical Complex

🏯 Heritage Sites · Kampung Johor Lama, Kota Tinggi, Johor

🆓 Free

After Melaka fell in 1511, the sultanate regrouped here on a bend of the Johor River and built Kota Batu, a fortified royal capital that the Portuguese and Acehnese fought over. Today a stilted Malay-house museum sits beside the old earth-and-stone fort site, with displays on Johor's sultans, river forts and archaeological finds. Quiet, breezy and surprisingly moving for history buffs.

Don't miss: The riverside fort remains (Kota Batu) after the museum's gallery on the Johor River forts

⚠️ Not yet re-verified for 2026. Check fees, hours and that it is open before you go.

ℹ️ Why go 📍 Google Maps

⛺Kota Tinggi

🌺🌺🌺Worth the Detour