PULAUMY

Guide No. 08 of 20

Island · Johor

Pulau Tengah

A curved white-sand beach backed by palms on Pulau Tengah, with clear turquoise shallows over rocks and orange granite boulders in the foreground.
A beach on Pulau Tengah. Photographed in 2016; buildings may have changed.Photo: Mohd Fazlin Mohd Effendy Ooi, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Operator notice

4 January–4 February 2027: Batu Batu, the only resort on the island, is closed.

Boat from
Mersing jetty
Crossing
20–30 minSpeedboat, about RM95 one way
Season
All yearResorts open all year
Park charge
RM30MyKad holders RM5

Facts checked 9 November 2026 against operators and the Department of Fisheries.

The short version

Pulau Tengah is a small island in the Sultan Iskandar Marine Park, about 15 km off Mersing in Johor, with one resort, Batu Batu, reached only by its speedboat from Mersing jetty in 20 to 30 minutes.

Stays, rankedThe boat from Mersing jetty

I

Where to stay

Order is editorial, not paid. An editor sets each stay’s tier by hand; within a tier, stays follow the beach. Booking partners have no say.

Pick: our first choice on the island. Good: sound, with a catch. Listed: facts only.

PickOur first choice

1 stay
  1. 1

    Batu Batu

    Long Beach · The island's only resort; pier on the south-west shore

    An island shared by 22 villas, with free snorkel gear, a PADI dive centre and a turtle hatchery on the beach. The villa rate is room only: the compulsory meal plan and the boat are added on top.

    Read the entry: Batu BatuBooked on the resort’s own site

II

Things to do

Not sold by our partners. Ask your resort.

  • Dives and PADI courses at Batu Batu

    Mid-Mar–Oct, sea permitting · A PADI 5-Star dive centre with 15 fringing-reef sites at 2–20 m. Charged separately; closed outside the season

  • Jungle trails across the island

    Trails cross and circle the island, and lead to quieter beaches. Guided jungle walks cost extra

  • Snorkelling from the beach

    Mask, snorkel and fins are free at the Dive & Activities Centre, subject to availability. Snorkel boat trips to nearby islands cost extra

  • Turtle hatchery visits and talks

    Nesting roughly Apr–Sep · Run by Tengah Island Conservation at the hatchery on Long Beach, with talks, beach clean-ups and Adopt a Nest from RM300

III

When to go

  1. JanPart
  2. FebPart
  3. MarPart
  4. AprOpen
  5. MayOpen
  6. JunOpen
  7. JulOpen
  8. AugOpen
  9. SepOpen
  10. OctOpen
  11. NovPart
  12. DecPart

Open: the resort, its boat and the dive centre run. Part: the resort is open but the dive centre is closed, and from December to February the monsoon can cancel boats; Batu Batu is closed 4 January to 4 February 2027. No month is fully shut. No source publishes visibility figures, so none are shown.

Batu Batu suggests March to October for the best weather and stays open through most of the year, but it is closed from 4 January to 4 February 2027. The northeast monsoon (musim tengkujuh) runs from December to the end of February. The resort's boat runs whenever the Marine Department keeps Mersing port open; the resort says the port has typically closed for 7 to 10 days a monsoon over the past 10 years, and refunds the deposit if weather cancels your boat. The dive centre opens only from mid-March to October, sea permitting. Turtles nest roughly from April to September.

IV

Getting there

  1. Kuala LumpurBus from TBS, 4–5.5 h, from RM32. Or drive 4–5 h.
  2. Mersing bus terminalWalk 1.4 km to the jetty, about 10 min.
  3. Mersing jettyMeet Batu Batu at the Mersing Waterworld office. Speedboat 20–30 min, RM190+ return.
  4. Pulau TengahBatu Batu pier on the south-west shore.

There is no public ferry. Batu Batu runs its own speedboat from Mersing jetty, 20 to 30 minutes, usually once or twice a day at times set by the tide and bookings. It costs RM190+ return per adult on the resort website, added to your bill. Mersing is 4 to 5 hours by car from Kuala Lumpur and 2.5 to 3.5 hours from Singapore. Tanjung Leman is the jetty for Sibu and Tinggi, not Tengah.

Boats, times and fares

V

Rates and meals

Batu Batu’s standard villa rate is room only, for 2 adults and 2 children, and two things are added on top.

  • Meals: every guest is on the 3-meal plan, RM350+ per adult (13 and over) and RM175+ per child aged 4 to 12 per day; under-4s eat free. It covers a buffet breakfast, a 2-course lunch and a 3-course dinner. Drinks are extra.
  • Boat: RM190+ return per adult and RM130+ per child aged 4 and over; under-4s travel free. The resort website labels these 2025 prices, so check when you book.

The resort’s April 2026 media pack quotes villas from USD280 a night, or about USD500 with full board. The minimum stay is 2 nights, and you pay 100% of the villa rate, with 8% SST, by card when you book. Cancel more than 14 days ahead for a full refund minus processing fees. Prices carry a “+” as the resort prints them; it does not say what the “+” adds.

VI

Turtles and conservation

Hawksbill and green turtles nest on Tengah, roughly from April to September, and beach patrols run from March to October. Tengah Island Conservation (TIC), which the resort’s activity profits support, runs the Tunku Abdul Jalil (TAJ) Conservation Centre, a hatchery on Long Beach opened by the Sultan of Johor on 4 September 2018.

In a recent season, TIC recorded 26 nests (17 hawksbill, 9 green) and 2,986 eggs across the six islands of the Johor marine park, with 74.92% hatching success; 8 nests were poached. The resort says TIC has released 33,014 hatchlings since it began in 2015. Guests can visit the hatchery, join talks and beach clean-ups, or adopt a nest from RM300.

VII

Rules and practicalities

Tengah is in the Sultan Iskandar Marine Park, in the Seribuat Archipelago off Mersing. A marine park conservation charge applies: RM30 for adults without a MyKad, RM5 for MyKad holders, and RM15 or RM2 for children aged 6 to 12 and adults over 60; disabled visitors do not pay. Ask Batu Batu how it is collected.

  • The waters are a no-take zone: no fishing, no anchoring and no collecting shells.
  • Since 1 January 2026, take your rubbish back to the mainland.
  • Batu Batu is the only development on the island; the rest is uninhabited. There is no village, shop, ATM or clinic.
  • Free Wi-Fi works in the public areas only, not in the villas. Mobile signal is good on Celcom, Maxis and Digi, with some weak spots.
  • Bring your own alcohol and the resort charges corkage.
  • Non-Malaysian, non-Singaporean passport holders need the Malaysia Digital Arrival Card (MDAC). Singapore cars need a VEP RFID tag.
  • Tengah Island Conservation says the island held a UNHCR transit camp for Vietnamese refugees from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, and that tens of thousands passed through it.
  • Do not confuse it with Pulau Lang Tengah in Terengganu, or with Pulau Mertang Tengah, one of six Mersing islands closed to water activities in September 2025. Mersing’s district officer said then that Pulau Tengah stayed open.