The Permai Rainforest Resort is home to a vast hiking area 35km north of Kuching. The Permai Waterfall and Blue Pool are two popular hiking trails that draw in visitors to the isolated Santubong area. Despite these trails being on resort property, they are open to all. However, non-guests of the resort must pay an entrance fee.
How to Get to Permai Rainforest Resort
Permai Rainforest Resort is one of the last hotels in the northern part of the Damai Peninsula. It is easily walkable from Santubong National Park and Sarawak Cultural Village if you plan to visit those attractions. Head north along the road past Damai Central, and turn right into the parking lot when you reach the fork.
You’ll have to hire a driver if you’re staying in Kuching. Taking a Grab is doable, but it can be a headache. It will be easy enough to get a driver to take you to the Permai Rainforest. However, finding a driver for the way back is the difficult part. You might want to try Grab’s advanced booking feature, or negotiate with your driver to pick you up later for an off-app fare. The Grab fare from Kuching to Santubong can cost up to RM80 one way.
Admission Price of Permai Rainforest
Adults: RM15
Student (13 – 17 years): RM12
Child (5 – 12 years): RM10
Seniors, Disabled or below 5 years old: Free
The prices are the same for Malaysians and foreigners.
Opening Hours & Map of Permai Rainforest
Hiking Trails at Permai Rainforest Resort
Blue Pool
The Blue Pool Trail is a 5.5 km hike of moderate difficulty, but the trail start is another 2.5km from the resort entrance. The hike will take on average 4 hours to complete. The trail includes several river crossings and large boulders that you must climb over, so be prepared. Don’t be fooled by highly edited photos of the blue pool glittering in an icy shade of cerulean. Unless you hike during perfect weather conditions and the previous day was also dry, the pool is more likely to appear a murky light blue or green. I recommend reading Dayak Wanderer‘s post about the Blue Pool hiking experience.
Waterfall
The Waterfall Trail is the easier of the two, but only slightly. Also a moderate-difficulty hike, it is much shorter at only 2.2km long and taking 1.5 to 2 hours to complete. However, be prepared for some steep climbs and a rope bridge crossing. This rope bridge is probably not what you’re thinking – it is literally a web of ropes that you can try to balance on, or crawl on all fours to get across. The Permai Waterfall is decently high and a rewarding place to cool off, but it won’t be the most stunning sight if you’ve done other waterfall hikes. Check out these pictures on Wikiloc to see the rope bridge and the waterfall.
Facilities
The reception hut has a toilet that visitors can use. It is down the corridor to the left of the reception desk. It was clean and stocked with toilet paper and soap. There are two more washrooms at the beachside Kayak House, and across from Permai Resort’s restaurant.
What to Eat at Permai Rainforest
Reception Hut
The reception hut has a drinks fridge and a freezer with ice cream bars for a quick snack.
The Feeding Tree Restaurant
For a proper meal, head to the Permai Rainforest Resort’s on-site restaurant, The Feeding Tree. This open-air cafe perched above Damai Beach has a simple menu of Asian and Western dishes. We had their meatballs, and they were surprisingly good.
Saturday Worthy?
RM15 is a cheeky price to charge, in my opinion, considering the Santubong National Park next door is free. It’s a real pain to get here from Kuching, so I don’t recommend visiting the Permai Rainforest unless you’re staying in the Santubong area.
