Desaru Beach

Desaru is about twenty-five kilometres of beach on the east coast of Johor facing the South China Sea, which means the water is clearer and the sand finer than anything on the Strait side, and it has been developed in stages since the 1980s into a resort strip - most recently as Desaru Coast, an integrated development with international hotel brands, two golf courses, a large water park and a purpose-built village of shops and restaurants. Proximity to Singapore is the commercial logic, with a ferry link from Tanah Merah. There is a public beach outside the resorts, a fireflies and mangrove river trip, an ostrich farm and a fruit farm inland. The surf picks up in the monsoon months and swimming becomes dangerous; rip currents have caused drownings here.

What you actually see

• A long South China Sea beach - clearer water and finer sand than the Strait side.
• The Desaru Coast development - hotels, golf courses and a water park.
• A public beach - the free stretch outside the resort boundaries.
• Mangrove and firefly trips - on the rivers behind the coast.

When to go

March to October; the monsoon brings dangerous surf. Two days.

Honest expectations

Rip currents are a genuine hazard and there have been drownings - heed the flags. Outside the resorts facilities are thin. It is car-dependent and spread out. Monsoon months close much of it.

Nearby

Kota Tinggi and its waterfalls are inland; Johor Bahru is west.