Kota Kuala Kedah

The fort at Kuala Kedah guards the river mouth that was the way into the Kedah heartland, and there has been fortification here since the seventeenth century; the stone walls that survive date largely from a rebuilding around 1771, with bastions, gun positions and a moat, mounting cannon that faced the sea approach. It was attacked repeatedly - by the Portuguese, the Acehnese, the Bugis - and finally taken in 1821 by a Siamese force, which held Kedah for a decade and a half; the sultan fled to Penang. What is there now is a substantial ruin, consolidated and open, with a museum in the grounds covering the history and the finds. It sits beside a busy fishing harbour and the ferry jetty for Langkawi, so it is easy to fold into a crossing.

What you actually see

• Stone bastions and walls - the 1771 rebuilding, facing the sea approach.
• Cannon positions - guns covering the river mouth and the anchorage.
• A site museum - the history of the sieges and the finds from excavation.
• A working fishing harbour - the modern port alongside the ruin.

When to go

All year; mornings before the heat on the open walls. Half a day.

Honest expectations

It is a consolidated ruin, not a standing fort. The museum is modest and captions are uneven in English. The site is exposed with little shade, and the harbour beside it is smelly.

Nearby

The Langkawi ferry leaves from the jetty here; Alor Setar is inland.