The Haven, Ipoh

The Haven is in perfect communion with its natural surrounding and is a lovely place for a relaxing family retreat. It is hard to belief that this peaceful place is only about 15 minutes away from Ipoh city. The centrepiece at The Haven is a stunning limestone outcrop that is dated about 280 million years and is home to beautiful and unique flora and fauna. Lush tropical foliage creates a panoramic view.

Rooms at The Haven

There are various options in terms of rooms, or actually apartments – great for families. All are well thought out and designed, including soft furnishings. Operated by the Best Western International hotel chain, The Haven stands out for comfort thanks to the large size of the apartments – ours was around 1,300 sq feet.  The boys had their own double bed and the small kitchenette was perfect for preparing snacks.

Facilities

I wish we could have spent more time indoors but there were too many interesting activities in the resort! The pool, surrounded by the ancient cliffs, is naturally the highlight.

Apart from the fantastic pool, there is a badminton court, table tennis and cycling.

The resort even has its own nature walk, which is a lovely way to start the morning. Herbs and plants are well-labelled and a it’s a nice learning opportunity for the kids. The resident dinosaur is a happy fellow!

If traveling in a large group, there is a top notch team building site, that would be also fantastic for large family outings.

An eco-friendly resort

Whenever we go to places of outstanding natural beauty, there is always this worry at the back of our minds about the environmental impact of tourism.

All such worries are unfounded at The Haven because conservation is taken seriously. Right from the beginning, preservation and maintenance of nature have been taken into consideration: no trees were felled during the construction and there are ongoing conservation efforts to ensure that the natural site remains pristine. A birdwatchers’ heaven, the Haven is home to at least 80 birds, being on a flight path for migratory birds.

It scores many points for its eco-conscious operations. They have tried to co-exist with respect to their natural surrounding.  Start your morning with a brisk walk down the nature trail and you will be greeted by myriad plants and insects from the rainforest and even some friendly monkeys. Fogging is not allowed due to the high chemical content and residue involved in such type of pest control. The Haven adapts what it calls the ‘nature based’ control to address one of the big nemesis in the tropics – mosquitos. Herbs and plants are used as natural mosquito repellents. They also have an extensive composting programme as well as a few solar panels.

Food at the Haven

The mission of being all natural and respectful to the environment is continued in the dining. The food is a mix of international and Malaysian but using the freshest of ingredients and all natural spices from their on-site herb garden – no flavour enhancers here. Cuisines is the only restaurant that was available when we were there but we were spoilt for choice and so pleased with the focus on natural food.

Getting around

Hotel shuttle is RM10 per person to the city (minimum of 4 persons per trip). Plan in advance because the shuttle is popular. Taxis are easy to obtain from the resort but sometimes it’s hard to get one back.

We loved our stay at the Haven. Not only did it tick all the right boxes, the service was outstanding and we loved how every little detail was taken care of.

Our stay was sponsored by The Haven. Opinions are our own, as always.

This post was written a few years ago; please do check with the hotel for updates and current SOPs.