Kukup Transportation

The road into Kukup is quite narrow and on a busy weekend, it would be hard to park your car. You can try your luck by parking your car further away from the seafood place. If you're there early, then you should be able to park just outside the restaurant.

But never park illegally, or you'll pay for more than your seafood meal, courtesy of their local traffic police.

When you're in Kukup, making a trip to the floating fish farm is strongly encouraged. How can you be gorging on th seafood without paying homage to the source of it? There's a separate charge from the boatride if you choose to do a stop-over at the fish farm, but I say it was all well worth it. It was a wonderful experience, especially for a city slicker like myself.

I'd get shivers down my pants when I see un-metered taxis, and there were quite a few that were parked near the jetty, ready to pick up their first customers. It can be hard work just haggling to bring down the price. So try not to put yourself in the position where you need to rely on the taxi (There're no bus stops, mind you).

Anyway, old modelled taxis as they may be, the interior of the taxis looked clean enough.

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To go to Tanjung Piai, you will have to turn left on highway 95 about 2km before reaching Kukup from Pontian Kechil... This 8km road leads to Kampung Serkat... Just before the town's mosque, turn right into a very narrow road with many port-holes... You have to be very careful to drive along this road as it is so narrow that it would be difficult for 2 cars to pass each other...

Towards the end of the road, there is a fork road... These are the 2 entrances to the Tanjung Piai Johor National Park... By going straight, the main entrance (Masuk Utama 1) at Sungai Belukang leads to the Tanjung Piai Resort... Crossing a small stream will lead you to a small garden and the beach as well as the jetty to the Resort... The Ramsar Award Plaque is also planted on this small garden by the sea...

By turning left will be the Desa Sri Piai entrance (Laluan 2) to the Park... This road leads to the Tanjung Piai Visitors Complex which is connected to the walkway thru the mangrove swamp... It is here that you will be able to stand on the southern-most tip of mainland Asia...

You can walk or trek all the way by the sea from the Resort to the Visitors Complex... The trekking track is about 1.8km long..

Parking is free at Tanjung Piai Resort carpark and RM2 at the Tanjung Piai Visitors Complex...

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The main road in Kukup is a dead-end road leading to the newly constructed ferry terminal... This road is narrow with side parking on the left while on the right are shop stalls and restaurants by built into the sea... Driving on this road is a hassle as you have to bear with selfish drivers and pedestrians traffic who patronise the many restaurant and shops on both sides of the narrow road... At the end of the road, it would be difficult to turn around your car and get out of the area... I have to borrow the car park of Restoran High King to do so...

However, all is not lost if you drive... You can park further away and must be prepared to walk... If you are not, then you will have to patronise restaurants along the road with parking "facilities"... One such restaurant is Restoran High King, which provides parking in front of the restaurant... But parking in restaurants is limited and generally not available during "peak periods" ie during weekends...

You can have free parking in the rather spacious bus terminal carpark or besides the new yet-to-be-opened shophouse opposite the bus terminal... It is a short walk then to the Kukup town centre...If you don't want to walk or have to park your car for an extended period of time (or overnight), then you can park in the long term secured car park, slightly further away from the town centre... One such facility is JJ Parking... JJ vans will then take you to the town centre (and vv) free of charge...

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Ther are many visitors to Kukup from Singapore... espically on weekends and extended public holidays... There used to be a daily ferry service from Singapore (from the World Trade Centre ferry terminal) to Kukup, but due to poor demand, the ferry service now operates only on weekends... The ferry journey will take about 45 minutes for a return fare of about RM50...

There used to be regularly scheduled ferries connecting Kukup with Tanjung Balai (Sumatra) and Batam in Indonesia... However, due to por demand, these are also now irregular...

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Kukup lies at the south-western tip of Johor and is the end of the road... It is about 20km south of Pontian Kechil using highway 95... Whether you come from the north or east, you must pass thru Pontian Kechil to go to Kukup...

From Johor Baru, you will take highway 5 turning off from highway 1 at the Pulai junction... This route will take you pass Pekan Nanas to Pontian Kechil... From the Tuas Second Link, you should turn off at the Gelang Patah exit and following the directional sign to Pontian Kechil... The road will then meet highway 5 where you have to turn left to Pekan Nanas...

If you come in from Kuala Lumpur from the north on the North-South Expressway, exit at the Simpang Rengam interchange... You should then use highway 96 to Benut... At the Benut junction, turn left onto highway 5 to Pontan Kechil...

If you are going by public transport, you can take a public bus from the Larkin Bus Terminal in Johor Baru heading for either Pontian Kechil or Kukup... If you ended up in Pontian Kechil, just take a shared local taxi to Kukup at RM2.00 per person...

You can also take a ferry to Kukup from Singapore, all you need to do to go to the Singapore Cruise Centre ( World Trade Centre- HabourFront MRT ) . Purchase their ferry tickets in advance from this ferry operator (Indo Falcon ) or call them @ 62706778 for more details. A return trip cost about RM50.*

*Tip Update: Indo Falcon has stopped its services to Kukup for God knows what reason. There are only ferries to the other coast of JB ( Pengarrang) right now. Better to drive up there.