Lagenda Park, Langkawi
About Lagenda Park
Lagenda Park (or Taman Lagenda as known in Malay) stands for the Park of Legends. Indeed this beautiful parkland spreading over 20 hectares of area has been themed on folklore and myths from the prehistoric era to the modern times of Langkawi.
The park was first opened in April 1996 and is located next to Eagle Square in Kuah. The whole idea behind creating such a park is to offer a recreational parkland to the residents and tourists. You can come here with your family and children to enjoy a vast stretch of landscaped gardens that have many fruit trees and plants that are local to the island, have a family picnic and learn the many legends of the island that are now intertwined with so many tourist attractions and places in the island.
Lagenda Park Entrance, Langkawi
What to see & do at Lagenda Park
The entrance to the park is through a Gondowana stone wall. Gondowana (also known as Gondowanland) was the ancient southern super-continent that eventually broke up into South America, Africa, Arabia, Madagascar, India, Australia, and Antarctica millions of years ago due to plate tectonic movement of the earth. The wall signifies that the islands of Langkawi were also formed due to such earth movement.
On the wall you will see a large map of Langkawi with many of its 99 islands shown. There is a large space before the entrance where the floor is made of marble and black stones. A striking feature here are the beautiful pillar lamps with drooping lights on top that look wonderful when lit in the evenings.
Paved pathway after the entrance, Lagenda Park, Langkawi
As you walk in along the paved way, soon you will come to the romantic pathway that bisects the park through the middle and goes through arching trees from both sides. When the breeze flows, you will hear the crackling sound of the leaves.
There are several sculptures and statues (17 to be precise) that are spread across the park. Each one of them describes a separate legend around mythical stories such as the battle between the two big giants who were once close friends and later turned into mountains of Mat Cincang and Gunung Raya, the legend of the beautiful maiden Mahsuri who was falsely charged with adultery and unjustly executed in 1800s, the story of the birds and evil ogres, and lot more of them.
Tree-arched Pathway, Lagenda Park
Unfortunately, not many sculptures are in good shape due to lack of maintenance. Most of the boards below them that depict the stories have become blank or broken down. Despite that, the park itself is clean and beautiful.
One of the best sculptures in Lagenda park is that of the clasped giant hands in an elevated garden area rising from the ground. This one represents the story of the two giants Mat Cincang and Mat Raya who were once best of friends. But during the wedding of one's son with the daughter of the other, they got involved into a fierce fight with each other when a lighting suddenly struck from the sky turning them into stones.
Sculpture of Clasped Hands, Lagenda Park
The sculpture of clasped hands signifies that Mat Raya is trying to fend off Mat Cincang. To know about the full story and how so many natural attractions and areas of Langkawi got their names as a result of this battle, visit
Gunung Raya and read the section under 'The legend about Gunung Raya'.
To know about Mahsuri's legend, the beautiful lady who became victim of jealousy and was unjustly executed on the charge if adultery, read
Mahsuri's Tomb.
There are many other legends depicted in the park through various sculptures and statues. The park has several ponds and lakes. Sadly due to lack of maintenance the water in the ponds are not always clean. In fact in one of them I found a cleaning machine being dumped and rotting.
A lake at Lagenda Park
Photo: Hzh, cc by-sa 4.0
Lagenda Park was created by reclaiming a part of the waterfront. There is a small manmade beach on one end of the park. From here you can get wonderful view of the water area. You can see the boats passing by and the giant statue of a golden brown eagle of
Eagle Square facing the water area.
The park is a favorite of the joggers. If you like to walk in lush green garden settings, then Lagenda Park would be a great place to visit. You can budget to spend about an hour here unless you decide to picnic and spend more time.
Facilities at Lagenda Park
There are no public facilities in Lagenda Park like toilets etc. However the
Jetty Point Shopping Mall and
Langkawi Fair Shopping Mall are within walking distance and you will get all facilities there including eateries and washrooms. If you are coming to
Kuah for duty free shopping, you can combine a visit to
Eagle Square and Lagenda Park. The park will give a relaxing respite from the scorching sun and Eagle Square is a short walking distance from Lagenda Park.
Admission Fee & Open Hours
Open Daily from 9am to 7pm
Entry Fee: Adult - RM5.00; Child - RM2.50
Location
Located at Kuah and next to the Kuah Jetty or Eagle Square. From Jetty point, Lagenda Park is about 400 meters away towards the town and will take about 10 minutes by walk. You can come to the park by taking a taxi from any place in Langkawi. If you are driving your own private or rental car, then you will need to park it at the car parking near the Kuah Jetty. There is no car park right in front of Lagenda Park.
Map location of Lagenda Park Langkawi
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