Tioman Island, right off Peninsular Malaysia’s east coast, is the ultimate destination for holidays filled with natural wonders! Known as a marine park and an ecological paradise, the island is home to a great number of coral reefs and marine life and is quite famous in the diving community. Covered by pristine rainforests and warm sandy beaches, the island also boasts a few waterfalls!

More specifically, three main waterfalls. They’re not big cascading waterfalls but they’re all completely hidden in the jungle and so worth a visit! In this blog post, we’ll cover all of Tioman Island’s waterfalls and the best way to visit them.

Tioman Island Waterfalls

Lubuk Teja Waterfall

Lubuk Teja Waterfall is more of a chain of rapids with a shallow pool where you can bathe. It’s located in the southern part of Juara Beach and can be accessed by a 1:30h jungle trek or by a 45-minute hike on a dirt road.

Jungle Trek to Lubuk Teja Waterfall: walk past the hotels and right after the Juara Turtle Project you’ll see a sign for Lubuk Teja Waterfall. This is the start of the trail, which is a very narrow path with some occasional signs pointing in the right direction and some accessory ropes (and lots of monkeys too!). The path ends at the rocky bottom of a mountain river and you can keep going up the rocks until you reach the rapids of Lubuk Teja.

Dirt Road to Lubuk Teja Waterfall: if jungle trekking is not your thing, then walk past the sign for Lubuk Teja Waterfall and keep walking until you see a floating bridge. Cross it and keep walking until you reach the Mentawak Mini-Hydro Power Station. If you make it here, then there’s only one way to follow and it’s a dirt road.

Take the dirt road and walk for around 45 minutes until you see a sign to turn right to enter Lubuk Teja Waterfall, and this is it! This is a much easier way to reach the waterfall and it’s the one we would personally recommend. The jungle trek is not well-maintained and much more challenging to follow.

Asah Waterfall

Asah Waterfall, also known as Mukut Waterfall, is the most famous and highest waterfall on the island! It’s located next to the village of Mukut, in the southern part of Tioman, which is only accessible by boat.

Mukut is one of the most remote villages you can visit or stay at on Tioman Island, and therefore it is also home to some of the best beaches on the island!

If you plan on spending the night here (highly recommended), you should note that Mukut only has a few budget hotels that provide basic full-board accommodation, but a bit to the northwest you will find a few luxury resorts such as the Tunamaya Resort – our favorite place in Tioman.

You can get a boat to Mukut from any other pier on the island, or you can hop on a speedboat island tour that includes Asah Waterfall.

Once at Mukut, walk all the way to the right until the beginning of the trail. Asah Waterfall is roughly 6km from Mukut and it takes around 1:30 hours to get there from the village. The way is well signalized and easy to follow.

Alternatively, you can also ask the locals from Mukut to take you by boat to Warisan Eco Asah Camp Pier. From there you can reach the waterfall in only 30 minutes. In any of the cases, we always recommend downloading the trail map from AllTrails for your own safety.

Note: Another famous attraction in Mukut is the hike to the Dragon Horns – a 3-hour challenging jungle trek with rewarding views of the island. If you’re into rock climbing, you can also rock-climb all the way to the top of Dragon Horns Rock.

Ali’s Waterfall

Just like Lubuk Teja Waterfall, Ali’s Waterfall can be easily reached from Juara Beach. Located on the northern portion of the beach, it’s a fairly easy hike up the main road to Tetek and a quick 6-minute trail down to the waterfall. In total, it should take around 45 minutes to reach the waterfall from Juara Village.

Note: make sure to look for the sign that marks the entrance to the waterfall – it’s a very old wooden sign. This is the link to the map from AllTrails which marks the exact entry location.

Best Time to Visit Tioman Island

Tioman can be visited all year round but the best time to visit is from May to September during the dry season, with the bests months being July and August. During this period the water is crystal clear and perfect for snorkeling and diving.

Monsoon season is not recommended, with swells reaching up to 4 meters (unless you love surfing, then this is the perfect time to visit!).

Note: We visited Tioman Island by the end of September and already experienced a few days of rain and pretty rough sea conditions so would definitely recommend visiting before mid-September.