It is built in the style of a traditional Malay kampung (village). You'd see six quaint and interesting wooden building there. These buildings are home to a collection of local and international books, and magazines too. This book village was set up in the style of the Hay-on-Wye book village in England where books are sold rather cheaply, for about 1-2 pounds (RM5.54- RM11.08).

Langkawi Book Village is the 18th such village in the world and is the first and only book village in Southeast Asia. It's part of the International Book Villages and Book Towns Movement and is a major attraction amongst book lovers and collectors due to the rare and antiquarian books available for sale there.

You'd find second hand books ranging from subjects like Malaysia, Arabic Literature, sports, travel, gender studies to books on Europe, European studies and Asian Languages. There is also a sizeable collection of magazines.

The rare books available include The Ancient Khmer Empire by Lawrence Palmer Briggs, The Real Malay by Sir F.A. Swettenham, Malay-English dictionary (Romanised) by R.J.Wilkinson, Malay Sketches by Frank Athelstane Swettenham, The Tiger of Trengganu by Lt-Col A. Locke, On jungle Trails by Frank Buck, Sacrilege in Malaya by Pierre Boulle, and A Dictionary of Malayan Medicine by John D. Gimlette. From the foot of Langkawi Book Village, you'd be able to access the Lubuk Semilang recreational park for a dip in the cool stream or simply laze around in the gazebos or on one of the broad benches.

Open: 9.00am - 6.00pm (Daily)
Admission: Free

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Other International Book Villages

Other notable book villages and book towns include Hay-on-Wye (Wales), Redu Village du Livre (Belgium), Bredevoort Boekenstad (Holland), Becherel and Montolieu Fontenoy-la-Joute (all France), Kembuchi Hokaido (Japan), St Pierre-de-Clages (Switzerland), Fjaerland (Norway) and Stillwater Minnesota (US).