[spiderplant]

It depends on how much you want to pay, and how much effort you want to put into arranging it. For an easy life, nip down to your local travel agent, tell them what you want, and let them sort it all out.

Or ring one of the specialist long-haul travel companies such as Hayes&Jarvis or Kuoni. They will sort out a package of flight & hotel. You'll get good service, but pay for it. Do your homework on their website before you call to get an idea of what's available, but they will be happy to customise to exactly fit your needs.

To save money, book it yourself online. You'll get the cheapest flights with Air Asia X, who fly direct from Stansted to Kuala Lumpur, but they are a low-cost airline so you won't get any luxuries such as food without paying extra.

There are many choices if you want to go with a full-service airline. I think Malaysia Airlines are the only ones to fly direct from the UK, but with a change of planes you can use KLM, Qatar, Emirates, Singapore, Thai or many others. I generally use netflights.com to find flights & book, though occasionally you'll get a better deal by using the airline's own website.

If you only want to visit one of the larger islands such as Langkawi or Penang, you could bypass Kuala Lumpur, and fly to the island straight from Singapore or Bangkok. Air Asia have a good network within south-east Asia, and are super-cheap. (I've crossed Malaysia with them for £6 including taxes). Other airlines are available, and also tend to be cheap because of the fierce competition. The web is your friend.

The same goes for hotels. tripadvisor is a good place to do your homework. You can then book either via the links on tripadvisor, somewhere like hotels.com, or on the hotel's own website.