The small fishing village of Beserah is located about 10 kilometres north of Kuantan town. The road to Terengganu, which passes through this once quaint fishing settlement can sometimes be quite unruly with all the development in progress.

In the old days, the section of the trunk road near the turning to Beserah beach used to be lined with rickety attap and plank houses. These have now been replaced with modern terrace houses such as those found in Taman Beserah near the giant TM satellite dish. There is nothing much to complain about with such development except that the rustic ambiance has been eroded further, leaving only vestiges of the old settlement still hanging on to the times in certain parts.

Beserah is famous for its fresh catch from the seas as well as preserved and dried sea products, including salted fish and shrimps. For decades in the past folks from town used to wait on the beach in the afternoons for choice fish at bargain prices before they were taken up by the big time fish dealers. However, this is not the case anymore as the boat loads of fresh catch will already be booked long before they reach the beach.

One very unusual sight that has always fascinated visitors to Beserah is the use of water buffalos to help move the baskets of fish from the boat to the distribution centre further inland. Beserah has several batik factories and cottage industries producing handicraft from sea shells and pandanus leaves.