Experience the best of Malaysia
Tours, tickets and the things worth doing, chosen rather than listed.
Curated experiences
The tallest buildings anywhere from 1998 until 2004, and still the tallest pair. The tour takes you first to the skybridge that links them at level 41 and then up to the observation deck on 86. The floor plan is an eight-pointed star drawn from Islamic geometry, which is easier to see in the model than from the ground. Tickets are timed, the morning slots go first, and the towers are closed on Mondays. From the outside they are best after dark from the park behind them.
A limestone hill on the northern edge of Kuala Lumpur with a Hindu temple in its main cave, reached by 272 steps that were repainted in bands of colour in 2018 and have been photographed relentlessly since. A gold statue of Murugan just under forty-three metres tall stands at the foot of them. At Thaipusam in January or February the site takes over a million people and the climb becomes a procession. Knees and shoulders covered; sarongs are lent at the bottom.
Menara Kuala Lumpur is 421 metres, and because it stands on a forested hill its deck sits higher above sea level than the Petronas one. More to the point, it is the place you can photograph the Petronas Towers from — which you cannot do from inside them. There is an open-air deck above the glassed one, and glass boxes cantilevered off the side for anyone who wants their nerve tested. The hill it stands on is old rainforest kept inside the city.
The cable car climbs Gunung Machinchang, a sandstone ridge that is among the oldest rock formations in the region, in two stages with a viewing platform between them. At the top is the Sky Bridge: a curved span 125 metres long hung from a single pylon, which is why it appears to float. The ride is steep enough to feel like one. It closes in high wind and thick cloud, both common in the afternoon, so go in the morning and keep the day loose.
A resort town over 1,700 metres up in the Titiwangsa range, built around a casino and now a full hill station of theme parks, hotels and malls. It runs about ten degrees cooler than Kuala Lumpur, which is the honest reason most people go. The Awana SkyWay cable car is the way up and passes over rainforest and a Chinese temple on the way. Cloud sits on the peak most afternoons, so the view is a lottery — the cool is not.
Built into the convention centre beside the Petronas Towers, and centred on a ninety-metre moving walkway that runs through the main tank. Sand tiger sharks, rays and a green sea turtle pass over your head. Above it are the freshwater and rainforest galleries, including an arapaima tank and the electric eel. It is compact — ninety minutes covers it — and entirely indoors, which makes it the obvious afternoon when the rain arrives.