KUALA LUMPUR

Malaysia’s Capital city is crowded but modern, with excellent hotels and restaurants, and exciting attractions in the shopping, nightlife and entertainment arenas.

With its ever increasing worldwide popularity, Kuala Lumpur (generally called KL) is Malaysia’s capital city. This large city of 3 million inhabitants has managed to retain a certain authenticity inherent to Asian countries. Its modernity is very recent – developed over the last 20 years- and has been incredibly quick. One is not short of superlatives and adjectives when talking about KL. There are giant skyscrapers, big buildings, huge towers and countless shopping malls, all bigger than the others.

One of the highest twin towers in the world, the beautiful Petronas Towers, is located in KL, in the restless area of the “Golden Triangle”.

But still, despite the dominant modernization, a cultural heritage unique to Malaysia remains and you will be surprised by how well these facets coexist.

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Kuala Lumpur Highlights

Here are some of the best features of Kuala Lumpur:

Golden Triangle

This is the happening area of Kuala Lumpur. Home to KLCC and the Petronas twin towers, it is liked for its interesting nightlife and leaves one spoilt for choice in terms of shopping.


Petronas Twin Towers

The Twin towers are the tallest twin building in the world and they were completed in 1998. It has 88 floors and is 452 meters high. They have been the set for a lot of movies and TV series (among them “Entrapment”, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sean Connery).

The buildings literally overhang the City Centre and it is without doubt an impressive human construction built for prestige. Hundreds of free tickets are available everyday, allowing you to go up to the Skybridge at the 41st/42nd floors. It is better to be there early as they are assigned rapidly leaving you to wait for your allotted time. Once on the Skybridge, you will have views of the whole city. If you are assigned a time slot a bit later than what you expected, make the most of your day by having a walk around. KLCC Park (It is just below the buildings, with jogging and walking paths). Otherwise, there is the shopping center Suria KLCC which also has a movie theater, indoor aquarium and some restaurants inside.

Menara Observation Tower

For views of the city Menara Observation Tower is actually a better alternative than the Petronas Towers as it offers you a 360 degrees view and it is the highest point in KL (however access to the observation deck is not free). It is the 4th tallest telecommunication tower in the world.


Chinatown

This spot is one of the favorites for both tourists and locals. Located in Petaling Street, Chinatown is an area that never sleeps. You will find stalls and more stalls as far as the eye can see, creating a very urban-Asian atmosphere. These stalls sell every kind of goods, from food to jewelry, watches, through DVDs and CDs, as well as souvenirs and clothes. It is heaven for bargain-hunters. You can also get a cheap foot massage (or reflexology) which itself is rooted in ancient Chinese medicine. Even if you are not a big fan of shopping, you will still get something out of it. Indeed, wandering around Chinatown is an authentic experience that will leave you with a lot of great memories. The colorful hustle and bustle of Chinatown is totally part of its beauty, and you do not want to leave here before taking photos.


Central Market

Situated at the border of Chinatown, make the most of your day by wandering around both Chinatown and Central Market. Central Market, as you might expect, is an indoor market, housed in an old building. It used to be a wet market (where people sold fish and meat) but now the goods sold are mostly arts and crafts good. There is an interesting variety of handicrafts, paintings, and other goods. From time to time, shows and traditional dances are performed in the open-air theatre. As in Chinatown, do not hesitate to bargain!


Batu Caves

Batu Caves is an ensemble of three caves (the Temple Cave, the Cathedral Cave and the Dark Cave) and a few smaller ones. It is a very important shrine for the Hindu community which attracts pilgrims all year long. To visit the Caves there are 272 steps to climb and a lot of monkeys, especially Macaques, will accompany you through that climbing. The biggest cave, Temple Cave; features paintings and beautiful statues.

The annual “peak” period is during Thaipusam. Thaipusam is a Hindu Festival celebrated during the 10th month of the Hindu calendar. Hindus believe that they can be purified from their sins during this festival. During this period which lasts 3days, all the caves are crowded by locals and tourists, who are more than delighted to celebrate this beautiful festival.






Genting Highlands

Genting Highlands is the “Malaysian Las Vegas”, and is comprised of a theme park and the only casino in Malaysia. It is also a mountain resort located 1760m high and within the Titiwangsa range and one of the attractions is the cool weather. There is also a golf course and spa. It is accessible either by car, from KL, or by taking the longest cable car in Southeast Asia, the Genting Skyway. Genting Highlands offers a fun experience in the cool air of the mountains. You can go there for a day trip and if you wish to stay longer, you have resorts and hotels at your disposal, amongst them the largest hotel in the world, the First World Hotel.