We spent five days and nights in Kuala Lumpur and were wowed by its mix of styles and cultures. From huge modern skyscrapers to old-school street markets, Malaysia’s biggest city has it all. It’s also big, busy, and very hot, so we learned to go out early in the morning or in the evening, not mid-day. Our Kuala Lumpur highlights include cool neighborhoods, amazing food, and impressive sights.
About Kuala Lumpur
Located in the western-central part of Peninsular Malaysia, KL is 40km from the west coast and strait of Malacca. From the south, it’s over 300km from Puteri Harbour and took us a few hours on the train. I mentioned the heat, and we went in late June, the dry season. Temperatures ranged around 32C/90F during the day, and the sun is hot and the streets don’t have shade. I missed Cairns!
Malaysia’s largest city, Kuala Lumpur is quite small compared to Tokyo or Jakarta. With a population of just over 2.1 million people, the city is smaller even than Toronto. It’s also considerably cheaper than Tokyo or Toronto. With a culturally diverse population, there’s also lots to see, do, and eat.
Intro to Kuala Lumpur
Our intro to Kuala Lumpur, locally known as KL, was courtesy of the grab driver who picked us up at the bus station (we took the bus from Malacca). He was shocked we were spending so many days in KL, saying we should visit Cameron Highlands or Penang and get out of the city. According to him, KL food isn’t good and there’s too much traffic. We agreed about the traffic, which was intense, but not as bad as other cities we’ve visited. At least KL has light rail and other forms of transit, although it doesn’t connect everything efficiently. We vehemently disagreed about the food.
The Food: Michelin and More
Kuala Lumpur has many top rated restaurants with Michelin stars, of which we tried a few. It also has many delicious cheap and casual spots. If you talk to Malaysians, KL isn’t even considered one of their top food destinations: that esteem goes to Malacca and Penang (nobody even mentioned Kuching!). Still, we found lots of good eats in Kuala Lumpur. On our first day we visited the Japanese izakaya around the corner from our hotel and we continued to find delicious places to dine.
I don’t think we had a bad meal in KL, and we had fun trying the varied cuisines available. From Michelin starred spots to casual beer bars, we sampled a good mix, including Congkak, which serves Southeast Asian/Nusantara cuisine.
Kuala Lumpur is also full of street markets and stalls selling a wide variety of cuisines. Since our accommodations were quite close to one of the popular ones, Jalan Alor, we checked it out. Even if you don’t eat there, it’s fun to walk the streets, inspect the food, and people watch.
Our Kuala Lumpur Highlights: Top Sights
With five days in KL we had lots of time to explore the city and its sights. Here are some of our Kuala Lumpur highlights.
Central Market
If you like unique shops with hand crafted and original souveners, you will like Kuala Lumpur’s Central Market. I was pleasantly surprised at the variety and quality of the products for sale. The market is quite big, with multiple floors, shops inside and out, and lots of choice. Even though we visited on a busy weekend day, we had room to browse the different shops and picked up a few creative items.
IslamIc arts Museum
One of our Kuala Lumpur highlights was definitely the Islamic Arts Museum. With multiple exhibits covering four floors, the museum showcases thousands of artifacts from all over the Muslim world. We were especially impressed with the tribute to Palestinian embroidery. There was so much to see, from coins to ceramics, jewelry and more, spanning thousands of years and multiple countries.
If you’re in the area, the National Mosque is a short walk from the Islamic Arts Museum. It’s very grand and free to enter, you just need to take off your shoes and wear one of the robes they give you. Worth a quick stop if you have the time.
KLCC Light Show
Nighttime light shows are popular in many Asian cities, and KL is no different. Families and couples find space on the lawn in the Kuala Lumpur City Centre park, under the gaze of the impressive Petronas Towers, to enjoy the nightly show. We opted to watch from above, avoiding the crowds and the heat, over drinks from the Ver bar at Four Seasons. However you watch, it’s an impressive – and free – event.
Street Art
One of my favorite things to do when I visit a city is find the murals and Kuala Lumpur is an good place for street art.
On our first day we noticed some great graffiti in the Bukit Bintang neighborhood where we stayed. Chinatown is another prominent area for outdoor art in KL.
Jalan Alor notably has colorful murals and paintings on the walls and pavement. The art itself ranges from depictions of street life, animals and nature.
Day Trip to Klang
One of our longer days in KL we took a day trip west, to the old royal city of Klang. It was a fun adventure in a town with street art, history, nice people, and excellent food, a common theme in Malaysia.
Batu Caves
While the Batu Caves comes up everywhere as highly recommended, it was not one of our Kuala Lumpur highlights. It will be recommend if you visit the city, but we felt like it was overrated. It’s dirty and busy and we saw much better cave temples in Da Nang. But, the monkeys were plentiful and cute, if a little too friendly for my preference.
The trip to the caves takes almost an hour one way from the city, and it’s recommended to go early before the tour buses arrive. The whole place needs upkeep and it my opinion, it isn’t a “must visit” like the guidebooks say.
In conclusion, it’s busy and the traffic can be bad, but our Kuala Lumpur highlights show the city has great food and sights. If you’ve been, please tell us if we missed anything. We may go back!
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