Although the Petronas Towers are taller, the 421m Menara KL, rising from the crest of Bukit Nanas, offers the best city views. The bulb at the top…
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Kuala Lumpur
Awarded Best in Travel 2023
About Best In Travel 2023A skyline punctuated by minarets, Mogul-style domes and skyscrapers; colourful, food-stall-lined streets shaded by a leafy canopy of banyan trees – this is Kuala Lumpur.
Multicultural Modernity
Malaysia’s sultry capital is a feast for all the senses. Here you'll find historic monuments, steel-clad skyscrapers, lush parks, megasized shopping malls, bustling street markets and lively nightspots.
Essential parts of the vibrant mix are the incense-wreathed, colourfully adorned mosques and temples of the country’s Malay, Chinese and Indian communities. A reverence for these ancient cultures is balanced with a drive to be plugged into the modern world, a desire that's reflected in a creative contemporary-art and design scene, an ambitious riverbank-regeneration project and dynamic architecture: the new Exchange 106 tower is taller than the iconic Petronas Towers.
Historical Canvas
Today's KL-ites are separated by barely a handful of generations from the tenacious Chinese and Malay tin prospectors who founded the city, carving it out of virgin jungle. By the time the British made it the capital of Peninsular Malaysia in the late 19th century, erecting grand colonial buildings, KL had only been in existence for a couple of decades.
Since then, KL has been centre stage on Malaysian history. Stadium Merdeka was where, in 1957, the country’s first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, declared independence. The city also celebrated as a new national government came to power in 2018.
Shopping
To fully connect with locals, join them in two of their favourite pastimes: shopping and eating. Malaysian consumer culture achieves its zenith in KL, where you could spend all day browsing glitzy air-conditioned malls such as Pavilion KL, Suria KLCC and Mid Valley Megamall in search of designer fashion and bargains. Bangsar and Publika are the places to go for local labels and the work of offbeat independent designers. Alternatively, explore Central Market for locally made souvenirs and handicrafts; and hunt out the few remaining artisans and antiques dealers still keeping shop in and around Chinatown.
Street Feast
Despite the heat, this is a city best explored on foot. Walk and you can catch all the action and save yourself the frustration of becoming entangled in one of KL's all-too-frequent traffic jams. Walking, you'll discover parts of KL retain the laid-back ambience and jungle lushness of the kampung (village) it once was. What's more, you'll be sure to come across some of the city's best dining spots: the hawker stalls and traditional neighbourhood kopitiam (coffee shops) that beckon you over with the aroma of freshly cooked food and the promise of refreshment with tropical juices and cooling drinks.
Explore Kuala Lumpur
- Menara KL
Although the Petronas Towers are taller, the 421m Menara KL, rising from the crest of Bukit Nanas, offers the best city views. The bulb at the top…
- Masjid Jamek Sultan Abdul Samad
This graceful, onion-domed mosque, designed by British architect AB Hubback, borrows Mogul and Moorish styles with its brick-and-plaster banded minarets…
- Thean Hou Temple
Sitting atop leafy Robson Heights, this vividly decorated multistorey Chinese temple, dedicated to Thean Hou, the heavenly queen, affords wonderful views…
- Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia
Inhabiting a building that's nearly as impressive as its collection, this museum showcases Islamic decorative arts from around the globe. Scale models of…
- LLake Gardens – Tun Abdul Razak Heritage Park
This 70-hectare lush, beautifully landscaped park is most commonly known by its colonial-era moniker: the Lake Gardens (Tasik Perdana in Malay). This is…
- SSin Sze Si Ya Temple
Kuala Lumpur's oldest Chinese temple (1864) was built on the instructions of Kapitan Yap Ah Loy and is dedicated to Sin Sze Ya and Si Sze Ya, two Chinese…
- NNational Visual Arts Gallery
The artworks on display at the NVAG are worth a trip out of central KL for their inventiveness and sheer scale. In rotating exhibitions by regional…
- Petronas Towers
Resembling twin silver rockets, the Petronas Towers are the perfect allegory for the meteoric rise of the city from tin-mining shanty town to 21st-century…
- Merdeka Square
The huge open square, where Malaysian independence was declared in 1957, is speared by a 95m flagpole, one of the world's tallest. In the British era, the…
Latest Stories from Kuala Lumpur
Top attractions
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Kuala Lumpur.
See
Menara KL
Although the Petronas Towers are taller, the 421m Menara KL, rising from the crest of Bukit Nanas, offers the best city views. The bulb at the top…
See
Masjid Jamek Sultan Abdul Samad
This graceful, onion-domed mosque, designed by British architect AB Hubback, borrows Mogul and Moorish styles with its brick-and-plaster banded minarets…
See
Thean Hou Temple
Sitting atop leafy Robson Heights, this vividly decorated multistorey Chinese temple, dedicated to Thean Hou, the heavenly queen, affords wonderful views…
See
Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia
Inhabiting a building that's nearly as impressive as its collection, this museum showcases Islamic decorative arts from around the globe. Scale models of…
See
Lake Gardens – Tun Abdul Razak Heritage Park
This 70-hectare lush, beautifully landscaped park is most commonly known by its colonial-era moniker: the Lake Gardens (Tasik Perdana in Malay). This is…
See
Sin Sze Si Ya Temple
Kuala Lumpur's oldest Chinese temple (1864) was built on the instructions of Kapitan Yap Ah Loy and is dedicated to Sin Sze Ya and Si Sze Ya, two Chinese…
See
National Visual Arts Gallery
The artworks on display at the NVAG are worth a trip out of central KL for their inventiveness and sheer scale. In rotating exhibitions by regional…
See
Petronas Towers
Resembling twin silver rockets, the Petronas Towers are the perfect allegory for the meteoric rise of the city from tin-mining shanty town to 21st-century…
See
Merdeka Square
The huge open square, where Malaysian independence was declared in 1957, is speared by a 95m flagpole, one of the world's tallest. In the British era, the…