While staying in Chiang Mai back in early 2017, I decided to hit up adjacent Southeast Asian cities for a nice 10-day vacation. I visited Krabi in Thailand as well as Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia for several nights each.

I enjoyed my time in KL especially as I had a friend to show me around. In this post, I wanted to cover some of what to do in Kuala Lumpur. I also wanted to provide some tips on things to know before you get there so you have a better understanding of the city.

Things to Know About Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The Weather

The weather in KL was very interesting and sporadic. One minute it was dry and the next it was pouring rain. But the place was consistently hot throughout. At times I couldn’t stand more than a few minutes in one place and had to leave for air conditioning. It was brutal! If you visit, make sure to check for weather. It doesn’t vary too much throughout the year, but May, June, and July are the hottest months in KL.

Accommodations

I stayed at a nice AirBnB, spending $150 for 4 nights which is still quite affordable. (If you haven’t created an AirBnB account yet, use this link to get $40 off your first stay). Again, you’ll definitely want to stay somewhere with a pool and A/C cause of the heat.

The Currency

In Malaysia, they use Malaysian Ringgit currency (MYR). 4 Ringgit is worth around $1 USD (1 ringgit = $0.25 USD), so just divide everything by 4 if you’re used to USD.

Languages Spoken

My friends in Malaysia told me that most people are able to basically speak 4 languages: English, Bahasa Melayu (the standardized form of the Malay language), Mandarin, and Cantonese. Pretty insane, right? I found that really impressive. After traveling around the world, I discovered people in many countries can speak at least 3 languages. It kind of puts into perspective that we should be learning more languages to communicate with the rest of the world.

Transportation

I used Uber everywhere I went. Simple as that. I believe rides averaged around $2-$5 especially cause we were staying somewhere quite central.

I didn’t take any taxis, but I thought their “Teksi” spelling was funny, hehe:

What to Do in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Jalan Alor

Our accommodations were within walking distance from Jalan Alor, a unique street food night market. We ate here a few times, but we were bugged by the people on the streets constantly trying to sell you things.

Image from Flickr

Batu Caves

The Batu Caves were really cool! It is free to enter. If you are visiting make sure to wear clothes covering your shoulders and knees to respect their culture.

The hike up is pretty long and exhausting – there are 272 steps to the caves dedicated to the Hindu god Lord Murugan. This gold statue apparently took around 3 years to create and is the tallest statue of this diety in the world:

When you climb up the stairs, you’ll see a bunch of macaque monkeys! Keep your valuables on you and make sure they don’t get stolen. These creatures love to grab your stuff and run.

The caves were huge and extremely impressive! There are 3 main caves and a few smaller ones.

Me in front of the main cave

You can also participate in a guided tour of the dark caves if you purchase tickets for it. We didn’t end up doing so, but now I hear that this part was many people’s favorite.

Karaoke

A lot of the days were extremely rainy or hot so we ventured out quite minimally. We decided to hit up Neway Karaoke (it’s a chain). They had a full on buffet included in the price. We paid around $20 total per person for dinner and karaoke for a few hours. I didn’t end up getting a picture of the buffet, but the food was actually delicious. I’d totally recommend hitting up a Neway and getting your own room to bust out your vocals.

Petronas Towers

The Petronas Towers are definitely an icon of KL and you’ll constantly see them in pictures about Kuala Lumpur. These towers used to be the tallest in the world from 1998 until 2004, but they still hold the record of tallest twin towers. The view is pretty awesome!

You can also go to the top of the tower to visit the Skybridge (the bridge between the two buildings) by purchasing tickets here. I didn’t really care too much about this so I skipped that and just took pictures in front of the buildings :).

Suria KLCC Shopping Centre

The KLCC shopping centre is right next to the Petronas Towers and is the prime shopping area of the city. It has 320 shops with everything from budget-friendly stores to high-end stores. We ate at the food court before heading out for nightlife festivities.

Nightlife

My ex at the time wasn’t a big drinker or partier, so we didn’t go out much. But my friend had a lot of connections and knew the owner of a few venues, so we followed him out to a rooftop bar that played awesome throwback hip hop and R&B music. Unfortunately this place has closed down since, but some notable venues that are commonly talked about include Zouk, Club Kyo, Sky Bar, and more.

 

Merdeka Square / Independence Square

Honestly, I only visited Merdeka Square for a few minutes and bounced. It was SO hot that I couldn’t stay for too long. I just made sure to take a quick picture to show that I went and left the area quickly! It’s an easy attraction to check off the list. This place has now become the usual venue for the annual Merdeka Parade (also known as the National Day Parade).

I Love KL Sign

While at Merdeka Square, you’ll see the I Love KL Sign. This sign has become an attraction in itself, so I grabbed a quick picture before heading out.

Conclusion

I was fortunate to have had friends show me around Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and I loved that KL had such friendly people everywhere. I hadn’t even met my Malaysian friend in person until that trip, as he was a friend of a friend and we had only webcammed prior. I was so grateful for the fact that he brought out his crew and showed us around even though we had only briefly spoken and hadn’t had a true in-person meeting. Many people I know would not have bothered to do so.

In terms of things to do in KL, I didn’t feel like there were an abundant amount of sights to see but I did appreciate the beauty of the Batu Caves and the enormity of the Petronas Towers. Because a lot of attractions and things to do weren’t within walking distance of each other, it felt like more work to see and do things as opposed to other Southeast Asian countries. But overall, I had a great time in KL, and I hope you enjoyed this guide on what to do in Kuala Lumpur! Leave a comment below if you have other recommendations as well :).