[:en]Petronas Towers[:ro]Petronas Towers[:]
We added a city break in Kuala Lumpur between the month in Vietnam and the two weeks spent in Sri Lanka. Just because when we were looking for plane tickets from Hanoi to Colombo, it was cheaper to make a 3 day stop in KL. One more excuse to visit another country in Asia. 😀
The weather is constantly hot and with high humidity, throughout the year in Kuala Lumpur. The capital of Malaysia is protected by mountains, so the temperatures are relatively lower than in the rest of the country (29-35 degrees). Between March and April is the rainiest period in Kuala Lumpur. And between May and July is the best time to visit the whole country because it is the dry season.
The most popular areas to stay in Kuala Lumpur are:
We stayed in the Chinatown neighbourhood and we can say that it wasn’t a bad choice at all. Although many people do not recommend it due to the intense traffic in the area and the lack of bars and cafes. For us it was a good choice, being located near the train station (2 min), and central enough so that you can access the free transport lines from Kuala Lumpur. More details about transport below in the blog.
Chinatown is also an area where accommodation is quite cheap by Kuala Lumpur standards. The hostel we stayed in (Lantern Hotel) had a rather small room, with no view. But modern furnished and clean enough. It didn’t bother us very much the lack of the window because we didn’t stay in the room very much and we used the air conditioning to cool the room.
We are not big fans of breakfast in general, but it was included and it was great. We had breakfast on the terrace every morning, and it was a perfect way to start the day. The terrace was just above the streets of the Chinatown neighborhood. The streets were full in the evening, and quiet in the morning, you could feel the city slightly waking up.
If you want to explore “on foot” Kuala Lumpur we recommend a central accommodation, the Chinatown & Merdeka Square is one of the most recommended, and very cheap. There is also the possibility to stay in hotels with infinity pool, in the city but especially on the outskirts. Depending on what you want, Kuala Lumpur is ready to provide you with any type of accommodation.
The infrastructure in Kuala Lumpur is excellent. We used both the train and the bus to get around the city and to get to and from the airport. Depending on where you are in the city, you will need to use public transportation.
The city has 4 bus lines that are free (Go KL City Bus) and are taking you to the most important sights, including Petronas Towers and KL Tower. These lines are divided by colors and are very easy to find (map below). We had problems finding a station because it was night and we were very tired, so we asked a local and he showed us immediately where the station is (it was 100 m further back).
The train is another transport option in KL, especially if you want to get to Batu Caves you are slightly obliged to use it. The train is very easy to use, from buying tickets to identifying the platform and the good train. We had no difficulties with it, and we enjoyed the cold air inside.
Besides, the city offers you the opportunity to admire it from height by using the Monorail. It crosses through the heart of the city, being an ideal means of transport when you want to escape the traffic congestion. KL Monorail has 11 stations and a route of 9 km, open between 6 in the morning to midnight.
The cheapest way to get from the airport to Kuala Lumpur is by bus. The trip takes about an hour and stops at the city’s central station.
There are a variety of ways to get to and from the Airport. We found this blog from MappyTravel, which explains in detail all the options.
There are plenty of tourist attractions for which are worth visiting in KL. And for the most fascinating of them, it is enough to spend 2-3 days in this city.
Now let’s talk about how expensive it is in Kuala Lumpur. We did not find it very expensive, even quite cheap at times, especially since it is a very big city. We spent about 110 Euros in the 3 days, including the accommodation of 35 Euros.
So you can make an idea of the costs, a Malaysian ringgit is the equivalent of 0.22 euros.
Thus, to get from the airport to the city by bus we paid 12 ringgit/ticket (2.65 euros). The train ticket for 2 people, round trip to Batu Cave was 10 ringgit (2.2 euros). In the rent of the time, we used the free buses and walked a lot.
The city tax was not included in the price of accommodation, so we paid separately 20 ringgit (4.4 euros). The rest of the money was spent on food, we chose to eat as much as possible on the street and local restaurants. And we bought water whenever we found a shop on the way (supermarket).
There is a mutual visa waiver agreement between Malaysia and Romania. And Romanian citizens can stay in Malaysia for up to 90 days, for non-profit purposes.
So when we entered Malaysia we received a simple stamp in the passport that represented the visa. The whole process took a maximum of 10 minutes.
For citizens of other countries, you can find more information about visas here.
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