48 Hours in Kuala Lumpur

We only had two full days in Kuala Lumpur and wanted to make the most of what there was to see. Below are the top things that we visited in Kuala Lumpur.

Day 1

Thean Hou Temple

Thean Hou Temple is a Chinese temple built in 1987 located just south of the city center. The temple is a bit of a distance from other places and you can’t really walk from another place to here. I would recommend taking a grab, it cost about £2 from our hotel in the city center. 

It’s a beautiful temple to visit with ornate details on the walls and ceilings with the mostly white and red colouring of the outside. Outside to the left of the temple there are statues of each animal from the Chinese zodiac calendar. Thean Hou Temple  is free to visit. 

Merdeka Square

We took a grab from Then Hou Temple to Merdeka Square. Merdeka Square is also known as Independence Square and is located across the road from the Sultan Abdul Samad building. The reason it has the name Independence Square is because this was where the national flag was first raised when Malaysia became independent from the British rule in 1957. The Sultan Abdul Samar building used to be government offices during British rule and has know become the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture of Malaysia. Merdeka Square is free to visit.

Merdeka Square

River of Life

The River of Life is a short walk from Merdeka Square. The Masjid James Sultan Abdul Samad Mosque (the oldest mosque in Kuala Lumpur), is situated at the foot of the joining of the Klang river and the Gombak river. Along side the river you can see fantastic street art up the sides of the buildings. The River of Life is free to visit.

Chinatown

Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur was a very interesting place to visit. There are many food stalls and stalls selling bags, watches, belts, t-shirts etc. It felt very touristy with people trying to get you to buy things at their stall. The Main Street in Chinatown is called Japan Petaling. We decided to grab some lunch at Asam Laksa on Jalan Petaling and ordered Asam Laksa and Curry Laksa. The flavours were really delicious but it was very spicy for us and we were guzzling bottles of water to sooth our mouths, just be warned if you decide to visit! It is free to enter Chinatown.

There are a few temples in the Chinatown area, including Sri Maha Mariamman, located on Japan Tun H S Lee. The temple entrance had such intricate colourful ornaments and were really nice to see and compare to Thean Hou Tempe from the morning. To enter Sri Maha Mariamman it cost RM20 per person which is equivalent to around 4p.

Day 2

Batu caves

Batu Caves was one of the places I really wanted to visit in Kuala Lumpur and it lived up to all my expectations. It is located just outside the city centre, we used a grab to get there and cost about £3-£4. It’s a large cave complex with many different Hindu temples inside. The large gold statue that you immediately see is of the Hindu God, Murugan, and is surrounded by wild long tailed macaque monkeys roaming freely around the square. The Murugan statue is the tallest statue in Malaysia, standing at 140 feet. The monkeys don’t bother you unless they can visibly see you have food or drink. It’s best to visit earlier in the day before it gets very hot and busy. Visiting before 10am means its not too busy and the weather hasn’t become very hot yet.

NOTE: don’t carry any plastic bags around as the monkeys associate them with food!

There are 272 stairs up to the main cave which are all colourfully painted. Once inside the cave you can see the Hindu temples inside as well as a beautiful opening at the end looking up into the sky.

Batu Caves are free to visit and I would recommend spending atleast 1 hour here. There are shops and places to eat in the main square. 

It was so much fun watching the monkeys interacting with one another and to see all the young babies!

Petronas towers

Petronas towers are one of the main attractions in Kuala Lumpur and an integral part of the skyline. We opted out of going up the towers and decided to visit the KL tower instead to get a city view with the Petronas towers in it. Tickets for the observation deck and sky bridge cost RM98 for an adult and RM50 for over 60’s and children under 13. I recommend booking in advance as tickets sell out quite quickly. 

At the bottom level of the Petronas Towers is a large shopping centre with many different shops, it’s a great place to spend some time and it’s also air conditioned! We grabbed some lunch from a pastry shop/cafe and ate in the KLCC park. The KLCC park was very quiet when we visited which made a nice change from the busyness of the city. There are some great photo spots in the park of the Petronas Towers without very little people around. The KLCC park is free to visit.

View of the Petronas Towers from the KL Tower

KL tower

The KL tower, also known as the Menara, is a large skyscraper in Kuala Lumpur with an observation deck. There are different ticket packages available that include visiting the observation deck, sky box, sky deck and a tower walk. Ticket prices vary depending on the type of ticket you choose. 

We decided to visit just before sunset so we could see the city below lighting up as the sun set. We underestimated how long it would take to get up the tower for sunset. I recommend arriving atleast 1.5-2 hours before sunset to factor in queueing up for the lift. By the time the queue had gone down and it was our turn to go into the lift the sun was setting and it was dark when we got to the top. We ended up only spending about 30-45 minutes at the observation deck. However we enjoyed our visit as we were able to see the Petronas Towers lit up. Our ticket for the observation deck cost RM60 per person. 

KL Tower

There are plenty of other things to do and see in Kuala Lumpur but this itinerary allowed us to see the main attractions during our visit.