If, like us, you’ve been glued to your screen watching Race Across the World Season 4, you may have been inspired by Episode 6, when contestants had to make a 2000km journey ahead across Malaysia – a spellbinding part of South-east Asia that many travellers don’t know a huge amount about. In this blog. We’ve showcased a couple of Malaysia tours that will really give you an idea about the fantastic sights and experiences that await you there.
Classic Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur or Singapore to Malacca | Malacca – Kuala Lumpur | Kuala Lumpur | Kuala Lumpur – Taman Negara | Taman Negara | Taman Negara – Cameron Highlands | Cameron Highlands – Penang | Penang (2 days)
You’ll start in UNESCO-listed Malacca, with its heritage houses, canal-side cafés and array of cuisines from restaurants and hawker stalls – traditional Malay dishes as well as treats influenced by visiting traders over the past 2,000 years. Sample the likes of asam pedas (fish stew), ad cendol (a dessert of coconut and caramelised palm sugar), Indian tandooris, Chinese dim sum, Peranakan food influenced by Cantonese, Portuguese and Malay ingredients and methods, and even warm Portuguese tarts.
Malacca was a trading post on the Malacca Strait and has substantial Portuguese and Dutch influences. Sights include the oldest remaining European architecture in South-east Asia, A Famosa, the Stadthuys (former Dutch City Hall), Temple Street with its temples and mosques, restored Peranakan buildings, and Baba-Nyonya Museum of Peranakan culture.
In Kuala Lumpur, your tour will include Thean Hou Buddhist temple, the modern National Mosque, the old train station built by the British, the ancient city with its typical colonial/Malay-style houses, the Central Market, Chinatown, and of course the iconic Petronas Twin Towers. You’ll also head to the outskirts of the city to see the Batu Caves, a pilgrimage site for Hindus.
From here you’ll transfer to Labu Sentral jetty to board a wooden longboat for a two-hour ride to your jungle lodge, where you’ll enjoy a nocturnal guided night walk, trek beneath the high-density rainforest canopy and along a canopy walkway, and boat upstream on the Tahan river with its rapids, to reach a waterfall and swim in a natural pool.
You’ll then travel to the Cameron Highlands, long regarded as a refuge from the lowland tropical heat, with tea plantations to visit and the Mossy Forest of Gunung Brinchang, where a nature guide will enlighten you about the medicinal plants that grow here and the eco-system of the rainforest.
Your final destination is UNESCO-listed Georgetown on Penang, where colourful sights include the Thai Temple of the Reclining Buddha, Burmese Temple, Khoo Kongsi Chinese clan house, and Kek Lok Si Temple, Malaysia’s largest Buddhist temple.
West Coast Malaysia – Self-Drive
Kuala Lumpur (2 days) | Malacca | Kuala Lumpur to Taman Negara | Taman Negara | Taman Negara to Cameron Highlands | Cameron Highlands | Cameron Highlands to Ipoh | Ipoh to Penang | Penang | Penang to Langkawi | Langkawi (3 days)
This tour allows you to discover many of Malaysia’s highlights under your own steam, starting out in Kuala Lumpur, where you’ll visit Chow Kit Market, Kampung Bahru traditional neighbourhood, Masjid Jamek at the confluence of the Klang and Gombak Rivers (birthplace of Kuala Lumpur), Little India, Sze Ya Taoist temple, and the nearby Sri Maha Mariamman Hindu Temple.
From here, you’ll tour Malacca, have jungle adventures in Taman Negara, enjoy the Cameron Highlands (including a three-hour trek in the Montane rainforest), discover Ipoh with its Heritage Walk including its Railway Station, Town Padang Mosque, and Birch Memorial clock tower, and explore Penang, including a visit to Khoo Kongsi to learn about the practice of ancestor worship.
Having dropped off your hire car, you’ll hop aboard the public ferry from Penang Jetty to Langkawi for tropical-island relaxation and exploring the likes of the Kilim Geopark of mangrove forests, lagoons, and beaches, populated by monkeys, hornbills, cobras, sea eagles, and more.
To book your Malaysia tour, call your Travel Counsellor today.
We’re not talking about your wedding day (though that will be up there with life’s most significant moments). We’re talking about those travel experiences that only happen at certain times of the year. Miss it and they are gone. Here’s when (and how) to be part of the action.
Hurtigruten’s 12-day classic Coastal Express itinerary is the ultimate way to see the Norwegian coast, taking you from cosmopolitan Bergen in the south to the edge of Europe at the North Cape and Kirkenes, then back again, covering much more of Norway than other cruise lines and visiting many smaller ports they can’t reach.
Tucked away in ancient rainforests, in the heart of the outback, amidst vineyards or sand dunes, overlooking the ocean, or on islands fringed by UNESCO-listed coral reefs, the 20 independently owned and operated Luxury Lodges of Australia are among our favourite recommendations for truly immersing yourself in this miraculous country.