OZU /MALAYSIA /KUALA LUMPUR /GUIDE
What to see in Kuala Lumpur
8 h route3 stopsBest: Museums mid-afternoon: that’s when the storm arrivesUpdated July 2026
This city’s essentials are few and uneven, and it’s worth saying so: Kuala Lumpur has no old town to rival Melaka’s and no ruins like Angkor’s. What it has is three or four things of genuine world class, and a way of living that’s enjoyed rather than visited.
One of those three or four is surprisingly little known: the Islamic Arts Museum, the finest collection in Southeast Asia and one of the best anywhere in its field.
The route, stop by stop
3 STOPS- 01
Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia
Twelve galleries of manuscripts, ceramics, arms, textiles and an entire room of scale models of the great buildings of the Islamic world, from the Dome of the Rock to the Blue Mosque. The section on Chinese and Indian Muslim architecture is especially good because it’s barely shown in other museums. The building counts too: the interior domes were decorated by craftsmen from Iran and Uzbekistan. It sits beside the National Mosque and the Perdana Botanical Gardens, so it chains neatly into half a day.
- 02
Menara KL and the Bukit Nanas forest
Menara Kuala Lumpur is 421 metres tall and has an observation deck. Its advantage over the Petronas is simple: from here you can see the Petronas, which you can’t from inside them. It’s the classic tall-tower dilemma, and the answer is to go up the one that isn’t the star.
What almost nobody knows is what’s underneath. The tower is built on Bukit Nanas hill, a forest reserve protected since 1906 and the oldest in Malaysia: genuine primary jungle, with its huge trees and its monkeys, right in the centre.
There’s a canopy walkway and it’s free.
- 03
Thean Hou
One of the largest Chinese temples in Southeast Asia, dedicated to Tian Hou, protector goddess of sailors: which says a good deal about how the Chinese community arrived here. It stands on a rise and the upper terraces look out over the whole city.
It’s deliberately syncretic: Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism share the same complex, very much a diaspora trait.
It fills with red lanterns at Chinese New Year, which is when it’s at its best if your dates line up.
Frequently asked
Is going up the Petronas Towers worth it?
For the skybridge and the engineering, yes. For views, no: from inside the Petronas you can’t see the Petronas, which is what most people want to photograph. If you’re only going up one, Menara KL gives the better panorama.