Kuala Lumpur Hotel Reviews
Went to shopping area in New Berjaya Time Sq. Should not miss that as it has more than 8 levels of shopping. Remember to reserve 1 day for that.
Try Ozeki Japanese restaurant on Jalan P. Ramlee. For night life, the Thai Bistro is rocking and a good alternative to the Beach Club.
Kuala Lumpur is an exciting multi cultural city with wonderful, cheap food. I recommend a trip to Putra Jaya, the new garden city built to house the government and its offices. It has to be seen to be believed. It has been built on a very grand scale with a beautiful red domed mosque and an imposing Prime Minister''s complex. A good way to see it is to take a trip on the lake. It can be reached by the KLIA Transit train from KL Sentral Station.
We thought Malaysia was a very interesting, historic and multicultural country to visit. Lots of good, cheap food too. Our only complaint was the heat and humidity. We took the airport express train (70 RM per person round trip) from the international airport to the central train station in KL. From there it was a 10RM voucher ride in a taxi to the hotel. The long-distance express busses were great. We took one day trip to Malacca and then took another one to Penang for our stay there. Most people can speak English so it''s easy to ask questions. Our guidebook said that the food court in the Central Market wasn''t popular but we ate there twice and it was always full of local people as well as a few tourists. The local people seemed to enjoy me asking them what they were eating and were very friendly and helpful. Plus it''s air conditioned so you can recover from being outside.
Very nice restaurant at KL: Ceylon Hill 19 jalan damai KL. We highly recommend this address.
It is in a walking distance to the Twin towers, about 20 minutes. The only pain are the cabs. You almost find no taxi who will use his taxi meter even during the day and even for locals. You need to negotiate always the price in advance. A trip to the airport from the hotel per taxi cost you 70 RM. A bus ticket per person 20RM, from hotel to the airport. In Chinatown, you can buy cheap watch copies. Divide their price by 2 to start the bargain. Visiting Petronas and the Twin towers are a must. Twin towers are free, but you need to go early to pick up your tickets, they are very limited per day, go around 09:00 am.
Do try the small cafe/hawker stall near Hotel Capitol (just directly outside the hotel), the food is cheap and the service is excellent!
Kuala Lumpur is a very modern city, with many nice places to visit. It is a must to see the Petronas Twin Towers and to go to the skybridge. Some beautiful places like Merdeka Square, Sultan Abdul Samad Building, the old railway station, the national museum, can reflect the historical face of the capital. It is also a very cosmopolitan city with its famous Chinatown and its "Little India". The Bird Park is very huge and interesting. Just on the edge of the city, Batu caves is also nice to visit.
Don''t take a bus (M$20) from KLIA to get to the city in order to save a few Ringits unless you have time to burn. The train (M$35) is much faster. If there are two or more travelling together, grab a taxi (M$65) as it is more cost effective and it will take you directly to your hotel. To get around town or from the city back to the airport, I recommend Faizal Muthu on 017-353 4068. He found us a great Indian "banana leaf" restaurant after we met him and gave us and insight in to life in Malaysia.<br> <br> But the best thing that happened during our 3 days there was running in to an old bloke at Merdeka Square. He sold me a map that he had written notes and information on. E.g. places to go, directions, walking times, local transport, markets, etc. He saved us money as we were going to go to the Batu caves by Taxi (M$55 one way). He told us where to catch the bus. It cost us less than M$2. The M$10 I gave him for the map was cheap, compared to the money and time and trouble that we saved.<br> <br> Do the tour up the Petronas Towers. While you don''t get to go to the very top (just to the air bridge) and you need to get there early to get a ticket up, it is a cool thing to do. The food served up in the food street in BB is unbelievable!!! Try THE grilled "chicken" fish. Best fish I have ever eaten. Laksa is great there as well. And there is tandori for the Indian food lovers. Tiger beer is a great drop!! The shopping is very good, the real things in the mall or the "genuine" copies in China Town or the Saturday night market in Little India.
The Jalan Bintang ends where the Royale Bintang is located is developing quite nicely with new street facilities and updated eateries. Shopping continues to be a convenient activity with so many shopping centers within 300m. The newly opened giant Times Square development a stone''s throw from the hotel promises much, but does not deliver at present - most stores are unoccupied, and the whole building feels like a big hollow cavernous shell; getting there from Jln Bukit Bintang is hampered by the circuitous overhead bridge which is difficult to find and which it shares with the Imbi Monorail station.
Just a word to the wise: keep an eye on your credit cards at all times while using them to pay for items. When a salesperson is zapping your card to charge you for something, make sure that he/she doesn''t hide your card from view and copy it. I caught someone copying my card and having a wonderful spending spree. Luckily the bank questioned the first large transaction and blocked all the others (thousands of $ worth...)
After one week in Kuala Lumpur, my conclusion is that you can see most things on foot. The KL Tower, Petronas Twin Towers and many other attractions are within walking distance if your hotel is in the city. Yes, it is very hot walking during the day. But walking does give you so much more impressions than sitting in a cab or coach. And the exercise doesn''t hurt either.
Visit the Genting Highlands - it''s about a one-hour cab ride from KL. At 6000 feet above sea level, the temperature seldom goes above 75 degrees F. It''s neat to look down on the tops of the clouds. Genting has indoor and outdoor theme parks (lots of rides and video games for the kids). There''s also a large casino (smart casual attire -- no shorts, T-shirts, or sandals), Vegas-style shows, and dozens of restaurants ranging from fast food to fine dining.
I''m a regular visitor to KL and every time I discover something new. Just discovered food heaven around Bkt Bintang area, stalls along Jalan Alor offer the best food I ever tasted in KL itself. The new Time Square shopping mall is a little disappointing, the whole place still so empty after so many months been open. Nice big mall with nothing to browse. Midvalley is great!
The Hotel is ideally situated by the Airport, just what is needed after a long flight. All around the Hotel their are various car and camper van hire companies, all of whom deliver the vehicles free of charge to the Hotel.
If you''re into nightlife, the location has got even better with singapore''s zouk club opening a branch just over the road, a short stagger from the hotel.
The Renaissance/New World hotel is ideally situated on the corner of Jalan Ampang and Jalan Sultan Ismail. It is only about 7 minutes walk from the Petronas Twin Towers/KLCC shopping mall and a few minutes from the Hard Rock Cafe. A walk of just a few minutes will take you to the Dang Wangi station on the Putra MRT line, and the Bukit Nanas station of the new KL Monorail that started operating for the Merdeka celebrations in 2003 is right next to the hotel.<br> <br> Both of these lines have easy connections to the Star Line MRT and more importantly, to KL Sentral station where you can take the KLIA Express to KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport). KL Sentral also houses the KL City Air Terminal (KL CAT) where depending on your flight, you can check your luggage in before boarding the train. KL CAT uses the IATA airport identifying trigraph XKL. Please note that if taking the KL Monorail to KL Sentral you will have to cross the road between the stations, whereas the Putra line station is an integral part of KL Sentral.
In KL, I visited the Petronas Twin Towers, The KLCC, Chinatown and other places I can not now remember. I get around wlaking, using taxi and the nice sky train. I went also to a resort in Tioman Island (beautiful resort, nice views, clear sea, wonderful snorkeling and a very good dive, with many sharks and turtles). The bus I used was reasonable (to good).
Visited the Theme Park at Times Square, not that good. Prefer the one at Genting Highland. There''s a lot of shopping centres near our hotel, and there''s no problem searching for food either. Don''t drive around KL, you might end up stuck in the traffic jam for hours. We took the train, very convenient, fast and go to many places.
Basically, the hotel is along Bt Bintang which has so many shopping centres, e.g. Lot 10, Sugei Wang, BB Plaza and many more eating stalls. Chinatown and Berjaya Times Square, even Pudu Raya (bus interchange) are also within walking distance. Therefore we did not spend a single cent on transport for this trip, except the cab fare on arrival and departure.