KL’s airport is 75 kms from the city and there is a fast train but the tickets are expensive and certainly to go into the city it is cheaper to get a cab which will take between 45 minutes and an hour. The arrival process is very smooth and you pay for your taxi in advance when you exit customs. The return fare is more expensive but a luxury air-condtioned cab door to door is not expensive for the distance.
Getting around, KL has an excellent monorail system which will take you to most places you want to visit, there are also 3 metro lines but these do not interchange very well. Big hotels have fleets of taxis outside and while these are a bit pricier than the normal red and white ones they can be more efficient.
Hotel prices can be a bargain and the area to stay round is Bukit Bintang or the Golden Triangle and most hotels should be handy either for Bukit Bintang Monorail or Raja Chulan Monorail.
The Prince Hotel is a five star hotel in Jalan Conlay, and a deluxe king size room with views of the Petronas Towers can be had for £60 including a buffet breakfast at weekends. It has a Rooftop pool and Spa, a number of good bars and restaurants.
Happy Hour is everywhere in KL, usually running till about 9pm having started some time in the afternoon, a good way to try some of KL’s great bars.
Golden Triangle, just behind Jalan Bukit Bintang is Jalan Alor, which every night is full of food stalls just wander up and down decide which one you fancy, a beer will appear then start ordering – a word of advice, go for small size dishes if there are only two or you, the medium are enormous, the large I dread to think.
Frangipani, Changkat Bukit Bintang, is very upmarket French restaurant with really unusual dishes and worth a small splurge if you have had enough of street food. Not expensive by home standards and not for the quality of food or service.
Changkat Bukit Bintang is full of bars and restaurants, very handy for the hotel area nearby and also for Jalan Alor.
The Pavilion Shopping Mall and The Starhill Gallery, opposite each other on Jalan Bukit Bingtang are both packed with restaurants, the Starhill has some very smart places downstairs. The Pavilion has loads of incredibly smart places on the sixth floor with bargains at lunchtime and happy hour. The food court on level 1 is just amazing, top quality sushi at Ichiban, followed by the Teppan Yaki Japanese grill, set meals at just over £3 ! There is every sort of Malaysian food and most types of Asian as well as European.
Just to the left of the Pavilion is Bukit Bintang Walk an airconditioned open air corridor of bars and restaurants, very busy in the early evening and later at night although they close at 1am.
The Starhill has a very lively outdoor terraqce bar.
Just down from Raja Chulan is a rather old mall called Wisma Cosway on Jalan Conlay, it contains two or three rather quirky bars which attract a Chinese business clientele as well as Europeans they are worth a visit, they can get quite lively.
The Skybar at Traders Hotel is a must for amazing views from the 60th something floor.
The Monorail station Maharajalela will get you to within a 5 minute walk of Chinatown.
Jalan Petaling market is on all day but trebles in size at night there are loads of places to eat really good Chinese street food, the China Town food Centre, Jalan Hang Lekir which crosses Petaling Street has very good food.
Nearby The Old China \Cafe , Jalan Balai Polis, is a lovely place beautifully done out with old pictures and specialising in Nonya food, which is Malay food usually from Melaka.
Central Market in Chinatown is a lovely building with great stalls for souvenirs and also good places to eat including Ginger which does good Thai food and drinks.
In Little India, the Colliseum, Jalan Abdul Tunku Rahman is a KL institution where the planters came into town to eat and you can still sit in the dining room and have the famous sizzling steak for which you have to wear a bib.
Restoran Hameed’s Jalan Sultan Mohamed, is a Mamak restaurant open 24hrs a buffet type place, this is Indian Food at incredibly reasonable prices, go early at lunchtime to catch the food at its best or early evening.
Asia Heritage Row, Monorail Medan Tuanku is a stretch of trendy bars and eating places.
You can visit the Petronas Towers and do the Skybridge if you get up early and get a ticket or you can do the KL Tower which during the week has no queues and gives you an all round view of KL.
Kampung Baru is a traditional Malay area in the heart of KL, Monorail station Medan Tuanku has a great Saturday night market with loads of food stalls and even at other times it is worth a visit as there are loads of places to eat, Asia Heritage Row is nearby.
Shopping Malls are worth classing as Culture in KL, currently the Pavilion is probably the best although there is some good places at KLCC by the Petronas Towers.
Have Fish foot massage, put your feet in a tank of Doctor Fish and they will pedicure your feet, available at the Central Market and other places in KL.
