[Anonymous]

[David]

Good afternoon all.

I’m travelling to KL next week for the first time and would appreciate your valued recommendations.

Many thanks in advance!

[peter19]

where about location wise in KL re you looking at? business or pleasure? must haves? there are lots to choose from.

[David]

Thanks Peter. I’m in town for 2 nights only and on business. Not sure where my meetings will take place as I’m awaiting feedback from my client on where he would like to meet. Must-haves? Normal Sheraton/Hilton/Hyatt standard and a bonus would be if there are any places of interest that I could reach by foot on any down-time I might have (markets, restaurants). Any hotels of ‘character’ too would be fun to stay at (something akin to Raffels in SIN, the Gaulle Face in CMB, etc, etc). A nice view would be great too (Petronas towers perhaps?).

Thanks again.

[AllOverTheGaff]

The Mandarin Oriental is V good and has great views of Petronas Towers, also excellent is the Shangri La which has the most spectacular breakfast.

I’d say by 0.1% the MO is slightly better.

If you have a chance, dine at Bijan which offers excellent Malay cuisine done really well, not too expensive either.

Rgds.
AOTG.

[Lando Marco]

KLCC (Petronas twin towers) vicinity would be the best area in KL built around a park. Aside from MO, theres the Trader’s which is usually reasonably priced (and houses the popular sky bar )and the Grand Hyatt which is new and beautifully built. Beware of walking around on your own especially after dark. KL’s crime rate is at an all time high – probably safer in Somalia!

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Second AOTG – the Mandarin Oriental is a cracking hotel and rates often very reasonable compared to rates at MO’s in other cities.

[MarcusUK]

I also concur that The mandarin oriental is the best position in the city, also consistent in service over the many years i have stayed there.

Avoid the City view rooms, but go for the Park view or Towers view. Even on the top floor, you are not half way up the Towers level, but the park is quite spectacular, with fountains of colours at night. The service and professional ambiance of the hotel is beyond expectation always. An afternoon tea is something special there if you have the chance or can entertain there.

You can walk to the shopping areas next door under the Towers, or around 10 minutes walk on the overhead walkway above the street to another area, full of other hotels and more everyday places to eat, bars, cinema etc.
Book whilst you can they are often full, best offers and availability on their own website.

As an alternative, alongside the park, is also Shangri La’s 4 star offering, Traders. Also great views, more of an apartment style, larger rooms, good sports club, but less public areas to enjoy as in the mandarin.
Enjoy your trip, KL is a fabulous city, and very reasonable to stay and buy whatever you like if you have the time.

[cityprofessional]

I’d definitely check on meeting location first. The MO or the Shang are the places to stay (or Traders if on a budget), but the traffic around there can be horrendous, so e.g. if your meetings are near Sentral, then may as well stay there (and the Aloft is getting rave reviews over the more conventional Hilton and Le Meridien options)

[Ab0dache]

Someone in this forum called uggoboytravel (sorry for some probably user’s spelling errors) has reported different stays in diverse hotels in KL, including one of “character” as you mentioned. A good idea may be to read them. There is not soo much hotels of “character” in KL. So this one may be of interest for you, if the location is ok.

I stayed at the westin in 2005. I have enjoyed the heavenly bed, the good restaurants there. It is in a central location, not too far from the petronas towers, close to the monorail subway which is a good option to move when indeed the road traffic may be bad in the morning to get with a taxi to your meeting destination.
At that time, the hotel was the last new one.

If you have time to do it, try for one lunch, the indian restaurants where the malaysian eat their lunch, with their fingers (you go and cleaned them before at the restrooms) served on a banana leave. That’s will give you another vision of malaysia far from the tourist one. I have done that several times with no health issue and a very good untypical souvenir of KL.

[OnslowSW7]

Howdy,
I’m a regular in KL and have great things to say about the MO, Shang and Traders- but the new Grand Hyatt is much better than all of those, and also has cracking views of the twin towers. Be sure to have a few drinks in Marini on 57- superb bar in the tower beside the twin towers.

[UrbaneGent]

KL is a beautiful city, I’m excited for you. All the properties mentioned here are great, including the Westin. Make sure you ask for a clear of the Towers high up – quite a sight! My first time there, I flew in for two days/ one night for meetings. I thought I would run over to the Petronas Towers for a quick visit, but they sell tickets for different time slots and missed it that time. So in case you want to go up the towers, make sure you book in advance. Travel safe!

[K1ngston]

Like most have mentioned here MO is the best placed and is a great hotel, make sure you specify the view, as you can be disappointed. For ambience and best value and lounge you cannot beat the Shangri La a great location and a 5 minute walk up to where the Towers are.

When I lived in KL they were building the Hyatt and from my apartment window I literally watched them build it from the ground up and saw it topped off, so I am interested to hear what people are saying about it.

KL is really a great city enjoy your time there and report back when you return

[WestBay]

Ritz Carlton and Marriott in Bukit Bintang area is a good option to be in the very centre of the city, and Prince Hotel not far from there is very well priced. I would chose that area over the Petronas Towers and thus over Mandarin, Shangri-La or Traders.

[JKL]

The thing about KL is it’s very spread out and, while the LRT and monorail are generally very good, there are many areas they don’t go to, so you’ll almost certainly be using taxis to get around, even if in combination with them – and depending on the time of day and/or weather, traffic may be very heavy indeed so be prepared for journeys to take a long time. If you can arrange all your meetings to be in the same area and get a hotel nearby, you’ll save yourself some hassle (and stress probably 😉

I’d recommend the Hilton KL Sentral for quick access to/from the airport via the KLIA Expres train (much quicker and cheaper than a taxi but don’t confuse it with the KLIA Transit on the adjacent platform 😉 The Hilton is right opposite the station via covered walkway. Worth getting an Exec room, though if you have Hilton gold they’re pretty good at upgrading. If you prefer SPG, there’s a Le Meridien right next door (part of the same building and they share a pool, intriguingly). Haven’t stayed there myself but Gastro restaurant downstairs is nice enough. There’s also a new Ascott at Sentral, which I’m told is very good, though I haven’t been in myself. I believe they have some introductory / opening discount rates at the moment.

Sentral is a convenient area if you need to be in Bangsar (some quite nice cafés and restaurants around there), and about 15-20 minutes to KLCC on the LRT.

If your meetings are in KLCC then definitely go for the Mandarin Oriental as others have said, to which I would just add, get a club room – the lounge is very nice indeed. If you’re on a budget, then the DoubleTree in the Intermark building is one stop away on the LRT (Ampang Park station – or you could walk if the weather isn’t too hot or humid) and in my view offers excellent value for the money – definitely one of the better DoubleTrees. Also has views of the Petronas towers (in the distance) if you get get a room on that side of the the hotel. Again worth opting for an Exec room, but ask for a room on the club lounge side of the building if you’re sensitive to elevator noise 😉

Shangri-la is one of my favourite hotels in KL, but somehow just doesn’t quite seem to be in the right location…

On the other end of town, the Hilton PJ is nice enough – showing its age perhaps, and the walk from the LRT is classic Malaysia (pavements that suddenly turn into sand, or stop altogether etc) so you’ll want to get a taxi to that one if Petaling Jaya is your area. Nice lounge as I recall.

Not sure it’s worth it for 2 nights, but AirBnB may be worth a look if you prefer an apartment to a hotel room – £40-60 a night plus or minus seems to be the going rate, plenty on offer, some in very good locations. Haven’t actually used it personally though, only browsed so far, but tempted…

Going back to KLCC, you can walk from there over to Bukit Bintang in (mostly) air conditioned comfort via KLCC convention centre and the Aquarium. Takes about 20 minutes. As with most of KL it’s all about the shopping, with Pavilion mall (which you’ll arrive into) being the main one. Worth a little potter around the area though. Was disappointed with the Westin in Bukit Bintang, but if that’s area you need to be in, there are plenty of hotels there to choose from. Not well served by LRT though, but the monorail goes there. Be aware that building works are causing a bit of traffic chaos for taxis in that area.

Nearby Changkat Bukit Bintang is good for nightlife – Ciccio’s is a nice Italian restaurant, popular with ex-pats. Or Frangipani next door has a French menu and nice cocktails. Whisky Bar across the road is well worth a look if that’s more your preferred tipple.

If you do stay at the DoubleTree, or find yourself in that area anyway, Tate’s is a nice little bar hidden away downstairs at the Intermark (but I do mean hidden – look for Beast restaurant, then look to the right, go past the long bar and look for a white door – easy to miss, it looks like a service door in the wall; through there, down a dark corridor, turn left…).

Ben’s restaurant at KLCC is nice (I was impressed with the duck salad the other day), and they also have one at Pavilion, with a balcony overlooking Bukit Bintang. Or of course, find a hawker stand and get delicious ‘proper’ local food on the street for just a few ringgit – though they tend to be further afield; I don’t recall seeing any around KLCC. Plenty of food courts though, which offer good local food at cheap prices.

Worth downloading the MyTeksi app for your phone – works much the same as Hailo in London. No need to register a credit card – you can still pay by cash, but it’s useful for tracking when your car’s arriving and not getting ripped off by the driver, ahem, taking the long route 😉

Final thought – I mean this with no disrespect to them, but Malaysians tend not to have any sense of haste when on foot – if you’re in a hurry, getting through the crowds of pedestrians to/from the LRT, or through the malls etc, can be trying if you’re used to the pace of cities like London – so allow plenty of time between meetings 😉

Enjoy your trip! KL is an amazing city.

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