Recommendations for a few days stopover in KL

[grain]

Will be flying BKK to Perth late Feb 2024, and will no doubt transit through KL airport, and I'm considering breaking the journey at KL and having approx 5 nights stopover. So I'm looking for some recommendations for parts of KL to stay in and suitable hotels in those areas. I'll be with Thai wife, we're not backpackers nor are we 5-star, guess we're medium budget. Not into shopping, pubs or clubs, or fine dining. We'd like to be in an area with lots of character, and some nearby attractions, close to public transport, we like local food, night markets. As for hotels, I guess 3 star, a pool would be nice but not essential, AC of course, clean, and not noisy. Breakfast included would be OK but not essential as we can eat outside. So any ideas for me?

[my friend I]

Brickfields aka Little India. Bus or train to and from airport and anywhere from there. It's the main station for local and inter city trains. Wide range of hotels and restaurants. Fair bit of road traffic.

 

Chinatown. Interesting just walking the streets especially in the evening. Can get crowded.

Some tourist sites like Old Market. Some excellent restaurants and ok hotels.

[grain]

1 hour ago, my friend I said:

Brickfields aka Little India. Bus or train to and from airport and anywhere from there. It's the main station for local and inter city trains. Wide range of hotels and restaurants. Fair bit of road traffic.

 

Chinatown. Interesting just walking the streets especially in the evening. Can get crowded.

Some tourist sites like Old Market. Some excellent restaurants and ok hotels.

Cheers, I'll make a note of these suggestions.

[my friend I]

Brickfields is nothing like Little India in Penang. It's just a few restaurants really.

The attraction is as a transport hub. Trains are a much better option to get around than taxis. Drivers can be a hassle and traffic is always bad.

[grain]

13 minutes ago, my friend I said:

Brickfields is nothing like Little India in Penang. It's just a few restaurants really.

The attraction is as a transport hub. Trains are a much better option to get around than taxis. Drivers can be a hassle and traffic is always bad.

Thanks, for the additional info, as we're traveling with luggage I'm thinking now we might drop the KL idea, might be more fun to make a side trip from Perth to Bali.

[sometimewoodworker]

On 12/4/2023 at 1:29 PM, grain said:

Will be flying BKK to Perth late Feb 2024, and will no doubt transit through KL airport, and I'm considering breaking the journey at KL and having approx 5 nights stopover. So I'm looking for some recommendations for parts of KL to stay in and suitable hotels in those areas. I'll be with Thai wife, we're not backpackers nor are we 5-star, guess we're medium budget. Not into shopping, pubs or clubs, or fine dining. We'd like to be in an area with lots of character, and some nearby attractions, close to public transport, we like local food, night markets. As for hotels, I guess 3 star, a pool would be nice but not essential, AC of course, clean, and not noisy. Breakfast included would be OK but not essential as we can eat outside. So any ideas for me?

We have just come back from KL having stopped on the way back from Singapore.

for an extremely easy transfer from the airport to central KL we used https://www.kliaekspres.com/products-fares/vip-service/ for about RM 210 for 2 people, it was extremely fast and convenient, you get collected at baggage reclaim then door to door porter services using the KLIA express with a limousine van in central KL. it’s a bit more expensive but a luxury transfer.

We stayed in Le Apple Boutique Hotel Bukit Bintang at about 2,000 baht a night, the room was small, the shower huge, 10 seconds walk to breakfast, view from the hotel.

 

 

2 minutes to lunch,

10 minutes to Jalan Alor 

 

walking distance to the aquarium

 

 

 

 

 

 

and petronas towers

 

Edited December 27, 2023 by sometimewoodworker

[grain]

sometimewoodworker, thank you very much indeed for that good info and photos, plus the vid. Very much appreciated.

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, grain said:

sometimewoodworker, thank you very much indeed for that good info and photos, plus the vid. Very much appreciated.

@grain if you have any more questions just ask, we only spent 3 nights in KL & could easily have stayed 2 or 3 more.

 

I have spent about a month or 2 in Bali over the years and if you are looking to have a relaxed time it the place as long as you stay north of Denpasar. If you go south to Kuta or Legun you might as well stay in Australia with pubs that cater to 400 to 600 plus with pub crawls for hundreds being standard

[grain]

19 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

@grain if you have any more questions just ask, we only spent 3 nights in KL & could easily have stayed 2 or 3 more.

 

I have spent about a month or 2 in Bali over the years and if you are looking to have a relaxed time it the place as long as you stay north of Denpasar. If you go south to Kuta or Legun you might as well stay in Australia with pubs that cater to 400 to 600 plus with pub crawls for hundreds being standard

Hi, we have dropped the KL stopover idea, I actually wanted to do it but my missis said it'll be a hassle as we'll have a fair bit of luggage (over 50 kilos) so we've now already booked flights right through to Perth, and on return right through to BKK. However, I'm interested in a holiday to Bali for about 7-10 nights, probably the first week in May so as to avoid Easter and the April school holidays.

 

Last time we went, about 5 years ago we had a couple nights at Kuta then 5-6 nights at Ubud, and I enjoyed Kuta sitting on the beach in the evenings drinking beers and ordering up seafood, and in Ubud I was bored stiff after 1 day there, and regretted booking in advance. Of course the main attraction for me at Kuta was the beach with seafood restaurants. So where would you recommend that has a similar scene to Kuta but less full on?

[sometimewoodworker]

2 hours ago, grain said:

Last time we went, about 5 years ago we had a couple nights at Kuta then 5-6 nights at Ubud, and I enjoyed Kuta sitting on the beach in the evenings drinking beers and ordering up seafood, and in Ubud I was bored stiff after 1 day there, and regretted booking in advance. Of course the main attraction for me at Kuta was the beach with seafood restaurants. So where would you recommend that has a similar scene to Kuta but less full on?

I can’t really help on that as I was travelling solo, rented a motorcycle and it was quite a while ago, though I did really enjoy staying in the village in the giant crater where Mt Batur is located and joining the locals in the outdoor volcanically heated bathing area. The other main time I got a diving tour and visited about 8 different sites diving from the beach. 
I did visit Kuta or Legian one day but nothing there was of any interest to me.

One interesting memory was dropping in on a funeral ceremony a completely unbelievable experience with hundreds attending along with at least 4 gamelan bands with the guest of honour in a giant horse mostly made of banana plants attended by 4 very large paraffin blowtorch’s