Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia has everything a city centre can offer. Founded in 1857, the joining of Gombak and Klang River form a muddy area. In English, Kuala Lumpur literally means “muddy confluence”.

The former colonial district (as this can be seen by the architecture), there is a lot of interesting place. A skyline punctuated by minarets, domes and skyscrapers, food stall, malls and so much more.

There is a lot ground to cover and it’s a thing to familiarise yourself to ensure a smooth trip.

For the first guide, we covered things that you should know before coming to Malaysia, as general. Here, we are focussing on the capital itself; Kuala Lumpur.

Weather In Kuala Lumpur

Expect hot and humid throughout the years as Malaysia experience tropical climate and do expect occasional rainfall and the intensity may varies throughout the year.

Temperatures in KL can be say around 29°C - 35°C during the day and somewhere around 26°C - 29°C at night. It might be slightly decreased after heavy rain.

From March to April the western monsoon will hits the city directly, this means it will be bringing the most rain to the city. For settled weather, May to July is the best time to visit KL as the entire country goes through a dry spell, resulting in blue skies and steamy temperatures.

Getting Around KL – An Essential Guide

With city that compact, fast moving and busy, traffic jam are quite common. Issues that faced by majority city capital throughout the world. Fret not, KL have an extensive network of public transportation such as busses, light rail commuter trains, taxis. If that’s not enough we do have e-hailing services such as Grab or recently launched – Dego Ride. A motorcycle e-hailing services.

Taxis and busses during early morning rush hours between 7.30 am to 9.30 am is a BIG NO! Do avoid them during the evening around 5 pm towards 7.30 pm as well.

Transportation Guide

Kuala Lumpur have numerous options for transportation and getting around Malaysia’s capital is quite easy.

The options : Trains, Busses, Taxi

There are three rail systems that served from KL Sentral, the largest train station in South East Asia, and these three can take you to different part of Kuala Lumpur and it can go as far as Penang, Johor and even Thailand.

The RapidKL Light Raill Transit (RapidKL LRT) :

This public rail transport service runs two major routes; the Kelana Jaya LRT line and Ampang LRT line. Kelana Jaya line operates 27km between Kelana Jaya (17km from KL ) to Gombak (16km from KL).

The Ampang Line can be broken up into two destination; Sri Petaling in the South and Ampang, the eastern suburbs of the city.

The LRT operates from 6 am to 12 am and the frequency of the train roughly around 3 to 15 minutes per train. Fares start at RM1 for one stop.

KL Monorail :

Well, the KL Monorail is basically simple and well-connected train network that runs between Kuala Lumpur transportation hub (KL Sentral) and Titiwangsa. It’s a major intra – city line and served to 11 station with overall distance of 9km.

KL Monorail trains arrive once every five minutes during peak travelling hours and during off peak, the waiting time will take up to 12 minutes per train. The fares for monorail start at Rm1.20 for a stop and it uses token (blue plastic coin – like token).

 

KL MRT  :

Kuala Lumpur MRT SBK Line is a fully automatic public transit rail service that connect Kuala Lumpur to various neighbourhood running from Sungai Buloh to Kajang. It features 31 stations and covers 51km route.

Single journey start at RM1.20 onwards and the ticket can be purchased form the ticket vending machine that located at all MRT stations. The train start operating at 6 in the morning up till midnight (might be varies depending on the station).

 

KTM Commuter :

KTM Komuter is a commuter rail service brand in Malaysia operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM). It was introduced in 1995 to provide local rail services in Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding suburban areas in the Klang Valley and connected to 45 stations throughout Malaysia.

Not as conveniently available within the KL city centre, the KTM Komuter system caters more to the local residents of the city rather than tourists. However, it is does provide travellers with a much cheaper travel option to the beautiful Batu Caves (KL Sentral to Batu Caves cost around RM2 one-way).

4 major routes for KTM Komuter trains:

Batu Cave – Pulau Sebang

Tanjung Malim – Pelabuhan Klang

Padang Rengas – Bukit Mertajam

Butterworth – Padang Besar

---

Traveller Tips : If you are planning to use public transport for most of your travelling, it is recommended to go cashless and buy a Touch ‘n Go (TnG) card for around RM20 ($4.70 USD), which includes a RM10 ($2.35 USD) stored credit.

It allows user to pre-load it and credit will be deducted automatically as you tap in and out of trains or busses.

---

Go KL Free Bus Service

Go KL City Bus is a free bus services in Kuala Lumpur and it will takes you to the city popular district, attractions, malls, train stations and others.

It serves four main routes : Green, Purple, Blue and Red. Running daily at 5 minutes intervals (peak hour) and 15 minutes interval during off-peak.

The bus enable you to hop on and off at mote than 10 official Go KL City Bus stop on each route and normally it will be situated close to the city landmarks.

Green Line

The Green Line commutes between KLCC and Bukit Bintang, with stops near Suria KLCC, Pavilion KL, Sungei Wang Shopping Mall, and Grand Hyatt Hotel Kuala Lumpur.

Purple Line

The Purple Line take passengers from Bukit Bintang district to Chinatown and back, stopping at Menara KL Tower, Pudu Sentral Bus Terminal, and Pasar Seni LRT Train Station.

Red Line

If you want to travel to the city from KL Sentral, take the Red Line route which commutes towards Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, with Go KL City Bus stops available at Chow Kit, Muzium Negara, Tune Hotel, Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square), and Kuala Lumpur KTM Station.

Blue Line

Lastly, the Blue Line takes passengers from Medan Mara to Bukit Bintang, where they can get off at Concorde Hotel Kuala Lumpur, Starhill Gallery, KL Sogo, and Campbell Complex.

Operating hours from 6 am to 11 pm daily, 6 am to 1 am on Friday and Saturday and 7 am to 11 pm on Sunday.

 

KL Hop-On Hop-Off Bus

Besides the free busses, the is a tour busses that will take you to major sights in the city. The double-decker will be rounding through 22-stop route and the best part it provides 8 languages commentary.

It operates between 8.30 am to 8.30 pm and as the name suggests, you can get on and off as many times as you wish with a single ticket purchase.

We would suggest to begin the tour early in the morning and like all road traffic, you might be waiting longer in certain time period.

 

Taxi

Last resort of getting around in Kuala Lumpur is using taxis. Do take note that some of them will try to scam you, overcharge and such. They are technically required by law to uses the meter but some of them will try to name their price and not using the meter.

In general, red taxi is cheap and the blue one is a little bit expensive.

Travel Note : Do opt for e-hailing ride such as Grab and more. Or else, try walking. Some of the attraction is actually quite near from each other.

If you get confused, you may refer to this overall map of transportation in Kuala Lumpur; it will show which train is interconnected so on and so false.