Explore Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia's dazzling capital pairs the iconic Petronas Twin Towers with a street-food scene that draws pilgrims from across the globe. The historic Merdeka Square and Chinatown's Petaling Street offer a window into the city's layered colonial and immigrant past, while Batu Caves looms just north of the city.

George Town

The capital of Penang is one of Southeast Asia's most compelling colonial cities, its UNESCO-listed inner core packed with shophouses, clan jetties, and some of the region's finest street food. Char kway teow, asam laksa, and cendol are eaten standing at zinc-roofed hawker stalls that have barely changed in a century.

Kota Kinabalu

Gateway to Sabah and the imposing granite summit of Mount Kinabalu, this coastal city blends a raucous night market with spectacular sunsets over offshore islands. Day trips reach world-class dive sites at Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, while the city centre is compact and easy to navigate on foot.

Malacca City

One of the great historic port cities of maritime Southeast Asia, Malacca was successively ruled by Malay sultans, Portuguese conquistadors, Dutch merchants, and British colonists — all of whom left architectural fingerprints in the UNESCO World Heritage core. The Jonker Street night market draws crowds every Friday and Saturday evening.

Langkawi

This duty-free archipelago of 99 islands off the Kedah coast is Malaysia's premier beach destination, with calm Andaman seas, mangrove kayaking, and a spectacular cable car ride to the ridge of Gunung Mat Cincang. Pantai Cenang and Pantai Tengah offer white sand and affordable beach resorts.

Kuching

The sophisticated capital of Sarawak sits along the Sarawak River and serves as the base for exploring the vast rainforests of Malaysian Borneo, including the orangutan sanctuary at Semenggoh and the epic cave systems of Mulu. The city's waterfront promenade, vibrant food scene, and cat-themed monuments make it one of Borneo's most likeable cities.

Penang

The island of Penang — really Pulau Pinang — wraps George Town's urban intensity with beaches on the north coast at Batu Ferringhi and a forested interior reached by the Penang Hill funicular. It's consistently ranked among Asia's top food destinations, with a hawker culture that is simultaneously Malay, Chinese, and Indian.

Ipoh

Perak's quietly cool capital has reinvented itself as a weekend escape, its crumbling colonial streetscapes now lined with artisan coffee shops, street-art murals, and the freshest bean sprouts in Malaysia. The surrounding limestone karst hides ancient Hindu temples and the dramatic Sam Poh Tong cave temple complex.

Sandakan

Perched on the northeast coast of Sabah, Sandakan is the jumping-off point for the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre and the rainforest lodges along the Kinabatangan River, where proboscis monkeys and pygmy elephants congregate at the water's edge. The town's WWII history and Agnes Keith House add historical weight to a wildlife-focused visit.

Cameron Highlands

Malaysia's most famous hill station sits at 1,500 metres above sea level in Pahang, its cool mists rolling over vast tea plantations and strawberry farms. Boh Tea Estate's cliff-edge teahouse is one of the most scenic cafés in the country, and the mossy forest trails offer a vivid contrast to the coastal lowlands.

Miri

Sarawak's oil-boom second city is the practical gateway to Gunung Mulu National Park, home to the world's largest cave chamber and the razor-sharp Pinnacles limestone formations. Miri also rewards those who linger, with excellent seafood, the Niah Caves day trip, and access to Loagan Bunut National Park.

Johor Bahru

Across the causeway from Singapore, Malaysia's second-largest city draws day-trippers for its cheaper food, Legoland, and sprawling malls. But Johor Bahru has a quieter historic quarter worth exploring — the Sultan Abu Bakar Mosque and the Royal Abu Bakar Museum offer genuine insight into the Johor Sultanate's 19th-century grandeur.

Semporna

This small fishing town on Sabah's Sulawesi Sea coast is the departure point for Sipadan Island, consistently ranked among the world's top dive sites for its turtle-laden drop-offs and tornado barracuda schools. The surrounding Tun Sakaran Marine Park encompasses pristine reefs and stilted sea-nomad villages.

Mersing

A sleepy fishing port on Johor's east coast, Mersing is the ferry gateway to the Tioman Island archipelago and the lesser-visited islands of the Johor Marine Park. Its main street is busiest at dawn when the market fills with fresh catch, but travellers rarely stay more than one night before heading to sea.

Putrajaya

Malaysia's planned federal administrative capital was built from scratch in the 1990s on oil-palm plantations south of Kuala Lumpur, and its grandiose government buildings, pink-domed Putra Mosque, and vast man-made lake give it the feel of a capital city out of time. It's quiet on weekends but spectacular when illuminated at night.

Alor Setar

The royal capital of Kedah is one of peninsula Malaysia's most underrated cities, with the octagonal Balai Besar audience hall, the Zahir Mosque — among the country's oldest and most beautiful — and a rice-field landscape that stretches to the Thai border. It makes a good base for visiting the Bujang Valley early medieval temples.

Kota Bharu

The capital of Kelantan sits hard against the Thai border and is one of the most culturally conservative cities in Malaysia, which makes it one of the most fascinating. Pasar Siti Khadijah, the women-run central market, is a riot of batik, fresh produce, and traditional snacks served in a tiered colonial building.

Taman Negara

One of the world's oldest rainforests — estimates reach 130 million years — Taman Negara National Park spans three states in peninsular Malaysia and protects Malayan tigers, sun bears, and an extraordinary canopy walkway above the forest floor. Guided river trips and overnight jungle treks remain the most rewarding way to experience its scale.

Inscribed in 2000, this Sarawak park contains the world's largest cave chamber — Sarawak Chamber — as well as the Deer Cave, home to millions of bats that spiral out each evening in a dark ribbon against the fading sky. The park's jagged Pinnacles limestone formations and multi-day cave expeditions draw serious adventurers from around the world.

Inscribed in 2000, Kinabalu Park in Sabah protects the highest peak in Southeast Asia at 4,095 metres and an extraordinary concentration of plant life — including over 1,000 orchid species — that earned it the nickname 'the world's supermarket of plants.' The two-day summit climb via the Via Ferrata route is one of the region's great physical achievements.

Inscribed together in 2008, these twin historic ports represent the multicultural trading heritage of the Straits of Malacca, where Malay, Chinese, Indian, and European influences fused over five centuries of commerce. Malacca's Portuguese and Dutch fortifications and George Town's extraordinary shophouse culture make each city a living architectural museum.

Inscribed in 2012 in Perak, this cluster of archaeological sites in the Lenggong Valley documents 1.83 million years of human habitation — among the longest records anywhere in the world — including the Perak Man skeleton, the most complete prehistoric human found in Southeast Asia. The sites are protected within a chain of limestone hills riddled with ancient caves.

Inscribed in 2024, the Niah Caves in Sarawak contain one of the most significant archaeological sequences in Southeast Asia, with evidence of human occupation dating back 40,000 years including cave paintings, trade ceramics, and ancient burials. The Great Cave is one of the largest cave chambers in the world and remains home to millions of swiftlets and bats.

Inscribed in 2024, the FRIM Forest Reserve in Selangor on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur is an exceptional example of scientific forest management and ecological restoration, where logged land was transformed over a century into a rich secondary forest that now serves as a living laboratory for tropical forest research. Its canopy walkway and arboretum are open to the public.