My 2-week Malaysia itinerary was epic — and full of hidden gems

I went to Malaysia in April 2024. And I was shocked at how much I loved it. 

Like many other backpackers in Southeast Asia, I was planning on spending the bulk of my travels in Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam. As much as it pains me to admit this, Malaysia was an afterthought, a stop on the road to its more famous neighbors. I couldn’t have been more wrong. 

Although I had initially planned just 1 week in Malaysia, my partner and I ended up doubling our time and staying for 2 weeks. We opted only to visit the Malay peninsula, not the island of Borneo. 

We explored the world-class city of Kuala Lumpur, went hiking and visited small farms in the Cameron Highlands, and fell in love with the coastal, artsy, town of Georgetown. 

Malaysia has so much more than people give it credit for. It feels like much of the country is full of hidden gems. There was so much to do, and I’m so glad I extended my trip there! 

My Malaysia Itinerary 

We started with 5 days in Kuala Lumpur, the capital.  

✅ Pros: Fantastic blend of cultures, amazing museums, great street food, buzzing cafe culture, trendy micro-neighborhoods, easy public transportation, not overwhelmingly touristy, very safe.

😕 Cons: Prostitution or sex tourism was apparent in some parts of downtown, particularly as part of the nightlife. We just avoided that area.  

✨ Highlights: Sky Tower, Batu Caves, National Museum of Malaysia, Bukit Bintang, Islamic Art Museum, National Mosque, rooftop bars, street food, Taman Paramount neighborhood.

Kuala Lumpur is a world-class city. But for some reason, everyone I met while traveling told me to only spend 1-2 days there. They could not have been more wrong. 

Kuala Lumpur is filled with skyscrapers, fancy hotels with rooftop pools, colorful temples and mosques, and a great public transportation system. English is widely spoken. It’s very tourist-friendly. 

I liked Kuala Lumpur almost immediately. It was so nice to be back in a big city, with big city amenities after several weeks backpacking around rural areas in Indonesia. It soon became very clear that the city held so much more than we were expecting, so we extended our stay to 5 days. 

Kuala Lumpur is endlessly fascinating. The city is equal parts Malay, Chinese, and Indian, with aspects of each ethnic population combined to create a unique cultural melting pot. 

This mix of cultures made our time in Kuala Lumpur so interesting. I feel like I got to experience 3 distinct cultures in one city. 

We explored the Batu Caves — huge limestone caves on the outskirts of the city with colorful Hindu temples built into the rock walls. We visited the National Mosque and the Islamic Art Museum, which houses the largest collection of Islamic Art in Southeast Asia. And we ate many of our meals in Chinatown, where I had some of the best street food I’ve ever tasted. 

One of the most interesting parts of Kuala Lumpur is the mix of old and new. KL has quickly developed, thanks in large part to wealth generated by the oil, gas, and finance sectors. But some parts of the city have resisted the temptation to grow upward. 

While popular skyscrapers like the Merdeka 118, Petronas Twin Towers, and Sky Tower dominate KL’s skyline, I loved exploring the hidden gem neighborhoods even more. 

One of my favorite things we did in KL was take a local tour of the Kampung Baru neighborhood, which is an old ethnic Malay enclave tucked away in the middle of all the skyscrapers. 

Next to high-rise condos and multi-story malls, Kampung Baru has managed to keep its small-town charm. Kids bike around small streets, free from the downtown traffic. Wild banana and mango trees grow outside old houses that have been there for generations. It’s a great place to get a glimpse of what KL was like before the rapid development. 

Later, we hopped onto a train to venture 20 minutes outside of downtown to the up-and-coming neighborhood of Taman Paramount. 

There, we found tons of vintage stores, trendy coffee shops, and local art boutiques. It seemed like it was where the cool young 20-somethings living in KL hung out. We ate lunch at a great bar called Monster and Beer, which served up craft beer from microbreweries around the world. This was one of my favorite bars I’ve ever been to.

Of course, we loved exploring the more luxurious side of KL too. We ventured to the top of the Sky Tower, where we were met with spectacular views over the entire city. Later, we got drinks at one of the many rooftop bars downtown. It was the perfect place to enjoy a warm Malaysian evening while watching the sunset over the city. 

Between the diversity of cultures and diversity in neighborhoods, Kuala Lumpur was one of the most fascinating cities I’ve ever been in. 

Then, we went to the Cameron Highlands for a mountainous escape. 

✅ Pros: Gorgeous natural landscape, small mountain town, lots of accommodation options, great tours and activities, cool-weather climate.

😕 Cons: Need to hire a car or book a tour to visit everywhere. No public transportation, and you can’t walk to different attractions because they’re a 10-15 minute drive from town. 

✨ Highlights: Tea plantation tour, strawberry farm, flower park, hiking in the Mossy Forest.

The Cameron Highlands are in the mountainous interior of Malaysia, about a 4-5 hour bus ride north of Kuala Lumpur. It’s a region known for its agricultural sector, responsible for producing a lot of the country’s fruits, vegetables, and tea. 

Tanah Rata is the main tourist town in the highlands. We stayed in a hostel here for 3 days and loved it! 

A lot of the tourist activities in the Cameron Highlands revolve around the agricultural industry. There are about 20-30 small farms throughout the region offering tours. You can go berry picking, visit a butterfly farm, taste local tea, or walk through huge lavender fields. 

We visited a strawberry farm, a flower park, and a tea plantation. 

At the strawberry farm, we got to pick a box of our own berries to take home. There were also tons of cute strawberry-themed merchandise! I was very close to buying a little strawberry-shaped travel pillow. 

Afterward, we went to Flora Park, a huge flower farm filled with over 50 different species of bright, beautiful flowers. It’s on top of a hill, so it gave us incredible views over the Highlands. It was the perfect place to take photos! 

These farms do cost money to enter, but it’s only about $5-10 per person. The more expensive cost is getting to the farms. 

Most of the farms are within a 30-minute drive of Tanah Rata. You can’t walk or hike there because the farms are located along a narrow, winding highway. The only way to visit the main attractions in the Cameron Highlands is by booking a group tour or hiring a private car. 

We hired a private car to take us to the strawberry farm and then to Flora Park. It was about $60 USD for a half-day. 

The next day, we booked a tour to visit a tea plantation high up in the mountains. This was about an hour’s drive from Tanah Rata. The Cameron Highlands is specifically known for producing tea, so booking a tea plantation tour is a very popular activity. 

The tea fields are beautiful — endlessly undulating bright green hills filled with small trees, with workers moving between rows to harvest the tea leaves. We also got to visit a tea factory and learn how the raw leaves are processed into the kind of tea we see at the store. 

And of course, we got to drink lots of tea. We ate lunch in a tea-tasting room with beautiful views over the hills. 

I’m glad we booked a tour instead of trying to visit the tea plantation on our own, but I would reconsider it in the future. 

Our guide taught us a lot about the current issues in Malaysia’s tea industry. Many of the laborers working in the tea fields are migrant workers from nearby South Asian countries like Indonesia, Bangladesh, or Nepal. They are often exploited, earning extremely low wages, and forced to work long hours. 

I’m glad I learned this, but it has made me question if my money is best spent supporting this industry. Ideally, a portion of the money we spent on a tour like this would be redistributed to the workers to better support their livelihoods, not just the owners of the tour company. 

Afterward, we headed to the coastal city of Georgetown. 

✅ Pros: Incredible street art, super walkable, great restaurants and street food, gorgeous beaches, super interesting museums, very safe and tourist-friendly.

😕 Cons: Even though it’s coastal, you need a car to get to swimmable beaches.

✨ Highlights: Street art, Esplanade, Chinese ancestral temples, colorful colonial architecture, street food, cafes & restaurants.

Georgetown is a popular city located on the island of Penang, less than a mile off Malaysia’s west coast. Although it’s technically on an island, there is a bridge connecting it to the mainland, so you can drive or bus right there. 

Georgetown is a UNESCO World Heritage City — and as soon as we got there, we understood why. 

Colorful mosques sit next to classic colonial architecture. Winding cobblestone alleyways come alive with inventive street art — everything from detailed murals to political cartoons to playful sculptures dangling in mid-air. 

Although there are a few different places to stay in Georgetown, we opted to stay in the confines of the Old Town. This is where most of Georgetown’s main attractions and budget-friendly hostels are. 

Our hostel gave us a map that led us on a self-guided walking tour of Georgetown’s popular attractions and street art. This was the perfect way to experience the city. We spent most of our time walking around and taking in all the sights. 

Again, Malaysia’s blend of cultures was on full display. We visited elaborately built Chinese temples and colorful mosques. We ate incredible street food: curries, various roasted meats, fresh fruit smoothies, stir-fried noodles, and more. We even ate at an upscale steakhouse serving Australian wagyu beef. 

I could have happily spent more time in Georgetown. I loved the small-town feel, the colorful art everywhere, and the walkability of the whole city. 

And really, there’s just so much to do in Georgetown. We didn’t even make it out of the main city to any of the surrounding beaches, jungle, or other fascinating nearby day trips. 

I think 3 days in Georgetown was enough to see the main sights, but I would rather spend a week (or more) there to explore all the hidden gems of this incredible town. 

But we had places to be. 

Then, we flew to the island of Langkawi for a very short visit. 

✅ Pros: Beautiful views over the island, lots of hiking opportunities, great beaches, lots of resorts.

😕 Cons: We didn’t stay in the best area and felt miles away from things to do. You definitely need a car or motorbike to get around. 

Langkawi is one of Malaysia’s most popular islands. It’s a very short and cheap flight from Georgetown. It’s also a great jumping-off point for venturing north to some of the Thai islands, which is what we did. 

I’ll be the first to admit that we didn’t give Langkawi a good enough chance. We were only there for one day because we were boating from Langkawi to Koh Lipe, a nearby Thai island. So we ended up staying close to the ferry terminal because our priority was catching the ferry early in the morning. 

I would go back to Langkawi, but I would not stay in the area we were in, which was called Kuala Teriang. Our hostel was nice and we felt very safe, but… there didn’t seem to be much to do. Restaurants were few and far between, and we couldn’t access any public beaches. We walked around for hours and barely saw anyone else, which felt really strange. 

Langkawi came highly recommended to us by other backpackers, so I think that we were just in the wrong area. And we only had 24 hours there, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. 

The highlight of Langkawi was finally finding an open restaurant, chowing down on $5 noodles, and watching this incredible Hindi soap opera on the restaurant’s TV. I couldn’t understand a word of what they were saying, but man was it entertaining. 

Tips for Traveling Around Malaysia 

Transportation is mostly by bus

Malaysia’s most affordable form of regional transportation is the bus. Most of the time it’s very easy to navigate, but we made a crucial mistake on our first bus trip in Malaysia. 

When taking the bus from Kuala Lumpur, you have to get there early. Pretend like you’re preparing for a flight! Even though we bought our tickets online, there’s this bizarre system where you still have to stand in line to collect a physical copy of your ticket. You can’t just use the E-reservation. We stood in line for so long that we ended up missing our bus. 

In much smaller bus stations, you can rock up to the bus station 15 minutes in advance and be totally fine. Not Kuala Lumpur. Get there at least an hour in advance. 

Try foods from all 3 major cultures

Malaysia’s cuisine is fantastic — and varied. You can find a wide variety of Western food here, but I’d recommend dining on one of the local delicacies. Chinese, Indian, and Malay food is served at restaurants, cafes, and street stalls. 

Coming from the very diverse San Francisco Bay Area, I feel like I’ve been blessed with authentic Indian and Chinese food my whole life. But still, the Indian food I had in Malaysia was the best I’ve ever had. 

Take a tour with a local guide

I wanted to get a more local perspective of Kuala Lumpur, so I booked this tour of Kampung Baru with a Malay guide named Fuad. 

This tour ended up being one of my favorite things I did on my trip to Malaysia! Fuad showed us all around his neighborhood of Kampung Baru, the last ethnic Malay neighborhood in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. 

On our walking tour, we got to talk to Fuad about the history of Kuala Lumpur, what his life has been like living there, and how he’s seen the neighborhood change. Afterward, he welcomed us into his home, where we met his wife and daughter, and they cooked us a wonderful dinner that we shared together. 

They were incredibly kind and generous hosts — I can’t recommend a tour with them enough! 

Expect crowds at certain sites

The only place that I remember distinctly not loving in Malaysia was the Batu Caves. Yes, it was beautiful… but it was also incredibly crowded and busy. On top of that, the crowd seemed to be predominantly men. Multiple groups of men tried to take pictures of us, touch us, or follow us as we walked around. 

I understand that as a white female tourist, I stand out in certain places. That’s fine! But I was honestly uncomfortable with the amount of touching and photo-taking that happened here. 

Had I known to expect this, I would have tried to go at a less busy time, like early in the morning, to avoid the crowds. 

Exercise caution as an LGBTQ+ traveler

Being gay or trans is illegal in Malaysia. While I’m sad that this is the case, I also was cognizant that I’m a guest in another country and therefore should be respectful of cultural norms. 

As a gay tourist traveling with my partner, I was hyper-vigilant of any public displays of affection while we were out and about. We did not hold hands or touch, and if anyone asked about our relationship with each other, we answered that we were just friends. 

Overall, I felt safe traveling around Malaysia, and no one suspected that my female partner and I were anything other than good friends. Plus, there were no circumstances where our sexuality would come up in conversation. Exercise a reasonable amount of caution, and it should be relatively fine. 

***

I had such a fun time traveling in Malaysia — it thoroughly exceeded my expectations! 2 weeks was a perfect amount of time to spend there, but I could have spent 3-4 weeks and still found plenty to do. 

However, I do wish I had gone to Malaysian Borneo. I’ve heard this part of the country is supposed to be incredibly beautiful, full of natural wonders and wildlife. Something to add to the bucket list for next time! 

Have you been to any of these places in Malaysia? Let me know in the comments! Up next, check out my piece on the beautiful (and surprisingly affordable) Yasawa Islands in Fiji!