Kuala Lumpur
Where to lay your head
Where to lay your head
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If you’re wondering where to stay in Kuala Lumpur, here is our pick of the best places to stay—read on also for our comparison of the key areas along with an overview of the best time to visit Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur has an amazing range of places to stay, from back to basic dorm rooms right through to quite comfortable modern hotels, spread across a few main... Read our full review of Where to stay in Kuala Lumpur.
Bukit Bintang has long been KL’s primary entertainment centre, making it a popular place for visitors to stay. This is a good choice if you want to be near the malls and with easy access to KL’s public transport but for sightseeing, pack your walking shoes.
Established in 2015, KL Journal was still pretty and shiny when we stayed here in late 2017, and the room, with a super-central location and terrific views, made it an excellent value choice in Kuala Lumpur. Set just off the very busy thoroughfare Jalan Sultan Ismail, KL Journal boasts spacious modern rooms with floor to ceiling glass windows offering excellent views over the surrounds. While... Read our full review of KL Journal.
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Paper Plane Hostel is an outstanding choice for the backpacker happy to pay a little more money for far higher standards with a friendly vibe thrown in for free. The hostel is set on a cool little backstreet just a ten minute walk from the boisterous Jalan Alor and delivers spacious and immaculate dorms along with a huddle of private rooms, all housed in a renovated shopfront... Read our full review of Paper Plane Hostel.
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You can’t miss the bright yellow walls at the end of Jalan Rembia and once you manage to get through the front gate you’ll find Amethyst Love Guesthouse to be a welcoming and quite comfortable place to stay. We stayed here years ago when the property was operated under a different name, but it changed hands and reopened in mid 2017, now run by an energetic and very eager to please woman... Read our full review of Amethyst Love Guesthouse.
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We’re generally a bit dubious of hotels deciding they are boutique properties, but in the case of Anggun Boutique Hotel, they’ve probably got it right. Anggun is set towards the southern end of Tengkat Tong Shin and offers a selection of standard and superior rooms set back off the street and family rooms and suites with street frontage. The (extensively renovated and expanded) original... Read our full review of Anggun Boutique Hotel .
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Set above a restaurant, it would be fair to say that Orange Pekoe Guesthouse doesn’t really look like much from the street, but sticking to the don’t judge a book by its covers theme, the rooms here are both spacious and good value. Curiously named (according to Wikipedia, orange pekoe is a term used to describe a particular type of tea) the small hotel is located on the back streets of... Read our full review of Orange Pekoe Guesthouse.
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Long-running Rainforest Bed and Breakfast offers affordable, compact and clean rooms in a very central location which will appeal to nightowls wanting to make the most of Bukit Bintang’s nightlife. With its stepped facade, antique wooden doors and trees out front, the property does feel somewhat exotic and rainforesty, but come the evening the imagined sounds of the jungle are more likely... Read our full review of Rainforest Bed & Breakfast .
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Apparently open just a month when we stayed here in late 2017, The Icon shows considerable promise for those looking for a cheap bunk and a friendly atmosphere. Set on Jalan Pudu Lama (a back land that runs roughly parallel to Jalan Pudu), the Icon Hostel has a bit of a out of the ways location, which would have been handy when Pudu Sentral was still operating (note the dozen other... Read our full review of The Icon Hostel.
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Having your entrance wedged between a decidedly dodgy massage joint and a Starbucks isn't the most heartening of approaches, but, for the budget traveller Travelogue Guest House is solid value. Before anything else, we need to cover the location. The guesthouse is spitting distance to both Bukit Bintang monorail and LRT stations, three minutes to Pavilion Mall and three minutes to Jalan... Read our full review of Travelogue Guest House.
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Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown, along with nearby Pudu, has long been the city’s hub for budget accommodation but the scene is slowly edging upmarket. On the streets of Chinatown, along with Little India just to the north, you’ll find some of KL’s yummiest eating (and, at least in Chinatown, affordable boozing).
Set in a completely renovated shopfront, hidden behind a small but charming cafe, Tian Jing Hotel offers some excellent rooms in a seductive and private setting. According to their website, Tian Jing is derived from a Chinese phrase which means “air well” and the architect has done well to double down on that idea, finding innovative ways to bring light into the property. We liked here... Read our full review of Tian Jing Hotel.
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Set in an apparently 90+ year old classic building, the mustard yellow Grocer’s Inn wows from the outside but the rooms don’t really follow through. Stay here for the open balcony space and classic building—not the rooms. The day we walked in reception was staffed by a gruff but not rude guy and a very friendly chatty woman and they effectively mirrored the property. The rooms here... Read our full review of Grocer’s Inn.
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It is hard to get much more smack-bang central in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown than by staying at the surprisingly smart, flashpacker focussed Lantern Hotel. Located right at the junction of Jalan Petaling and Jalan Hang Lekir the hotel’s unusually styled facade overlooks the epicentre of the Pelating Street Madhouse Market. We say the hotel’s facade overlooks it rather than the rooms... Read our full review of Lantern Hotel.
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We wanted to love Mingle, we really did. It came highly recommended from a reliable friend, but we just didn’t love it. At all. Maybe you will. Normally when we hit a place we don’t like we don’t list it, but in the case of Mingle, it came super-highly recommended and the reviews are resoundingly positive, so we felt we just got it on a bad day, and should still include it in our wrap... Read our full review of Mingle Hostel.
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Kuala Lumpur has two “Little India” districts and this one, immediately north of Chinatown, has by far the better selection of budget to mid-range accommodation when compared to Brickfields (the second “Little India”) over near KL Sentral. The South Asian eating here is outstanding, but, with a couple of exceptions if you want a drink or three, the ten minute walk south to Chinatown is a good call.
With a terrific location, solid rooms, an excellent selection of top floor dorms, a roof top lounge area and extremely friendly and helpful staff, 1,000 Miles Hotel pretty much ticks all the boxes and is one of our favourite places to stay in Kuala Lumpur. Most of the hotel is given over to private rooms with a mix of standard and superior rooms, some with-, some without windows, but all with... Read our full review of 1,000 Miles Hotel.
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As spacious as it is popular, BackHome ticks a lot of boxes, but the beds could do with a revamp to make it truly of of Kuala Lumpur’s best hostels. We had our final night in KL here and there is a lot to love about BackHome. It is a large space with plenty of wide open areas and room to hang out in—buttressed by a large common area atrium shared with the neighbouring LOKL coffee shop... Read our full review of BackHome.
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There is something about hitting a hotel at that perfect sweet spot and Ahyu Hotel had been open less than six months when we stayed here in late 2017 and we loved it. Set along Leboh Ampang, our third floor room looked out over the street and during the day we’d turn the air-con off and open the two glass windows to let the sounds of the South Asian district flood in—as would the ringing... Read our full review of Ahyu Hotel.
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Running along the west side of Bukit Nanas and filling an area between Little India to the south and Kampung Baru to the north, this area has a good and luxurious spot to stay along with some excellent eating. Public transport is a bit of a hike, but is a good way to work off all those noodles.
Arguably there is no more striking hotel in Kuala Lumpur than the red-brick-faced 184 room Hotel Stripes which opened in February 2017, and while it isn’t the most centrally located hotel, cracking online deals make it well worth investigating. It is always great visiting a hotel this new (it was less than a year old when we visited)—the carpets are still bouncy, there isn’t a mark on... Read our full review of Hotel Stripes.
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Set to the southeast of Kuala Lumpur’s city centre, Bangsar is best known for its cluster of restaurants and bars in Bangsar Village, but it is also home to an interesting place to stay which will appeal to those looking for something a little different to your typical KL digs.
One of a series of properties dotted around Kuala Lumpur (and Ipoh and Penang), Sekeping Tenggiri is a seven room property with a shared swimming pool located in the back blocks of Bangsar—if you’re looking for a hideaway, start here. The work of Malaysian landscape architect Ng Sek San, the house is a series of ground floor and upper floor rooms collected around a small (seven by three... Read our full review of Sekeping Tenggiri.
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