---
title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Malaysia (City Guides) Wimup"
description: "Browse Wimup's Top 10 guides across Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and more cities, mapped and filmed. When to go, which coast is dry, and where to start."
url: https://wimup.com/country/malaysia
type: Country guide
updated: 2026-10-06
publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com)
---

# Top 10s across Malaysia

Malay, Chinese and Indian kitchens on the same street, rainforest a short drive from a glass skyline, and islands on both coasts. **Malaysia rewards travellers who slow down and eat.**

## Quick answer

Open in **Kuala Lumpur** for two or three days, then take the west coast north: **Penang** for the food, **Ipoh** for the shophouses and caves, **Langkawi** for a beach at the end. **Melaka** is the short southern detour for the trading-port streets. The **east coast** and its islands run on the opposite calendar, open roughly April to September. **Sabah and Sarawak** on Borneo are a flight away, and hold the rainforest and the diving. Pick the coast first, then the month.

## Quick facts

- **Best months:** Feb · Mar · Jun
- **Ideal length:** 10–14 days
- **Budget per day:** $45–110
- **Language:** Malay & English
- **Getting around:** Budget flights, the ETS train & Grab

- **2** City guides
- **34,200,000** People
- **1** Video guide

Kuala Lumpur is the obvious entry and deserves more than a stopover. Penang carries the food heritage, Melaka the trading-port history, and the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak carry the rainforest, all of it reached on a cheap domestic flight.

## 2 Malaysia city guides

1. [Kuala Lumpur](https://wimup.com/city/kuala-lumpur.md): Asia · 10 picks
2. [Penang](https://wimup.com/city/penang.md): Asia · 10 picks

## Know before you go

- **Population:** 34,200,000
- **Area:** 330,345 km²
- **Density:** 103.5 / km²
- **Capital:** Kuala Lumpur
- **Major cities:** Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, George Town, Ipoh, Kuching
- **Tourism board:** Official site
- **Currency:** Ringgit (RM) Cards work in cities, malls and hotels. Cash still runs the hawker centres and night markets, and the money changers in town beat the airport counters.
- **Language:** Malay, and English nearly everywhere Bahasa Malaysia is the national language and English is widely spoken in the cities. Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese and Tamil are first languages too, so a menu can come in three scripts.
- **Calling code:** +60
- **Power:** 240V · Type G
- **Emergency:** 999 One number reaches police, ambulance and the fire service.
- **Arrival card:** File the MDAC before you fly Nearly every visitor files the Malaysia Digital Arrival Card online in the three days before landing. It is not a visa, and the official portal is free. A site charging a fee is not it.
- **Visa:** Visa-free for many, up to 90 days Most Western passports get a social visit pass stamped on arrival, with no visa needed, and most ASEAN passports a shorter one. Check the Immigration Department's list. Passports need six months left.
- **Getting around:** Budget flights, the ETS train & Grab Domestic flights are cheap and quick, the ETS train runs up the west coast from Kuala Lumpur, and Grab is how you cross a city. Borneo is a flight, never a drive.
- **State immigration:** Passports out again for Borneo Sabah and Sarawak control their own immigration, so a domestic flight from the peninsula still puts you through a passport queue on arrival.
- **Tipping:** Not expected Restaurants that add a service charge print it on the bill alongside the government service tax, so anything on top is a choice. Hawker stalls take the price as marked.
- **Alcohol:** Taxed, and not sold everywhere Beer and spirits are expensive by regional standards and are not stocked by every shop or restaurant. Kelantan and Terengganu are the strictest states about it.
- **Haze:** A risk from July to September Land-clearing fires on Sumatra and Kalimantan send smoke over the west coast and western Sarawak in the driest months. The Air Pollutant Index is published hourly, station by station.
- **Water:** Bottled or filtered Tap water is treated but is not usually drunk straight. Guesthouses and hotels on the main routes keep refill points, which beats buying a bottle a day.
- **Weather:** Two monsoons, opposite coasts The northeast monsoon closes the east coast and its islands from November to March. The southwest monsoon is the west coast's wetter half, late May to September. No month is dry everywhere.

## When to visit

- **Jan** (good)
- **Feb** (best)
- **Mar** (best)
- **Apr** (good)
- **May** (good)
- **Jun** (best)
- **Jul** (good)
- **Aug**
- **Sep**
- **Oct**
- **Nov**
- **Dec** (peak)

## Fun fact

Malaysia elects its king. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong is chosen from among nine hereditary Malay rulers for a five-year term, a rotating monarchy no other country runs.

## Stereotypes, sorted out

- **Myth:** Malaysia is the stopover between Thailand and Singapore **Reality:** It is the length of both put together and holds two coasts, a highland interior and a third of Borneo. The stopover reading comes from the airport. Kuala Lumpur alone repays three days, and Penang repays more.
- **Myth:** It is just a cheaper Singapore **Reality:** Same strait, different country. Malaysia is federal, largely Malay and Muslim with big Chinese and Indian communities, and its cities still keep their shophouses. What travels between the two is the food, and even that is argued about.
- **Myth:** The food is Thai food with less chilli **Reality:** The pantry is Malay, Chinese and Indian at once, and the best of it sits where they cross. Nyonya cooking is Chinese technique with Malay aromatics, mamak stalls are Indian Muslim, and nasi lemak is the national breakfast of all three.
- **Myth:** Borneo is a side trip you can bolt on **Reality:** Sabah and Sarawak are around 60 per cent of the country's land, a flight from the peninsula, and they run their own immigration. Give them their own week or leave them for the next trip.
- **Myth:** There is a dry season **Reality:** There are two monsoons on opposite schedules. The northeast one closes the east coast islands from November to March while the west coast has its best weather, and the pattern reverses by mid-year. Pick the coast, then the month.
- **Myth:** It is strict, so cover up everywhere **Reality:** Malaysia is Muslim-majority and plural with it. Mosques lend robes at the door, Kelantan and Terengganu are conservative, and Kuala Lumpur, Penang and the Borneo states are not. Shoulders and knees at religious sites, ordinary clothes the rest of the time.

- Eat and pass with the right hand. The left is for other jobs, and at a Malay table it stays off the food.
- Shoes come off at homes, mosques and temples, and at plenty of small shops. Follow the pile at the door.
- Point with your thumb over a closed fist, not with an index finger. It reads as rude here.
- Mosques lend robes and headscarves at the entrance and are usually happy for visitors outside prayer times. Ask before photographing anyone praying.
- During Ramadan, eating in public in daylight is tolerated but kept low-key. The evening bazaars are the best street food of the year, so go at dusk.
- Halal and non-halal kitchens are kept apart. Do not carry outside pork or alcohol into a Malay restaurant, and do not offer either without asking.
- Race and religion are live political subjects, not small talk. Listen further than you argue.
- Manglish is its own language, and "can lah" means yes. Answering in kind is taken well.

## Famous Malaysian faces

- **Michelle Yeoh**: The first Asian woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, in 2023
- **Lee Chong Wei**: Badminton's longest-reigning number one, and three times an Olympic silver medallist
- **Nicol David**: Squash world number one for 108 consecutive months, and an eight-time world champion
- **Jimmy Choo**: Penang-born shoemaker whose name became a London luxury label
- **Tunku Abdul Rahman**: First prime minister, who read the independence proclamation in 1957
- **P. Ramlee**: Actor, director and composer, and the defining figure of Malay cinema's golden age
- **Yuna**: Singer-songwriter whose R&B records took Malaysian pop to an American label
- **Lat**: Cartoonist behind The Kampung Boy, the childhood every Malaysian recognises
- **Parameswara**: Founded Melaka around 1400, and with it the sultanate that ran the strait
- **Yap Ah Loy**: Third Kapitan Cina of Kuala Lumpur, who rebuilt the tin town into the country's centre
- **Mahathir Mohamad**: Prime minister for 22 years from 1981, and again in his nineties
- **Yasmin Ahmad**: Director of Sepet and Mukhsin, and of the holiday films a generation grew up on
- **James Wan**: Kuching-born director behind Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring
- **Tan Chui Mui**: Malaysian New Wave director whose Love Conquers All took the Tiger Award at Rotterdam
- **Siti Nurhaliza**: The defining voice of Malay pop since the mid-1990s
- **Sheila Majid**: Jazz-inflected singer whose 1980s records carried Malaysian pop across the region
- **Zee Avi**: Sarawak-born songwriter whose home recordings took her from YouTube to a US label
- **Pandelela Rinong**: Diver, and the first Malaysian woman to win an Olympic medal, at London 2012
- **Azizulhasni Awang**: Track cyclist, keirin world champion in 2017 and an Olympic medallist twice over
- **Lee Zii Jia**: Badminton player who took the All England title in 2021
- **Zang Toi**: Kelantan-born designer who has shown on the New York runway since 1989
- **Chef Wan**: Television cook, and the loudest ambassador Malaysian food has abroad
- **Tash Aw**: Novelist whose The Harmony Silk Factory won the Whitbread award for a first novel
- **Tan Twan Eng**: Novelist shortlisted for the Booker for The Garden of Evening Mists
- **Tony Fernandes**: Took over a two-plane AirAsia in 2001 and built the region's biggest budget airline
- **Robert Kuok**: The sugar trader who founded the Shangri-La hotel group
- **Mazlan Othman**: Astrophysicist, founding head of the national space agency and twice director of UNOOSA

## Must-try Malaysian food

- **Nasi lemak**: Coconut rice with sambal, anchovies, peanuts and egg. Breakfast, and the national dish.
- **Rendang**: Beef cooked down in coconut milk and spice paste until the sauce turns dark and dry.
- **Satay**: Skewers grilled over coals, dipped in peanut sauce, eaten with rice cakes and raw onion.
- **Roti canai**: Flaky flatbread slapped into shape at a mamak stall, torn and dipped into dhal or curry.
- **Nasi kandar**: Penang rice under several curries at once, their gravies poured over each other.
- **Hainanese chicken rice**: Poached chicken, rice cooked in its stock, and a chilli-ginger sauce that does the work.
- **Bak kut teh**: Pork ribs simmered in herbs and garlic. A Klang breakfast, with dough sticks and tea.
- **Char kway teow**: Flat rice noodles seared with prawns, egg and cockles over a fierce flame.
- **Asam laksa**: Penang's sour fish broth, sharp with tamarind, with mint, pineapple and shrimp paste.
- **Curry laksa**: The coconut version, richer and milder, with tofu puffs that soak up the soup.
- **Hokkien mee**: In Kuala Lumpur it means thick noodles braised black in dark soy with pork crackling.
- **Wan tan mee**: Springy egg noodles tossed in dark sauce, with dumplings and barbecued pork on top.
- **Mee goreng mamak**: Yellow noodles fried hard with tomato, chilli and potato at an Indian Muslim stall.
- **Murtabak**: Roti stuffed with minced meat, egg and onion, folded into a square and griddled.
- **Otak-otak**: Fish paste and spice steamed or grilled inside banana leaf, sold in bundles.
- **Rojak**: Fruit and fritters tossed in a black shrimp-paste dressing, savoury and sweet at once.
- **Nasi kerabu**: Kelantan's blue rice, coloured by butterfly pea flowers, with herbs, crackers and sambal.
- **Pisang goreng**: Bananas in batter, fried at a roadside stall and eaten from the paper they come in.
- **Cendol**: Shaved ice, coconut milk and palm sugar over green rice-flour worms and red beans.
- **Ais kacang**: A shaved-ice mountain over sweetcorn, jelly and beans, poured with syrup and milk.
- **Apam balik**: A thick pancake folded over crushed peanuts, sugar and sweetcorn, crisp at the edge.
- **Nyonya kuih**: The Peranakan sweet counter: coconut, pandan and glutinous rice in a dozen colours.
- **Teh tarik**: Condensed-milk tea pulled between two jugs until it froths. The pour is the point.
- **Kopi O**: Black coffee from beans roasted with sugar and margarine, thick and bittersweet.
- **Sirap bandung**: Rose syrup and evaporated milk over ice, bright pink and sweeter than it looks.

## By theme

- [Most visited](https://wimup.com/most-visited.md)
- [Scuba diving](https://wimup.com/scuba-diving.md)
- [Wildlife & safari](https://wimup.com/wildlife.md)

## Films

- [Best of Kuala Lumpur](https://wimup.com/watch/kuala-lumpur.md), 12:56

## FAQs

### How many days do you need in Malaysia?

Ten to fourteen for the peninsula and one region past it. Three days in Kuala Lumpur, three in Penang, and the rest split between Melaka, Ipoh or the Cameron Highlands. Add four or five if you are flying to Borneo, because Sabah and Sarawak do not compress.

### When is the best time to visit Malaysia?

It depends which coast. The west coast, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Langkawi included, is driest from December to March. The east coast and its islands run the opposite calendar and are open roughly April to September, closed by the northeast monsoon the rest of the year. February, March and June suit a trip that wants both.

### Do you need a visa for Malaysia?

Most Western passports do not: you get a social visit pass on arrival, up to 90 days. What nearly everyone does need is the Malaysia Digital Arrival Card, filed free on the Immigration Department portal in the three days before landing. It is not a visa and does not replace one.

### Can you travel Malaysia without speaking Malay?

Yes. English is widely spoken in the cities, on transport and in almost every hotel, and signage is bilingual. It thins out in rural Kelantan and Terengganu and in the interior of Borneo, where a few words of Malay start earning their keep.

### Peninsular Malaysia or Borneo?

The peninsula on a first trip: the cities, the food and the transport are all there, and the distances are short. Borneo is the second trip, or the second week. It holds the rainforest, Mount Kinabalu and the diving off Sipadan, and each of those is a flight and several days away.

## Related countries

- [Japan](https://wimup.com/country/japan.md)
- [India](https://wimup.com/country/india.md)
- [All of Asia](https://wimup.com/asia)

Part of [Asia](https://wimup.com/asia.md)

## Sources

- [Tourism board](https://www.malaysia.travel/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Arrival card](https://imigresen-online.imi.gov.my/mdac/main?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Visa](https://www.imi.gov.my/index.php/en/main-services/visa/visa-requirement-by-country/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Haze](https://apims.doe.gov.my/public_v2/api_table.html?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.