Kuala Lumpur with dc

[LyricalGangster]

We're going there for our summer holiday (found cheap flights on skyscanner and got slightly carried away by booking them immediately)

But..... I know nothing about Kuala Lumpur or the rest of Malaysia so any advice is gratefully received!

I'm not sure whether to stay in a hotel or apartment (quite like the idea of having my own kitchen). Which area of KL is best for families with primary aged dc?

And should we travel round Malaysia a bit or just stay in the capital? My dc are happy as long as there is access to a pool, (not overly fond of beaches because they are too sandy according to ds,) but they tend to travel quite well

We were in kl last year, but only for a few days before going to Borneo. We really limeade KL and hired a driver to take us to surrounding areas (elephant rescue centre, fireflies and a few other places) There’s shopping, history, great street food and lots of other stuff. Our hotel was the Berjaya Times Square, which was nice enough. A friend got an amazing air b&b with a pool, so might be worth doing that. It’s also fairly cheap to get flights over to Borneo. It was a fab trip and I’d happily go back as there was more we could have seen and done.

I've been looking at the berjaja Times square! I'm tempted mainly because there is an actual theme park with roller coasters built into the shopping centre part of the building there!

But then airbnb s also look really good and I love the idea of having more space and an actual seperate bedroom

There is the most enormous playground near the Petronas towers at KLCC. Heaps and heaps of climbing frames and a water bit. It is so vast there are no pictures of the whole thing online but this gives you some idea (not my blog) My DD was just turned 2 when we went and she still talks about it frequently nearly 3 years later.

I would definitely stay elsewhere in Malaysia too. we loved Penang staying int he old town but there is a beach bit there too which we didn’t explore as we went off elsewhere for that (Langkawi).

I went with my DD when she was 7 for a couple of nights on our way to Langkawi. She wasn't massively impressed, but she does prefer the beach . We love Langkawi.
Years ago, pre-DD, I also went to KL then onto Cameron Highlands and Malacca. If your DC don't like beaches, Cameron Highlands is worth a visit. ANd I remember Malacca being very pretty.
How long are you in KL for?

We're going for the whole of August

Consider bookending your holiday in KL if you're there for a whole month, 3 or 4 days either end would be plenty. I would definitely head to one of the islands, we liked Langkawi best but there are islands further south and/or on the east coast. What about heading down to Singapore? Or up to Thailand? Or getting cheap internal flights over to Borneo?

Just out of interest (and being nosy) roughly how much were your flights? We are considering doing something similar next year to meet friends from New Z half way (ish)

Flight for me and 2 dc (age 4 and 9) were £1300 in total, but we do have a stopover

Only done a transfer in kl all I can remember about it is stepping out of the airport and could hardly breath lots of pollution and super hot. I’d jump on an internal flight to lankowie had a great week there

I would spend some of the time in Borneo. Air Asia operates out of kl so flights are good value. Go to Kota Kinabalu for national park, tree top walk etc and it's easy to get to small islands from kk jetty. I went there in July and the island were pretty quiet during weekdays. Kk itself is not the most attractive town, but the shangri la hotel there has an orang utan centre you can visit even if you are not resident in the hotel. It's the same group that has the big centre in sepilok (sp?)
I think Kuching is nicer than Kk and has great food, decent museums and easy to visit long houses, go kayaking and see Orang utans in the wild.

Pollution is bad. Petronas towers are amazing.

Dengue is endemic so plenty of d e e t, and if Borneo then you may need malaria tabs. Penang beaches are polluted ( although town and island are great for sightseeing) .

You only need 3-4 days in KL. Our itinerary included Batu Caves, Petronas, Elephant reserve (a bit of a drive out, but well organised tour), shopping in the markets. Not really much more to do.

I echo what others say, afterwards head out to different areas. Borneo is amazing! Fly out to Sandakan and see the orang utans, 2-3 days in that area. Then stay in Kota Kinabalu for a few exciting trips, i.e. rafting, ziplining, cruise to see the probiscus monkeys. From there you could also take trips to other islands, but maybe not for you as your ds doesn't like beaches. About 5 days in Kota Kinabalu plenty.

Overall, I still think the full August is a bit too much. You could even see other countries in that time. Singapore a short hop away, or even Indonesia. We flew for £75 in total (3 of us) to Banda Aceh in Indonesia and then took a ferry to Pulau Weh. Any flights from KL are cheap with Air Asia, so have a look at their website and see what you fancy.