LANGUAGE

Malay & English

CURRENCY

Malaysian ringgit

BEST TIME TO VISIT

November to March

NEAREST RAILWAY STATION

Keretapi Tanah Melayu

NEAREST AIRPORT

Kuala Lumpur International Airport(KUL)

EMERGENCY HELPLINE NUMBER

999

INTERNET ACCESS

Malaysia is blanketed with hot spots for wi-fi connections (usually free). Internet cafes are much less common these days, but do still exist if you’re not travelling with a wi-fi enabled device. Only in the jungles and the most remote reaches of the peninsula and Malaysian Borneo are you likely to be without any internet access.

VISA

Nationals of most countries are given a 30- or 60-day visa on arrival.

Further Information

Visitors must have a passport valid for at least six months beyond the date of entry into Malaysia. The following gives a brief overview of other requirements – full details of visa regulations are available at www.kln.gov.my.

Depending on the expected length of their stay, most visitors are given a 30- or 60-day visa on arrival. As a general rule, if you arrive by air you will be given 60 days automatically, though coming overland you may be given 30 days unless you specifically ask for a 60-day permit. It’s possible to get an extension at an immigration office in Malaysia for a total stay of up to three months. This is a straightforward procedure that is easily done in major Malaysian cities.

Only under special circumstances can Israeli citizens enter Malaysia.

HOTEL

LUXURY

Hilton Kuala Lumpur (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia): The coolest of the cool stay at the Hilton. Rooms feel like suites, all decorated in slickety-slick contempo style with the latest entertainment and IT built in — even in the bathrooms.

Tanjong Jara Resort (Terengganu, Malaysia): Traditional Malay-style chalets furnished in natural woods and local textiles blend gorgeously with the tropical gardens of this seaside resort. The people here will bend over backward to make sure your stay is perfect.

Four Seasons Langkawi (Langkawi, Malaysia): Raising the bar, this resort is an exotic Moorish paradise on the most gorgeous beach in Malaysia. Rooms and public areas drip with the ambience of the Arabian Nights.

MID-RANGE & BUDGET

Piccolo Hotel (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia): Location, location, location! Right in the center of Jalan Bukit Bintang, nestled among the high-fashion shopping malls, is this simple yet affordable gem of a city hotel. A comfortable choice, plus it’s so close to everything.

Heeren House (Melaka, Malaysia): This boutique hotel in the heart of the old city is the place to stay in Melaka if you want to really get a feel of the local atmosphere.

Telang Usan Hotel (Kuching, Malaysia): An informal place, Telang Usan is homey and quaint, and within walking distance of many major attractions in Kuching.

COST OF LIVING

Malaysia doesn’t get nearly the attention that its nearby neighbor of Singapore does, but in many ways they are quite similar and it is noticeably cheaper as well. It’s a very modern city that nicely blends genuine Asian experiences and culture with a slick facade that makes visiting quite easy.

Hotels in Kuala Lumpur can be great bargains, especially near the top end of the range. You can sometimes find rooms in legitimate 5-star hotels for what you’d pay for a 1-star hotel in London. Lower-end hotels and even hostels offer quite good value in Kuala Lumpur as well. Standards are generally high in all but the absolute cheapest hotels.

Partly since this isn’t a hugely popular tourist destination for Westerners, most of the attractions are priced more for an Asian budget, so things should seem cheap to most people.

Food can be another great bargain in this city, with a wide variety of cuisines available in all price ranges. If you head to the outdoor food stalls like the locals, you can get some excellent fare at very reasonable prices. Drinks can be relatively expensive in bars, though in markets prices are rather affordable. Kuala Lumpur has quite a bit of business travel traffic, and that helps even prices out through most of the year. The busiest periods are around the Christmas holiday season and the July and August holiday season. Since the climate is nearly the same all year this is a city where you can come whenever you want. Kuala Lumpur hotels and hostels are generally good value all year round.