Kuala Lumpur

Designed by César Pelli and finished in the late 1990s, the 452-metre twin towers were the tallest buildings in the world until 2004, and their steel-and-glass facades are based on an eight-pointed Islamic star. A visit takes you to the double-decker Skybridge between the towers on levels 41 and 42, then up to the observation deck on level 86.

TipBook a timed ticket on the official website well ahead; slots sell out. The towers are closed on the first and third Monday of most months and over Hari Raya, and large bags must be left at the entrance.

The landscaped park behind the towers, designed by the Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx, has shady paths, a jogging track, a children's paddling pool and a lake with fountains. In the evening the musical fountain show and the lit-up towers draw a crowd; it's free and one of the best views of the skyline.

Set aside for Malay settlers at the end of the nineteenth century, this neighbourhood of wooden stilt houses, gardens and small mosques survives a few minutes from the towers. It's best known for Malay food: nasi lemak in the morning and a lively night-time food scene. The Saloma Link footbridge connects it with the KLCC side of the river.

TipThis is a conservative Malay area; dress modestly and ask before photographing people or homes.

The 421-metre telecommunications tower, Menara Kuala Lumpur, stands on Bukit Nanas hill, which gives its observation deck a view as high as the twin towers' and puts the towers themselves in the picture. An open-air Sky Deck and glass-floored Sky Box sit above the indoor deck. The hill is a protected forest reserve, with short trails in the KL Forest Eco Park below.

The city's oldest surviving mosque, completed in 1909, stands on the point where the two rivers meet, the spot where Kuala Lumpur began. Its pink-brick domes and minarets were designed by the British architect Arthur Benison Hubback, and the riverbanks around it have been landscaped as part of the River of Life project, with blue lighting at night.

TipVisitors are welcome outside prayer times; robes and headscarves are provided, and shoes come off at the door.

On this former cricket green the Union Flag was lowered and the Malayan flag raised at midnight on 31 August 1957, marking independence. Facing it, the copper-domed Sultan Abdul Samad Building of 1897 is the finest of the city's colonial buildings, in a Mughal-inspired style. The mock-Tudor Royal Selangor Club, the KL City Gallery and the National Textile Museum stand around the square.

Kuala Lumpur's old wet market, housed since the 1930s in an Art Deco building painted pale blue, is now Pasar Seni, a covered market for batik, songket weaving, pewter, kites and other crafts, with a food court upstairs. It's air-conditioned, which helps in the midday heat.

Chinatown's covered market street is busy with stalls, but the real interest lies in the streets around it. Sri Mahamariamman Temple, founded in 1873 and the oldest Hindu temple in the city, has a tall gopuram covered in painted deities. Across the road, the Guan Di Temple, dedicated to the Chinese god of war and loyalty, dates from the 1880s and is thick with incense. Old coffee shops, herbal stores and restored shophouse cafés fill the lanes.

TipMost market goods are copies; bargain politely, and spend your time on the temples and the food.

A once-neglected back lane behind a row of 1930s shophouses, restored with murals of everyday life in old Chinatown: children playing, a barber, a calligrapher. It's small and takes only a few minutes, but it shows how the old quarter is being brought back to life, and there are cafés nearby.

Masjid Negara, completed in 1965, is a landmark of modern Malaysian architecture, with a folded roof shaped like a sixteen-pointed star or a half-open umbrella, a tall minaret and reflecting pools. It can hold thousands of worshippers.

TipNon-Muslim visitors are admitted outside prayer times, and not during Friday prayers. Robes are provided at the entrance; check the visiting hours locally.

One of the finest museums of Islamic art in the world, with manuscripts, Qurans, textiles, jewellery, arms and ceramics from China to the Middle East, a reconstructed Ottoman room and scale models of the great mosques. The building's painted domes are works of art in themselves, and the museum café is a good place to cool off.

The Lake Gardens, laid out in the 1880s, are the city's green lung: a large park of lakes, lawns, tropical trees and themed gardens, popular with joggers at dawn and dusk. The National Monument, the KL Bird Park and the National Museum are on its edges, and a morning here pairs well with the mosque and museum nearby.

A six-tiered Chinese temple on a hill south of the centre, dedicated to the sea goddess Mazu and built in the 1980s by the Hainanese community. Its red pillars and upturned eaves, hung with lanterns, look across the city, and it's busy with weddings and at Chinese New Year.

TipIt's not near a station; take a taxi or ride-hailing car, ideally late in the afternoon when the lanterns light up.

Bukit Bintang is the shopping heart of the city, a district of giant malls such as Pavilion and Lot 10, massage parlours and bars along Changkat Bukit Bintang. A block away, Jalan Alor fills each evening with tables and food stalls serving grilled seafood, satay, noodles and tropical fruit.

TipJalan Alor is lively but aimed at visitors; for local prices, look for the busy hawker centres and coffee shops on the side streets.

A limestone hill on the northern edge of the city, with a vast cavern temple reached by 272 steep, brightly painted steps beside a towering golden statue of Lord Murugan. It's one of the most important Hindu shrines outside India and the focus of the Thaipusam festival, when huge crowds of devotees climb the steps carrying offerings. The main Temple Cave is free; smaller caves at the foot of the hill charge entry.

TipShoulders and knees must be covered; sarongs can be rented at the foot of the steps. Go early to avoid the heat, and keep food and bags closed, as the macaques snatch anything. KTM Komuter trains run from KL Sentral to Batu Caves station.