Kid friendly things to do in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Having already covered the Petronas Towers, the KLCC playground and the Petrosains Science museum which you can read about here, here are a few more things that are kid friendly as road tested by us.

Sri Mahamariamman Temple

It was Charlie and Ruby’s first visit to a temple, the rest of us were old hats from when we went to Thailand in 2011. I was nervous, places of worship and 2 year old twins don’t really go together, or so I thought. We had a stressful time finding the place, Rohan was convinced at first he knew where we were going and then too scared to admit he actually had no idea. Then Amelie needed a toilet of course right at the time when none were anywhere to be seen. We actually had to pay for her to use a hole in the ground that was really filthy but weirdly had air con!

We eventually found the temple. Before you go in you have to leave your shoes with a man and pay him basically to look after them. It’s a minimal amount, like 7 cents Australian, but we still saw tourists outraged at having to pay someone to look after their shoes and some even left their shoes on the street which is embarrassing and frankly ridiculous.

Greeting us at the door of the temple was a lovely Hindu lady who informed us that Charlie and Ruby would need to walk (we had them in the baby carriers) if we wanted them to go inside. This made me even more nervous because they wouldn’t be contained but apparently Hindu temples are zen for the little ones. They walked calmly, they didn’t scream, they didn’t even drop to the ground and refuse to walk. Rohan even managed to take some amazing photos while I walked around admiring the temple with the kids. Amelie thoroughly enjoyed learning about the various deities. I think we have found our religion, I’ll believe in anything that makes my kids behave so well. They did try to blow out the candles of offering but to be fair they see candles and think birthdays.

This stunning temple is lined with gold and precious stones whilst inside the walls are filled with intricate carvings and hand painted motifs that tell stories of early hinduism. Stepping inside off the street you can’t help but feel the sharp contrast to the busy street outside. The serenity of this place was not only felt by us but my very intuitive children.

Location – 63, Jalan Tun H. S. Lee, Kuala Lumpur. Right near Petaling street China town. We caught the free KL bus on the purple line got off near Petaling street and took a wrong turn! 

Cost – 20 sen (about 7 cents AUD) for them to look after your shoes plus a donation is asked for as you leave the temple.

KL Bird Park

Rohan and I decided that we would splash out and pay for a taxi to the bird park. From our hotel it was about a 10 minute ride and only cost 9RM (3 AUD). It was a little bit more coming back because the traffic was heavier but not by much. The taxi driver was the nicest man who gave us loads of tips on where to go in KL and he absolutely adored the kids, even taking Charlie over to see the fish when we first arrived.

The park is open from 9am – 6pm daily, my tip would be to go early because it gets really hot as it’s basically all enclosed with netting so the birds can roam. Another advantage of going early is that we had the whole place to ourselves as the crowds didn’t start rolling in until about 11am. This place is amazing, a definite highlight for us so far. It is really lush with plants so you almost feel like you’re walking through a rainforest. I am by no means a bird enthusiast but I really think anyone can get excited by this place, they have such a variety of birds including flamingos, peacocks, emus, a variety of native malaysian birds and my favourite the Rhinoceros Hornbill which is the most freaky awesome beautiful bird I have every seen.

This place is pram friendly but it does have some big steep hills which were challenging at times. They were hosing everything down too when we got there as well which made it very slippery for us bogan Aussies who insist on wearing thongs everywhere. Also technically you aren’t meant to bring your own food in but we did and no one said anything.  To top off an awesome morning this place has a kids playground and for parents it’s conveniently located at the end of the park so you don’t have to listen to your kids ask every 2 minutes if they can play in the park.

Location – 920, Jalan Cenderawasih, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Cost – 48 MYR (16 AUD) for Adult and 38 MYR (13 AUD) for kids over 3. 

Jalan Alor – Heading out to dinner we were almost caught in the nightly down pour but it meant we could stand and have a chat with a lovely fellow Australian who only lives a very short distance from our home town. Feeling hungry, once the rain stopped we decided to head to the well known restaurant and hawker food street Jalan Alor for dinner. There are so many places to choose from but given the traffic and really narrow street we decided on a place very quickly and sat down outside. Chicken kebabs and chicken rice for the kiddies, thai style chicken for me and nasi goreng for Rohan. Perfect, everyone even the fussiest of the kids ate it all up. Bellies full we walked the short distance back to the hotel feeling incredibly grateful for this journey and our little family.

Location – Jalan Alor Bukit Bintang, 50200 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Cost – 58 MYR ($20 AUD) for the five of us including 2 drinks.

Note – After spending a few weeks in Penang we decided to stay in KL for a few days before out flight to Sri Lanka.  So I’ve added a few more kid friendly activities we enjoyed on our last couple of days in KL.

Muzium Negara – Malaysian National Museum

When we were in KL a few weeks back we decided that next time we’d like to check this place out. We have a few days in KL before we fly to Sri Lanka so off we went to learn more about Malaysia. It’s a gamble, you never know which way it’s going to go with little kids and museums. They could thoroughly enjoy it making you feel so sophisticated because your kids like education and stuff. Or you just paid to get into a museum just to hear your kids cry that they’re bored because there is no playground or television. I am happy to report we had a win!

Firstly we were met at the bus top by a charming man who told us the museum was boring, that all it had was “the history of Malaysia, behind glass cabinets, you shouldn’t go there you should go to Sunway Lagoon (a theme park) instead.” This guy was blowing his cigarette smoke all over my children, was parked in the bus zone meaning we would have to manoeuvre the pram around his car to get on the bus. He of course was wanting our money, to be our driver to locations long distances away. I of course was annoyed at him, for all the reasons stated above, so we walked to a different bus stop and continued on our way to the museum.

The museum is divided up into different galleries starting with early civilisation, the Malay Kingdoms, the Colonial era and finally Malaysia today.  The kids were fascinated by the oldest human skeleton in South East Asia, the shadow puppet prince and princess characters and being able to smell the many different flavoured teas on display.

checking out the skulls

Princess shadow puppet

smelling the different flavours of tea

boat displays in the colonial era gallery

Gold leaf tree

helicopter outside the museum

There is a self serve cafeteria just outside the museum , which was packed with workers from the construction site across the road. This is generally a good sign that the food won’t make you sick, it’s affordable and probably delicious. It was all of those things but perhaps a bit spicy for those who aren’t a fan like two of my kids. They were mostly happy with some fried chicken pieces on skewers and coconut buns though. Charlie decided to stab his coconut bun repeatedly with a skewer until it disintegrated into a thousand pieces all over the floor beneath him. Ruby declared that everything was too spicy and mostly ate tomatoes. I should point out that she actually likes spicy food. Amelie was in tears because I gave her some of my food, at her request, that was apparently too spicy. It was far from a relaxing lunch, Rohan and I scoffed ours down quickly and got the hell out of there, reluctantly taking our over it overtired children with us.

We really enjoyed this museum, it has a lot of interesting things for kids to look at and there are detailed descriptions for adults to read if you are interested in the history of Malaysia. I would say kids of 4 and up will get the most of it and I did see some school groups coming through but in saying that my 2 year olds were interested in most of the exhibits.

Location – For details click here. It’s close to Sentral train station.

Note – If we had have known how tricky it was to get to this place by bus we probably would have just gotten a taxi. It was 2 buses from our apartment in Bukit Bintang, which isn’t in itself hard but KL has a lot of one way streets and the bus maps aren’t very detailed, so we were lost for a bit on the way there. The buses are worth trying to figure out though given they are free, air conditioned and even have a space for prams and wheelchairs.

Cost – 5 MYR for Adults, kids are free.