Kuala Lumpur · Backpacking
ON A BUDGET
Cheap beds, free city buses and the best hawker food between Bangkok and Singapore.
Bukit Bintang and Chinatown
Hostels sit off Jalan Alor in Bukit Bintang and around Petaling Street in Chinatown — the first for food and nightlife, the second for transport and price.
What a day costs
Dorm RM35–70, hawker food RM15–35, transit RM5–12. Around RM60–115 a day, roughly 13–26 USD, which stretches further than anywhere else on this route.
Getting around cheap
A Touch 'n Go card covers the LRT, MRT and monorail; the GOKL city buses are free on four loops. ETS trains run north to Ipoh and Penang from KL Sentral.
Free by day
The 272 steps up to Batu Caves, the KLCC park fountains beneath the towers, and the colonial square and river confluence at Merdeka.
Jalan Alor
The night food street behind Bukit Bintang, all plastic chairs and satay smoke; the backpacker bars on Jalan Tun H S Lee in Chinatown are the other hub.