What’s the first thing people do when they come to Kuala Lumpur? Head to the Petronas Towers of course! It’s Kuala Lumpur’s stamp on the city skyline and visiting the Petronas Towers is probably the most popular attraction throughout Malaysia! And for good reason too, they were quite an engineering feat and today they stand as the world’s tallest twin towers…. As an avid fan of skyscrapers and my mission to visit the world’s top ten tallest buildings in the world, you can imagine my excitement to visit the Petronas Towers here in Kuala Lumpur!
Visiting The Petronas Towers – The Highlight of Kuala Lumpur
When we arrived into Kuala Lumpur with just a day’s worth of time to travel around, I decided I had better put the Petronas Towers on the top of my list of things to visit. Of course, as with anything popular, you had better plan your visit in advance! In fact, it’s best to plan at least one day in advance if possible… You can walk into the bottom area (separate entrance for tourists) and locate the guest area for visitors in which you can reserve a time for your visit. This is great too as it basically means you will only be in a small group of people the entire time from the ground floor all the way to the top and back down (so no major lines to stand in).
Standing outside, looking up at the Petronas Towers right before we walked in…
Still wondering what could be so amazing about these twin skyscrapers?
Some fun facts about the Petronas Towers:
Number of Stories: 88
Total Height of Buildings: 452 meters (around 1500 feet)
29 Double Decker elevators in each Petronas Tower
World’s Highest 2 story Bridge
Designed ‘Outline’ of the Twin Towers resembles an ‘M’ for Malaysia
Currently the Tallest ‘Twin’ Towers standing today
OK, so the Petronas Towers aren’t the tallest overall… but they were the tallest in the world for nearly 6 years once built in 1998. However, they’re still the tallest ‘twin’ towers standing today…
One of the coolest, most innovative things we experienced while visiting the Petronas Towers that morning was the ‘welcome message’ we received while standing amongst others waiting to board the elevator. Instead of some hourly employee coming out to give a ‘canned speech’ about the building and our tour, there was a misty cloud being pumped out along the ceiling right above our heads. Shortly thereafter, a 3-D Hologram appeared of a lady standing there in mid-air in front of us and speaking to us about our visit to the Petronas Towers. It was amazing and nothing like I had seen before… she looked as real as if you grab her in front of you and definitely some new technology that hadn’t quite made it mainstream yet back home!
The base floor lobby in one of the Petronas Towers… Walking around in here, you’ll quickly get an idea of the technological advances inside each of these two buildings. All of the design and architecture within was amazing.
When we finally made it into the elevator, you quickly realize how amazingly fast this thing moves! At 5-6 meters per second, my ears popped three times on the way to the top until finally arriving on the 83rd floor. However, this wasn’t the top! You have to get into yet another, smaller elevator that then takes you up to the 86th floor observatory area. This of course, still isn’t ‘the top’ but was as far as my pedestrian status was going to go for this tour today as they don’t have an observatory deck at the building tallest area… unfortunate yes, however, we were still towering over all of Kuala Lumpur so it didn’t much matter!
The pinnacle tower opposite us from the 86th floor of the observatory. The last few floors were closed to the public but this was high enough…
When we stepped off that last elevator and strolled over to the windows, you realize just how freakishly high up in the sky you are standing. I can only imagine how crazy it must have been for the construction workers on these two towers. The Petronas Towers took around 7 years to build. Having worked on skyscrapers earlier in my life at only half this height, I have full appreciation to those who build this engineering marvel. It’s no wonder the movie ‘Entrapment’ with Sean Connery was filmed on site here. Of course, the view is amazing as well 
Too bad it was cloudy during our time that day:(
The view from the top, overlooking one section of Kuala Lumpur. For some reason, it’s always cloudy or overcast when I make it to the top of skyscrapers! Still an amazing view though…
And if the top observatory wasn’t enough to satisfy my skyscraper fascination that day, we were allowed the opportunity to visit the ‘Skybridge’ as well which connects the two buildings. The Skybridge is located on the 41st and 42nd floors. It basically acts as a connection point for people between the two buildings but more importantly, it serves as a secondary escape route should an emergency occur. Needless to say, it was quite a weird feeling to stand at the window, look down and notice the two mammoth buildings on your left and right with nothing underneath you as the ground below is over 560 feet down!
The entrance into the famous Skybridge connecting the two Petronas Towers. Somehow this was as cool as it was being at the very top. It was probably the fact that there was absolutely nothing underneath us but the ground below at over 500 feet down…
Doesn’t look like much inside the Skybridge but it sure was cool to walk between the two buildings this high up. Plus, the construction of this and what it must have taken the workers is quite an engineering feat. I don’t think I’d have wanted to work on this…
View from the Skybridge of the Petronas Towers, looking down onto the fountain and park area below.
Overall, visiting the Petronas Towers was an amazing experience and I’d highly recommend it, even for those that think it’s just another skyscraper. With its advanced technology and informative tour, it makes for a great way to spend a couple hours during your visit to Kuala Lumpur!
Planning Your Visit – Petronas Towers:
Cost of entry at the time of this writing: RM80 (about $25 USD)
Open from Tuesday – Sunday (Closed Mondays)
Ticket Office Hours between 8:30am – 8:30pm
Visiting Hours: 9am – 9pm
You can buy tickets in the visitors center but you can also buy online.
Address: Just kidding… you can see the Petronas Towers from any point within the city
Most popular way to get there is by Metro: take it to KLCC (Kuala Lumpur Convention Center) and when you get into the building go down into the basement (tower 2 only as tower 1 is not open to the public). You can buy your tickets down there and also pick up your e-ticket at the counter if purchased online
For more information, you go to the website for the Petronas Twin Towers
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