One of the best places to visit while traveling through Penang, Malaysia is a trip to Penang Hill. It’s an amazing place to get away from all the hustle and crowds in the historic section of Georgetown and also a great place to escape from the heat and humidity in Penang (and Malaysia in general)! Luckily, the temperature at the top of the mountain is quite a bit cooler and, after our experience there, I’d say it’s probably windy 90% of the time. The winds were howling during our visit!
The entrance to the railway station at Penang Hill
Penang Hill sits at an elevation of 2723 feet (833 meters) and construction started on the railway to its peak back in 1901 but the first railway failed. It wasn’t until 1924 that they officially opened to both locals and tourists.
When you arrive, you have two options; either take the funicular train to the top or just brave the all day hike. For those that go with this latter option, its said to be an incredible hike with huge bamboo trees and other unique and exotic plants but its highly recommended to start early in the morning as it is best to make it down before nightfall! For me, taking the train up such a steep incline on the mountainside was half the fun. Of course, it was a bit hair raising too since the incline itself reaches a max steepness of 51% grade! Think about that for a second. If fact, just position your arm at 45 degrees and imagine climbing in a train at that degree!! For anyone that has been to Hong Kong’s overlook at ‘The Peak’, you know how steep that train is and that incline is only a 27% grade in comparison! And because the trip to the top of Penang takes about 30 minutes and stops along the way, you have plenty of time to ponder ‘what if’ scenarios as it climbs to the top…
The track descending down the mountain… It’s always hard to really take a great shot of the steepness of the railway when you’re actually on it, looking down…
At the very top of Penang Hill’s railway track, unloading at the station. This is sitting at about a 45 degree incline!
And just some of the things to do when you finally reach the top include visiting the bird sanctuary, walking along the suspension bridge that hangs over tree tops, as well as visit both the Indian Temple and Mosque that sit on its peak. We did a couple of these things but also just took in the amazing panoramic view overlooking the city. Of course, we also had a grand ol’ time observing the monkeys that kept rummaging through the trash and scaring the tourists next to us. There is also a bar at the top which is a great place to grab a drink while overlooking Penang and all of Georgetown…
Once again… the monkeys of Southeast Asia do entertain… it doesn’t seem to matter where I go.
We spent a good couple of hours at the peak and I’d highly recommend this place to anyone venturing through Penang, Malaysia. What’s even better is the fact that Penang Hill is very close to the Kek Lok Si Temple which I recently visited as well and you could see both these places in a one day trip from Georgetown. Best of luck on your travels!
This was just part of the panoramic view from Penang Hill overlooking Georgetown. We had only wished for less clouds and more sun!
On getting to Penang Hill and When to Go:
Penang Hill is located in Air Itam and there are several buses that run around the clock right from Georgetown making it a very easy and fairly short trip from the center of downtown. Here is a great link for the official website that includes directions, costs, its history and other such facts and figures. The best time to visit would be on clear days and very early in the morning before the crowds show up. You could also try and catch the sunset which is what we did though it became very overcast right as the sun was setting and didn’t afford much a view. So a well planned visit with the weather and time of day is definitely the way to go…
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