Kuala Lumpur Tower

Menara Kuala Lumpur, signed and marketed as KL Tower, is a working telecommunications and broadcasting tower that also sells a view from the top of it. It reaches 421 metres to the tip of its antenna mast, a height fixed on 13 September 1994 when the mast was installed, and it opened to the public on 23 July 1996; Malaysia's fourth Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, launched it officially on 1 October that year. Construction ran in five phases from 4 October 1991, and the operator records that the foundation pour placed 50,000 cubic metres of concrete over 31 continuous hours, without piling, setting a Malaysian construction record.

The operator lists four paid attractions in the tower head and one restaurant. The Observation Deck is the enclosed level, described by the operator as somewhere to walk around the full circle and take in different scenery at your own pace; visitors quoted on the operator's own home page mention a cafe up there. The Sky Deck sits above it and the operator calls it the main tourist attraction; the same quoted visitors describe going down to the Observation Deck afterwards and finding the Sky Deck view better.

Allow ninety minutes. That figure is this guide's judgement and not a number the operator publishes: Menara Kuala Lumpur Sdn Bhd states no suggested visit length anywhere on its site, and no last-admission time either. Ninety minutes is built from what the visit actually contains. There is one queue at the base for the lift, a lift ride, one enclosed deck to walk the full circle of, an open deck above it, and a cafe most people sit down in for twenty minutes because the view is the reason they came.

Daily 09:00–22:00, including public holidays. There is no regular weekly closure day. The open-air Sky Terrace may close because of weather while the tower remains open. The tower opens at 10. 00am and closes at 8. 00pm, seven days a week, and it publishes no closing day and no midday break, so the choice is about which of those ten hours to take rather than which day. Go in the first hour. The visitor accounts the operator prints on its own home page agree on the pattern without agreeing on much else: arrive close to opening and the decks are almost empty, come back later and there is a long queue at the base.

Paid admission. The base Observation Deck adult ticket is RM30 for Malaysian/MyKad visitors and RM80 for international visitors. Adult tickets cover ages 13–59; tickets permit one entry on the selected date. This is the part the operator does not answer. Menara Kuala Lumpur Sdn Bhd publishes no admission price on its website for any of its four attractions, in any currency, and no concession or family rate either. The two ticket links its own home page carries, one for a KL Tower tour and one for the Tower Walk 100, both point into a booking system at kltower. com.

Take the KL Monorail to Raja Chulan station, then approach via Jalan P. Ramlee and Jalan Punchak to the main gate. From the gate, Kuala Lumpur Tower operates a free shuttle to the lobby every 15 minutes from 08:30 to 22:00, weather permitting. The nearest rail is the Kelana Jaya Line, Line 5 of the LRT, to Dang Wangi station, from which the operator gives a five to ten minute walk to the tower. The KL Monorail reaches Bukit Nanas station, which is closer to the hill, and Raja Chulan is the other monorail station the operator names as a starting point.

The operator recognises OKU cards for disability-rate eligibility. A free shuttle links the main gate and tower lobby, avoiding the steep uphill approach; it runs every 15 minutes from 08:30 to 22:00, weather permitting. The operator does not publish a continuous step-free route covering the lobby, Observation Deck, Sky Terrace and toilets. Three things catch people out. The first is the hours: OpenStreetMap records this tower as open 09:00 to 22:00 daily, and the operator's own site says 10. 00am to 8. 00pm, Monday to Sunday. Those do not agree, and the operator is the one to believe. A visitor who plans a 9. 00am arrival or a 9.

The picture worth coming for is the one that includes the Petronas Twin Towers, and it is the reason to shoot from here rather than from them. Bukit Nanas puts the tower west of the Petronas cluster, so the twin spires stand clear of the rest of the skyline from most of the circuit, with the forest reserve immediately below in the foreground and the city spreading behind. The enclosed Observation Deck shoots through glass, which means reflections: get the lens flat against the pane, shade it with a hand or a jacket, and turn off any flash, which will simply photograph the glass.