8 Places That Offer the Best Views in Malaysia

Located in Southeast Asia, Malaysia is a tropical paradise with pristine beaches, thick evergreen forests, and beautiful cities. With a melting pot of cultural offerings, every visitor gets a rich experience of the best offerings. As the country is centrally located sharing its borders with Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei, and the South China Sea, it is a must-visit destination. 

Whether you’re an avid traveler, who enjoys exploring warm, clear beaches or a shopaholic, visiting Malaysia has the best for both. The country’s coasts offer you white sandy beaches and shallow waters for snorkeling and scuba diving. Its cities offer great cultural experiences with fantastic options to shop and indulge in diverse culinary experiences. If you want to isolate yourself from the crowd, head to the countryside. You can explore the tropical jungles to trek in the beautiful mountains. Here are 8 Places that offer the best views in Malaysia:

Danum Valley, Sabah

Earning the top spot on the list of 8 Places that offer the best views in Malaysia, Danum Valley is the largest lowland forest in Sabah Borneo. It has remained untouched by commercialization for the last one million years. This protected rainforest is home to the Orangutan and the Borneo pygmy elephant — the smallest elephant in the world.Since the forest is protected and the area being quite remote, getting there can be difficult. The number of people permitted to enter the forest is restricted— making it an exclusive destination. Visiting there, however, lets you enjoy the stunning view of wild forests a sight that only a select group of people around the world have seen.

To get to the Danum Valley, you need to start from Lahad Datu, which is the nearest town. It is about a 3-hour drive on unpaved logging roads, around 81km away. You can either get a permit to rent a 4×4, drive on your own or take the regular shuttle bus from Lahad Datu to Danum Valley Field Centre. 

Mulu Caves

The Gunung Mulu National Park, located in Sarawak, Malaysia, is a UNESCO world heritage site. It is home to equatorial rainforests and Karst formations. It has about 295km of explored caves making the most studied Karst systems in the world. The Mulu Caves located inside contains the most extensive cave chamber by volume, which is massive enough to hold 40 jumbo jets without having to overlap their wings. The Deer Cave is home to a vast colony of Wrinkle-lipped bats that fly out in enormous swarms in the evenings, making it an awe-inspiring spectacular view.

Hikers will be thrilled at the weathered limestone ‘pinnacles’ that stick out of the mountain and deep-cut canyons of the region. To get to the caves, you will need to purchase a five-day pass from the national park headquarters. You have the option of going by land, through rivers or by air from the town of Kota Kinabalu. A guide will accompany you on your tour of the cave that will take you through the caves and explore its walls, pools, waterfalls, and more. Its splendid views earn a top spot in the 8 Places that offer the best views in Malaysia.

Kuala Lumpur Skyline from the Petronas Towers

The bustling modern city of Kuala Lumpur is famous for its beautiful architecture that reflects both its colonial history and its modern transformation. Standing tall, overshadowing every other building and visible from anywhere in the city are the twin Petronas Towers. At the height of 452m, they are the tallest twin towers in the world and needless to say, have a unique perspective on the city’s skyline.

Being the most popular tourist attraction in the city, visitors throng to the building to get a view from its observation decks. One of the observation decks is on the 86th floor, and the other is on its iconic bridge, which connects the two towers. Tickets to the deck cost 85 Malaysian Ringgit. There are long queues at the ticket office which opens at 8:30 am. The tickets are limited to 1000 visitors every day grouped into batches of 20-30 people. You will have 15 minutes of uninterrupted time to enjoy one of the top 8 places that offer the best views in Malaysia.

Sipadan Island, Sabah

Situated 30km off the mainland coast, Sipadan Island is the dream destination for all scuba divers and enthusiasts. This 40-acre piece of the islet is made up of living corals that thrive on an extinct volcano, which rises 600m off the ocean floor. It has an unusual abundance of marine life in the form of 3000 species of fish and a large number of hawksbill turtles that migrate here to mate and lay eggs.

Naturally, the site boasts several world-famous diving spots such as Barracuda Point, West Ridge, Turtle Cave, Lobster Lair, Coral Gardens, South Point, and more. It’s also common to see sharks, barracudas, jackfish schools, and if you’re lucky, then whole schools of hammerhead sharks.

To get to the island, you can fly from Kuala Lumpur to the town of Tawau. From there, it is a 45-minute drive to the town of Semporna. From the town of Semporna, Sipadan is about an hour away on a speedboat. Your stay will be in the surrounding islands of Kapalai, Mabul, Mataking, or Pom Pom, where you will also go for your day trips to Sipadan.

Malacca City, Malacca

The Capital city of Malacca is full of history dating back to the succession of rule by the Portuguese, Dutch, and the 15th century Malacca Sultanate. The city is popular for its quaint charm, old architecture, the food streets, and scenic neighborhoods.

What earns it a top spot among the 8 Places that offer the best views in Malaysia is the Malacca River flowing through the city. Its riverside cafes and restaurants are beautifully lit and maintained with gardens. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008, it has some popular attractions which include the A’Famosa Fort built-in 1511, Christ Church built by the Dutch, Melaka Sultanate Palace replica built in 1985 and more.

Mount Kinabalu, Sabah

Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain in all of Malaysia, with its summit reaching a peak of 4095.2m. The mountain is part of the protected Kinabalu National Park and is popular with both tourists and researchers for its biodiversity. While the mountain itself dominates the landscape, making it a fantastic sight, you should climb it for the incredible sunrise, the surrounding landscape, and if the weather is clear, even Sabah’s biggest city Kota Kinabalu on the horizon. The park only allows 185 people a day to climb the mountain. Therefore you must book it at the earliest to get an available date. The permits usually run out during the peak season.

Cameron Highlands

The Cameron Highlands feature landscapes that seem straight out of wallpaper with its picturesque undulating tea plantations, vast expanses of forests and shallow valleys. The highlights of a visit include walks through lovely little villages, endless gardens, bee farms, butterfly and strawberry farms, and plenty of walking trails in between untouched nature and greenery that is sure to leave anyone refreshed and energized. These hill stations made out of a series of tiny townships were developed during the colonial period by the British and had a small population of ethnically diverse groups. Jungle treks and bird-watching tours are frequent here, and there are plenty of man-made things to see as well, including temples, farms, and shopping streets. Getting there is quite easy as it is only a 3.5-hour journey from Kuala Lumpur.

Lake Chini, Pahang

Lake Chini is the second-largest freshwater lake in the state of Pahang. It is in a 12,000-acre UNESCO protected Biosphere Reserve. Located about 100 km from the town of Kuantan, the lake has a series of 12 smaller water bodies that spread out through the lush tropical jungles. Tour operators run boat rides that take you through the lakes to explore the local forests and visit an indigenous tribe to learn about their way of life and hunting. What makes the boat ride exciting is the supposed existence of a cryptid water dragon, which is Malaysia’s Lochness Monster.

Malaysia is a tropical paradise, offering two different but interconnected experiences of the wild tropics and a warm, welcoming tourist destination that has something to offer for everyone. With redBus as a travel partner, you can reliably find a ride to your destination with an assured ease to travel around the country.