Penang Hill

On Penang Hill you can escape the heat of tropical Georgetown. The hill, also known as Bukit Bendera, is 830 meter high (2,750 foot) and it's much cooler than in the city below. It's about 3 degrees cooler than the places near the coast.The station to get to the top is located in Air Itam. From Georgetown, take a Transit Link bus No 1, or No 101, or Lim Seng bus No 91, or minibus No 21 from Lebuh Chulia to the Air Itam Terminal. Penang Hill has a population of about 1000 locals.The funicular at the railway station takes you to the top and it will cost you RM4.50 for one way. The train leaves the station at Air Itam at 6.30am and at half hourly intervals. The funicular railway will not take you straight to the top, you have to change trains halfway. in the meantime you'll pass several small station, where the local people get off. There are are also some small hotels and guesthouses on this stretch. The railway was built in 1923 and it takes about half an hour to the top. At the top of the hill, you'll find a tea kiosk, restaurants, souvenir stalls, a mosque, Hindu temple, and the old Bellevue hotel. The summit offers a magnificent panoramic view of Georgetown, the mainland and Penang Bridge.

The best time to visit Penang Hill is early morning, around nine o'clock. Later on there will be more visitors and you have to queue up, before you can get on the train. Well that was it.....for the most visitors! You want more?? Really??Well............. you can go to the Canopy Walk at Penang Hill. Walking from treetop till treetop is worth a visit, specially for those, who haven't visit FRIM (near KL) or Taman Negara.

TIP:
Of course you can enjoy the view at Penang Hill. A cool and refreshing atmosphere will be giving to you, when you watch the panoramic view of Georgetown and the Straits of Malacca. But there's something new!The latest attraction on Penang Hill is the Canopy Walk. Even the local in Georgetown don't know anything about it! You can't find that in any travel guide.



I prefer to walk to the Canopy Walk, because the road is nice to walk and, in the meantime, you can enjoy every time another spectacular view on Penang, Penang Bridge or the mainland. After a short walk of 1.7 km you will se on your left hand side the Canopy Walk. You can't miss it.If you don't want to walk, because you're old and tired, the you can buy at the station a ticket for the 4-wheel drive, which will bring you in to the Canopy Walk a minute.The Canopy Walk is free of charge. You don't have to pay for it. For some reason some attractions are totally free in Malaysia, like the Petronas Towers. You can stay as long as you want at the Canopy Walk. At every tree you can take a rest. You have a wonderful view over the jungle and sometimes you can see Georgetown. Enjoy the bird watching and tall he other animals you can see from here. The tree top path is about 150 meters long.

If you're ready you can walk back to the Hill station, or you can take the 4-wheel drive to bring you back. Maybe you want to do something else? Well, that's possible!Buy a small bottle of water at one of those little restaurant at the station. You follow the road over the top, which going down. The road has two white lines at each side of the road. That's the right road. This road lis going down (and fast) and leads you to the Botanical Garden. It's an asphalt road and is 5,1 km. You can see that on the signs beside the road. Don't worry about the traffic, because this road may only be used by the people, who live on Bukit Bendera (Penang Hill).Sometimes you'll see a motorbike or a jeep (Kembara). There are several places, where you have a seat. In the weekend some Malaysians like to walk to the top, which takes about 5 hours. We'd like to walk down, which takes about 1 ½ hour. Exactly halfway there's tea house. Here you can have a nice cup of tea.

When you see the barriers, then you're at the Botanical Garden. That's the end. There are several restaurants, where you can have a drink. On your left side is the entrance of the Botanical Garden and some taxi's are waiting to bring you to town. There's also a bus stop. It's up to you, what to do.