Ipoh travel guide

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Ipoh

Malaysia’s third city, Ipoh, is situated in the Kinta Valley famous for its tin ore production. Few tourists spend long here; most are en route to Penang, KL or Pulau Pangkor. Those who do stay rarely regret it: there are excellent Chinese restaurants (a speciality is the rice noodle dish, sar hor fun, which literally means ‘melts in your mouth’), Buddhist temples and examples of Straits Chinese architecture. There are also some fine colonial buildings housing notable sights such as the Perak Darul Ridzuan Museum, which provides an interesting insight into Ipoh’s history. The city is surrounded by imposing limestone outcrops. These jungle-topped hills, with their precipitous white cliffs, are riddled with passages and caves, many of which have been made into temples. Within easy reach of the city is the Sam Poh Tong, the largest cave temple in the area, and Perak Tong, one of the largest Chinese temples in Malaysia.

Close to Ipoh are the Royal town of Kuala Kangsar, the ancient town of Taiping with its strong Chinatown, Lumut, a holiday destination on the coast and the pleasant island of Pulau Pangkor with good beaches and coral.