Last Updated: August 20, 2024
Lush jungles, towering sky scrapers, sandy beaches, friendly people… Malaysia has it all. It is one of our favourite countries in the world and we loved visiting Malaysia with our kids.
The atmosphere and feel of the country is so relaxed and calm. When we visited, we had just come in from India, so maybe the intensity of this previous country had something to do with it.
But it was also something else.
It just seemed to have a very relaxed misdemeanour and the people are some of the friendliest we’ve come across in the world.
It’s also a great country for kids. The parks and playgrounds are amazing!
Our toddler was in his absolute element and couldn’t get enough of them. Every one we found seemed to be huge. And a lot of parks would also have an outdoor public kids pool in them as well. So great if your accommodation doesn’t have a pool on a hot day.
Suggested Malaysia Family Itinerary
Malaysia is split into two main sections, Peninsula Malaysia and East Malaysia (which makes up part of the Borneo island).
They both have a bit of a different feel with East Malaysia being much more rural and Peninsula Malaysia holding most of the population.
To get between the two directly, the only way is to fly, so it’s a good idea to brake your journey down into two elements.
Below is our suggested Malaysia 4 week itinerary for families. If you don’t have that much time this can be shaved down and we also have a suggested 2 week itinerary in brackets.
Peninsula Malaysia: 1. Kuala Lumpur – 2. Cameron Highlands – 3. Penang – 4. Langkawi
East Malaysia: 5. Kota Kinabalu – 6. Kinabalu National Park – 7. Sandakan
Kuala Lumpur – 5 (2) Nights
A lot of people just swoop by Kuala Lumpur (or KL is it’s also known) during transits, due to a lot of air traffic going through the airport.
But we really loved the city and actually extended our stay a bit as we liked it so much. So we would suggest staying a while to explore the capital of Malaysia.
The city is hustle bustle and the traffic is something else. We’ve seen a few gridlocks in cities whilst travelling, but nothing like KL!
Although it has all the appearance of a big metropolitan city with heavy traffic and towering sky scrapers, it still has a tropical feel to it with the remains of lush jungle vegetation spouting out around the city and some great green spaces as well.
You can head to the KLCC Park which has a huge playground and a big free outdoor public pool for kids, or take a stroll around the Botanical Gardens.
And If you want to see a bit of culture, the Batu Caves are also easily reachable form the city by train. A complex of limestone caves of various sizes turned into Hindu temples. Walk up the hundreds of steps to enter, just watch out for the monkeys!
Cameron Highlands – 3 (1) Nights
Cameron Highlands is tealeaf and strawberry country. You have a choice of lots of tealeaf farms and factories to visit.
The hikes are also amazing. And the scenery and views you witness as you make your way around these highlands is stunning.
You can also hit one of the many strawberry farms. And have a fun little hour picking the strawberries before taking them home.
And there are also some bee & butterfly farms you can head to in the area.
Penang – 4 (3) Nights
Penang should definitely be on your list of places to hit in Peninsula Malaysia. It is split over across two areas, with part on the mainland and the other on one of the islands off the north east side.
You can easily get between the two via a couple of bridges and there is also a regular ferry crossing.
The island section is the most popular part and for good reason.
You can wonder around George Town and enjoy the street art. Head to Penang Hill and take the very steep tram to the top to overlook the city. Or hit one of the many quirky museums on offer, like the Wonderfood Museum which our kids loved!
Langkawi – 4 (3) Nights
Langkawi is absolute paradise. Beach destinations are usually bottom of my travel style list, but Langkawi was a different story.
It is another one of the islands off the main peninsula part of Malaysia and is easily reachable from Penang via a 3 hour fast-boat ride.
It’s not too touristy that it’s been overrun with hotels (yet) but also has plenty on offer. It has one of the steepest cable car rides in the world with a lot of attractions surrounding it (more quirky museums for one).
And it also has some stunning natural scenery on the island with amazing beaches as well as lush jungles. Out eldest particularly liked visiting the waterfalls.
Kids Quote: “The waterfalls were one of my favourite things from all of our travels! They were like natures water slides!”
Laith, Age 10
Kota Kinabalu – 4 (2) Nights
We’re now over on East Malaysia, which makes up part of the Borneo island. And our first stop is Kota Kinabalu. This is one of the main cities in Borneo and one of the rarer urban areas in this part of Malaysia.
But you can still get out and visit some of the surrounding natural sites. With lots of tours on offer to do some pretty cool things.
We took a tour to one of the main rivers nearby and saw the famous long nosed Proboscis monkeys, only found on Borneo. This was later followed by a firefly cruise where the sparkling bugs came out twinkling all around us and would even come as close to land on you. A really nice experience for kids.
There’s also Abdulrehman National Park, which is a network of islands off the main coast.
You can island hop around them for the day trying the different waters and snorkelling areas. Don’t get over obsessed with hitting them all though, just pick a couple so you can actually relax in between and enjoy the paradise.
Kinabalu National Park – 3 (1) Nights
Kinabalu National Park is the base for if you want to climb Mount Kinabalu. It’s not the cheapest mountain to climb with everything included such as entrance fee, lodge, guide, extra guide for kids (which are both mandatory!).
If you prefer not to climb the highest peak, there are still lots of other treks around the national park with numerous being suitable for smaller children.
The trails are really beautiful with so much lush jungle to explore.
Be sure to take bug protection as they can be a lot of flying insects that won’t leave you alone otherwise!
Sandakan – 4 (2) Nights
Borneo is famous for the the Orangutans, and Sandakan is a good base for seeing them.
You have the Orangutan sanctuary near by, which can easily be reached by taxi from Sandakan. And opposite the Orangutan sanctuary is the Sun Bear sanctuary so you can hit both in one day easily.
If you prefer to try to get a glimpse of the Orangutans in the wild you can head down to Kinabatangan River and book a boat tour to try to spot these rare animals in the wild.
Getting Around Malaysia with Kids
National Transport
Getting around Malaysia is very easy and the main method you will likely use will be coaches. There are trains, but they can be a little slow and there reach isn’t the best and rarely outweigh the speed and efficiency of the vast network of coaches.
Booking coaches on the day is usually easy as there are many private companies all wanting as many customers as possible. Generally speaking you can head down to the nearest coach station from wherever you are and book tickets easily.
You can sometimes even flag coaches from the road. Such as when we were going from Kinabalu National Park to Sandakan. This can be a bit of pot luck though.
We had a few coaches pass us before we managed to get one after about 45 minutes of waiting. And when they did stop they were quite full so the conductor made us a makeshift seat down in the luggage compartment, which was full of dozens of Durian Fruit! Anyone who has come across this fruit before will be able to relate that this resulted in a very stinky journey!
Car hire is another option. Malaysia is one of the rare places in Asia where I would have probably felt comfortable driving. It’s still not perfect and the rules of the road are only half followed in some places, but certainly more than in other Asian countries we’ve come across.
Budget flights are also available to most main areas with Air Asia being one of the main budget airline amongst others. But as the roads are well maintained and driving is reasonably safe and the country is quite small, you should be able to get around easily and pleasantly on the roads.
Local Transport
The local transport can vary by region a fair bit.
As you would expect, KL has the most choice. with Trains, Buses and Taxis available.
The local train network is a little disjointed, rather than a full metro system, it is made up of a few different lines collectively with the MRT-SBK Line, Komuter, LRT and KLIA Express. It can be useful for some many places, but you might need to plan ahead and look at the various times and connections.
In addition to the trains, there are also buses to fill the gaps, with the RapidKL Bus and the Free Go KL City Bus a couple of the options for getting around.
If you are going to use public transport a lot, then is is advisable to get a ‘Touch ‘n Go‘ card. Which works like most top up card systems, and you can get form most stations, including the airport.
Outside of KL, the other main areas are largely supported by bus systems, with little in terms of rail networks.
Taxi’s are also pretty readily available across the country as well.
All taxis should have metres and use them, but some drivers will try to negotiate a price up front. Up to you if you take them up on their offer if you deem it reasonable, but if you want a metred taxi just thank them and move on as you will find one eventually.
Grab is the main e-hailing app option and is readily available in most urban areas as well as some rural areas.
Word of warning when using the roads in KL in that the traffic is horrendous at times. So take this into considerations and ensure you avoid rush hour at all costs!
Malaysia Family Accommodation
Some of our best stays we’ve had were in Malaysia. With a bit of a mix of self catered apartments and houses, plus some hotels.
All our stays were extremely nice and pretty cheap. Our KL high rise apartment was amazing with a great infinity pool for the adults plus a kids pool and playground in the complex.
These sort of apartment blocks are in vast supply on AirBnB in KL.
Our hotel in Langkawi was a family favourite as well. Being on stilts in the sea and waking up watching monitor lizards walking along the beach and going to sleep watching dozens of bats flying around was a great way to start and end each day we were there.
If Airbnb isn’t ticking the boxes then booking.com is our next safe bet for finding accommodation in Malaysia.
The pricing is pretty cheap in Malaysia for accommodation. We averaged around 200 MYR (£35/$45) per night mainly staying in AirBnb family apartments/houses with a few hotels thrown in the mix as well. All accommodation was extremely nice and comfy at this rate.
Eating in Malaysia with Kids
Street stalls is probably the easiest and one of the cheapest ways to eat. Self catering is also an easy option with plenty of supermarkets and smaller convenience stores dotted around the towns and cities.
Malaysian food, like the country itself, has a real fusion of styles. Mixing Chinese, Indian and it’s own Malay dishes. With many rice and noodle dishes.
Nasi Lemak being one of the most famous dishes, with rice and meat soaked in coconut milk, it’s extremely creamy!
They also love a good skewer, and you get lots of things on sticks from the street markets. Great for kids to have a nibble as you wander!
We averaged around 400 MYR (£75/$90) a week for our family of 4, mainly hitting the street markets and some supermarkets.