Our favourite Malaysia experiences

These experiences are your passport to Malaysia’s rich and complex culture and history, getting you beneath the surface of one of Asia’s most dynamic modern nations.

Beneath Malaysia’s megamalls and modernity is one of the richest and most fascinating histories of any country in Southeast Asia. To get to the heart of it, you need a local’s perspective – and that’s what these experiences are all about.

Malaysia has an incredibly rich mix of cultures born from centuries at the heart of the world’s historic trade routes, but sometimes it takes a local’s perspective to really put you in touch with it. That’s why we’ve put so much effort into finding these tours, classes and hands-on activities.

These are the Peranakan chefs who’ll teach you how to cook Chinese-Malay fusion cuisine, and the adventure guides who’ll point out wildlife tracks in the rainforest. They’re the food enthusiasts who’ll take you to KL’s secret street-food spots, and the art buffs who’ll point out George Town’s most innovative street art. They’re your passport to Malaysian culture and history, and some of our absolute favorite people on the Peninsula.

Discover the rainforests of Taman Negara

This two-night tour barely scratches the surface of this 4,000 sq km, 130 million-year-old rainforest – but it’s an excellent place to start.

Head out into the dark jungle on a night safari to spot porcupines, mouse deer, and insects the size of your hand (and bigger). Walk 500 metres through the treetops on the world’s longest canopy walk, watching out for monkeys as you go. Then, go on a riverboat ride to an indigenous village where the locals still hunt using blowpipe darts. These are just a few of the ways to experience Taman Negara, one of Malaysia’s unsung highlights – and a last remaining habitat for tigers, sun bears, elephants and leopards.

Whitewater rafting and cave exploration

Over-indulged on Ipoh’s foodie delights? This’ll blow the cobwebs away. Seven kilometres of adrenaline-fuelled rafting through the jungle, with drops that’ll have your stomach in your shoes and manoeuvres that’ll have your heart in your mouth.

After you’ve returned to dry land (and reset your adrenaline levels), your guide will take you into one of the longest caves in Malaysia, where spectacular stalactites, stalagmites, chimneys and galleries have been formed by 250 million years of erosion. During the Malay emergency in the 1950s they were a hideout for Communist guerrillas – look closely, and you can still see their graffiti etched into the walls today.

Ipoh heritage walk

This half day tour is about getting a sense of Ipoh’s past while enjoying the delights of its present.

Stop in at prime historic sites such as the tin-mining museum and colonial clock tower (built to honour the first British resident of Perak State), then head down cobbled alleys to contemporary art galleries and dilapidated cafés. Stop to sample handmade biscuits and palm-oil-roasted “white coffee” as you go, but don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for the workshops of rattan weavers and tinsmiths. In-between the ultra-trendy shops and galleries, these are the people keeping traditional crafts alive.

Tea and trekking in the Cameron Highlands

This is a tour of contrasts: the cultivated and the truly untamed.

Start and finish at the tea plantations – the region's star attraction – where you’ll learn how the leaves are grown and processed plus get to try some of the local blends. In between, you’ll see a side of the Highlands most visitors miss completely: the misty moss forests of Gunung Brinchang. With the help of your guide, enter a world where liverworts and lichens drip from the branches of trees, and flesh-eating pitcher plants and medicinal herbs thrive beneath the thick canopy. A century ago, these forests would have covered the whole of the Highlands – so treat it like a walk back in time.

Belum Rainforest exploration

You can’t just pitch up at a rainforest and head off on your own. That’d be silly. You need a really fantastic tour with an expert nature guide – and that’s exactly what this is.

Take to Lake Temenggor by boat to spot 10 different species of hornbill, then disembark and go hunting for the biggest and stinkiest flower in the world. Swim beneath multi-tiered cascades, then trek to Orang Asli villages deep in this primary jungle. Every step of the way, your guide is your key to the forest – pointing out rare orchids, explaining indigenous cultural practices, spotting animal tracks, and making sure you never miss that rare bird sighting. With two days of all-inclusive activities, all you need to worry about is taking it all in.