The city's oldest park, laid out in 1888, with an orchid house, a deer park and most of Kuala Lumpur's museums around the edge.
Laid out from 1888 by Alfred Venning, the British State Treasurer of Selangor, on land he cleared from tin-mining scrub. He wanted an ornamental lake garden of the kind an English town would have, and he got it — and then everything else in Kuala Lumpur’s cultural quarter grew up around it.
It is around 91 hectares, it is free, and it is the oldest public park in the city.
Inside the gardens
The lake and the boathouse.
The Orchid Garden — around 800 species, and Malaysia has an enormous native orchid flora. There is a weekend market where they are sold.
The Hibiscus Garden — the bunga raya, the national flower, in many varieties.
The Deer Park, free, with sambar and mouse deer.
The Butterfly Park, separately ticketed, a netted garden with several thousand butterflies of a hundred-odd Malaysian species.
KL Bird Park — the big one, and worth its own entry.
The Herb Garden, a Sunken Garden, and a long ornamental waterway.
Around the edge
This is what makes the Lake Gardens the best single area in Kuala Lumpur for a visitor.
The Islamic Arts Museum — the best museum in the city.
The Old Railway Station and the Malayan Railway building.
The National Monument (Tugu Negara) — a bronze group of 1966 by Felix de Weldon, who also made the Iwo Jima memorial in Washington, commemorating those who died in the Emergency. It is in a formal garden with a cenotaph and is worth twenty minutes.
The National Planetarium, and the Royal Malaysian Police Museum, both free or nearly so.
The honest bit
It is hot and it is spread out. Walking from the Islamic Arts Museum to the Bird Park to the National Monument in the middle of the day is a serious undertaking in this climate, and the shade between sections is patchy.
There is a free shuttle around the park. Use it, or use Grab between the major stops. Doing the whole area on foot at noon is how people end their day early.
Afternoon thunderstorms are frequent in the wetter months and there is limited shelter. Plan for the morning.
Practical
Free to enter the gardens. The Bird Park, Butterfly Park and Planetarium charge separately.
Open daylight hours. Busiest at weekends, when Kuala Lumpur families come out in numbers and it is at its best.
Nearest station is Kuala Lumpur (KTM Komuter) rather than KL Sentral, though KL Sentral is a short Grab away.
