Malaysia

The federal capital is built around the KLCC core where the Petronas Twin Towers (the world's tallest from 1998 to 2004, designed by Argentine-American architect César Pelli) and the KLCC park define the modern city — book the 86th-floor observation deck and Skybridge slots online weeks in advance. Bukit Bintang is the dining, shopping and nightlife strip with Pavilion KL, the Lot 10 Hutong heritage food court and the Jalan Alor hawker street. The colonial core around Merdeka Square holds the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, the National Mosque (Masjid Negara) and the Islamic Arts Museum. The Batu Caves on the city's northern edge are the headline Hindu cave-temple complex with the 42-metre golden Murugan statue at the foot of the 272 painted steps. KL is also the country's transport hub — KL Sentral connects the KLIA Express to the airport in 28 minutes, the LRT/MRT/Monorail urban network, and the long-distance ETS train south to Singapore and north to Penang.

Penang island off the north-west coast is one of the great Asian food destinations and the cultural pole of the country. The historic core of George Town earned UNESCO World Heritage status in 2008 for the layered Straits Chinese, Indian, Malay and colonial British heritage along Lebuh Armenian, Lebuh Acheh, Love Lane and Cannon Street, with the painted Ernest Zacharevic street-art lanes drawing visitors since 2012. The clan jetties (Chew, Lim, Tan, Lee, Yeoh) are wooden communities on stilts over the harbour; the Cheong Fatt Tze Blue Mansion is the standout heritage hotel and museum-house. Hawker food culture at Gurney Drive, New Lane, Lorong Selamat and Chulia Street is the country's deepest — char kway teow, asam laksa, hokkien mee, char kway and the Penang nyonya cooking traditions. The Penang Hill funicular and the Kek Lok Si temple complex round out the island; Kek Lok Si is one of the largest Buddhist temple complexes in Southeast Asia.

Sabah, the northern state of East Malaysia, holds the conservation core of the country. The Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre near Sandakan is one of the world's longest-running primate rehab facilities (founded 1964); the adjacent Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre and the Rainforest Discovery Centre share the same forest reserve. The Kinabatangan River wildlife corridor — accessed by lodge-based cruises out of Sukau or Bilit — is the best place in Southeast Asia to see proboscis monkeys, Bornean pygmy elephants, hornbills and reticulated pythons in the wild. Mount Kinabalu (4 095 m) is the headline climb: a two-day permit-only ascent from Kinabalu Park sleeping at Laban Rata, summit between 3 and 6 a.m. for sunrise; permits are limited and book months ahead. The state capital Kota Kinabalu is the launch point and the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park reef-island day-trip cluster is right offshore.

Sarawak, the larger southern Borneo state, is rainforest country and the cultural complement to Sabah. The state capital Kuching is the most distinctive small Asian city — colonial architecture along the Sarawak River, the Sarawak Cultural Village and the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre orangutan reserve all within a half-hour drive. The Gunung Mulu National Park (UNESCO) holds Deer Cave (one of the largest cave passages in the world, with the evening exodus of millions of bats), Clearwater Cave, Lang's Cave and the limestone Pinnacles trek; access is via short flight from Miri. The Niah Caves on the coast near Miri preserve the oldest evidence of human habitation in Southeast Asia (40 000-year-old human remains). Iban longhouse stays along the Batang Ai and Lemanak rivers — multi-day cultural visits with the indigenous Dayak community — are the deeper-country option for a longer Sarawak trip.

The peninsula's interior and southern coast bring together the country's cool-climate hill stations and the heritage city of Malacca. Malacca, inscribed by UNESCO in 2008, combines the layered architecture along Jonker Walk, the red-painted Stadthuys and Christ Church around Dutch Square, the A Famosa fortress remnants, the Baba & Nyonya Heritage Museum and the Cheng Hoon Teng temple. The Cameron Highlands at 1 500 metres above Ipoh is tea, strawberry and jungle-trail country — the BOH Tea Estate and the Sungai Palas plantation are the headline visit, the Mossy Forest trail and the Gunung Brinchang summit road round out a two-night stop. Ipoh itself is the underrated food and limestone-cave city, with the Kek Look Tong and Sam Poh Tong cave temples and a rebuilt Old Town café-and-mural quarter.

Malaysia's islands divide between the Andaman-side year-round destinations and the South China Sea east-coast islands closed during the monsoon. Langkawi (Kedah) is the duty-free island in the Andaman north — the Langkawi SkyCab cable car and Sky Bridge, the mangrove geopark cruises out of Kilim, the Pantai Cenang beach strip and the duty-free liquor and chocolate shopping. The east-coast islands open March to October and shut for the November-to-February monsoon: the Perhentian Islands off Terengganu (Perhentian Kecil for backpackers, Perhentian Besar for families and reef-snorkel resorts), Pulau Redang for the higher-end resort scene, and Tioman off Pahang for the fjord-like jungle-and-beach interior and the diving around Renggis and Tulai. Sipadan off Sabah's east coast is the country's diving headline — limited daily permits, advance booking, ranked among the world's top reef sites for the schooling barracuda, jackfish and reef-shark numbers around the dropoffs.

Malaysia's food and festival calendar is one of the strongest reasons to travel here. Hawker culture is the institution — Penang's Gurney Drive and New Lane, Kuala Lumpur's Jalan Alor and Lot 10 Hutong, Ipoh's Old Town, Malacca's Jonker Walk night market — with the Malay (nasi lemak, satay, rendang), Chinese (char kway teow, hokkien mee, dim sum), Indian (banana-leaf rice, roti canai, biryani), Nyonya/Peranakan (asam laksa, ayam pongteh) and Borneo indigenous traditions all present in one country. The festival year is led by Hari Raya Aidilfitri (end of Ramadan), Chinese New Year (January–February), Deepavali (October–November), Wesak Day (May), Thaipusam at Batu Caves (January–February — the procession with the kavadi-bearers is one of South Asia's most striking religious events), and the Christmas season in the Christian-majority parts of Sabah and Sarawak. Open-house culture during the major festivals — where Malaysians of one community welcome neighbours and visitors of all backgrounds for a meal — is a defining national tradition.