Chinatown and Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur
Part of the Kuala Lumpur travel guide — see every topic in All Kuala Lumpur Guides.
Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown centres on Petaling Street, a covered pedestrian market that has sold counterfeit watches, bags and DVDs to visitors for decades and is, on its own, not the reason to come. The reason is everything around it: the surviving pre-war shophouse blocks along Jalan Sultan and Jalan Petaling, the temples and mosques within a few streets of each other, and the wave of independent cafes, bars and galleries that has moved into the old buildings since about 2015 and made this the most interesting neighbourhood in the city.
The market and the streets
Petaling Street's green-roofed arcade runs a few hundred metres and is at full volume from late afternoon into the night. Everything is negotiable; open at about forty per cent of the asking price. The food is better than the goods — the old stalls at the Jalan Hang Lekir crossroads, Hokkien mee cooked over charcoal, and the century-old shops selling herbs, dried seafood and roast meats along the side lanes. Madras Lane, behind the wet market, has a handful of long-running stalls doing curry laksa, yong tau foo and asam laksa at lunchtime.
Temples and heritage
Within a few hundred metres sit the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, the oldest Hindu temple in the city, founded in 1873, with an ornate five-tier gopuram added in the 1960s; Guan Di and Sin Sze Si Ya, the latter the oldest Taoist temple in Kuala Lumpur, founded 1864 by the city's Kapitan Cina; and the Masjid Jamek at the confluence of the Klang and Gombak rivers, built in 1909 on the spot where the city began. Walking between them takes twenty minutes and covers most of Kuala Lumpur's founding history.
The new Chinatown
Since the mid-2010s the pre-war shophouses along Jalan Sultan, Jalan Panggong and the surrounding lanes have filled with independent coffee roasters, cocktail bars, design shops, hostels and small galleries, generally preserving the tiled floors and timber staircases. Merchant's Lane, up a staircase above a shop; the speakeasy bars behind unmarked doors; REXKL, a 1970s cinema converted into a bookshop and event space. This is where the city's own creative scene actually is, and it is a five-minute walk from the counterfeit handbags.
Practicalities
Pasar Seni and Plaza Rakyat MRT and LRT stations put you at either end. The market is busiest from six to eleven in the evening; the cafes and heritage buildings are better in the morning when it is quiet. Central Market, a 1937 art deco building a few minutes north, sells craft and batik at fixed prices and is the calmer alternative to bargaining. Pickpocketing in the crowded arcade is the one real petty-crime risk in the city. Counterfeit goods are illegal to import into most countries, whatever the seller says.
Chinatown and Petaling Street at a glance
| Petaling Street | Covered market arcade; busiest 6–11pm |
|---|---|
| Bargaining | Open at ~40% of the asking price |
| Oldest Hindu temple | Sri Mahamariamman, founded 1873 |
| Oldest Taoist temple | Sin Sze Si Ya, founded 1864 |
| Best food | Madras Lane stalls, lunchtime |
| The new scene | Jalan Sultan and Jalan Panggong shophouses; REXKL |