Petronas Towers and KLCC in Kuala Lumpur
Part of the Kuala Lumpur travel guide — see every topic in All Kuala Lumpur Guides.
The Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004 at 451.9 metres, and they remain the tallest twin structures anywhere. Designed by César Pelli with a floor plan derived from Islamic geometry — two interlocking squares forming an eight-pointed star, softened with semicircles — they are the reason Kuala Lumpur has a recognisable skyline at all. The complex at their base, KLCC, adds a fifty-hectare park, a large mall, a concert hall and an aquarium, and is the natural centre of a first visit.
Going up
The visit takes you to the double-decker skybridge at levels 41 and 42, 170 metres up and the highest two-storey bridge in the world, then on to an observation deck at level 86. Tickets are timed and capped, and they sell out days ahead in peak season — book online rather than queueing at the ticket counter in the concourse. Sunset slots go first. The bridge is not attached to either tower but slides on spherical bearings, since the towers sway several centimetres in the wind and would otherwise tear it apart.
The engineering
The site sits on limestone karst riddled with cavities, and the original position had to be moved sixty metres when boreholes found the bedrock dropping away. The solution was a barrette foundation: 104 concrete piles driven up to 120 metres down, under a 4.5-metre-thick raft, in what was then one of the largest continuous concrete pours ever attempted. The towers are high-strength concrete rather than steel, which is stiffer and cheaper in Malaysia, and were built by two competing contractors — one on each tower — which is why they finished within days of each other.
The park and the complex
KLCC Park is fifty hectares laid out by the Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx, one of his last commissions, with a jogging track, a large children's playground, a public wading pool and the Lake Symphony fountains that run choreographed shows several times each evening. Suria KLCC is the mall at the base; Aquaria KLCC sits under the convention centre with a walk-through tunnel; and the Petronas Philharmonic Hall inside the towers is an acoustically serious concert venue with a resident orchestra.
Photographing them
The classic ground-level shot is from the KLCC Park lake at blue hour, with the fountains and the reflection. From the park you cannot get both towers in without a very wide lens or standing a long way back. Better elevated options: the Skybridge itself does not show the towers; the rooftop bars in the Bukit Bintang area do, and Menara KL, on a hill three hundred metres above sea level, gives the towers in context with the whole city behind. Traders Hotel's SkyBar is the well-known indoor version and requires a booking.
Petronas Towers and KLCC at a glance
| Height | 451.9 m — world's tallest 1998–2004 |
|---|---|
| Skybridge | Levels 41–42, 170 m up; sits on sliding bearings |
| Observation deck | Level 86; timed capped tickets, book online |
| Foundation | 104 piles to 120 m through limestone karst |
| KLCC Park | 50 ha by Roberto Burle Marx; evening fountain shows |
| Best photo | Park lake at blue hour, or Menara KL for context |