Road Trip to Genting Highlands from Singapore
After hearing mixed reviews, we decided we better take a road trip to Genting Highlands, Malaysia (from Singapore) and go check it out for ourselves! We only had the weekend to travel though, so it was an early morning departure, one night away, then back by Sunday evening. Oh, and we were travelling by motorbike.
Saturday
With our one bag packed the night before we were up early for a 5.30am departure to beat the traffic at the border. Passports, water, snacks, wallet and drone. Check. We were ready to hit the road.
We crossed the border at the Tuas link from Singapore to Malaysia, often called the second link by locals. The cars were already backed up at 6am. Thankfully, the motorcycle lanes were empty, and we breezed through the Singapore, and then the Malaysian passport controls.
Watching the sun rise as we cruised the highway north towards Kuala Lumpur (KL) was nice. We pulled off the motorway before Simpang Renggam to look for breakfast. In the township of Simpang Renggam, on the other side of the road we saw a big white banner hand painted with ROTI CANAI. That was our breakfast stop; a local roadside eatery serving fresh roti canai and nasi (rice) meals. All washed down with a rich milo ice (cold malt chocolate drink with sweetened condensed milk). It cost us SGD $2.60 for our entire breakfast.
The sign that got our attention at breakfast time: T Jelsma
Wanting to get to Genting Highlands as soon as possible, we got back on the highway. The highways around KL were congested; there were a lot of road works going on. At the Plaza Tol Gombak (the toll booth at Gombak), we made a happy mistake. We accidentally took the lane to the right that put us on the B road. We had Google Maps running, so we could have rejoined the highway. But the twisty B roads made my husband smile, and with an extra 40 mins of estimated time, I agreed.
Always take the B roads
If you love road trips like we love road trips, always take the B roads when you can. You’ll see so much more than boring highways will ever show you. We rode through villages and along a river before hitting roads that went up and up and up. There was less traffic on this narrow road and although there were crazy cyclists on the road, our our only hazard was a family of monkeys who wanted to cross.
Our B road rejoined the main road eventually and we wound our way even further up into the hills with cars and buses. The hills here are steep, green and gorgeous. And they are so tall, that my teeth almost started chattering when we started riding into the cloud layer.
Our accommodation
We got to our accommodation, Gloria Residences Ion Delemen, at about 1pm; 7 hours after leaving home. Not bad considering it included fuel stops, breakfast and a B road.
The Grand Ion Delemen Hotel (which is connected to the Residences where we stayed) has a Malaysian record for “the highest altitude full-fledged service apartment, at 5956.46 feet above sea level.” The Ion Delemen accommodations sit a couple of kilometres away from all the casinos and entertainment action at First World Plaza. But they run shuttle buses to and from. If I didn’t have my own transport, I’d probably stay at Resorts World Genting for convenience, but as it was, the Delemen Residences had a comfortable bed (not hard like many Asian beds, yippee!!) and was a good price.
The breakfast buffet offered more local dishes than western flavours, but it was totally adequate. We had a late lunch at Tavern in the Sky, one of the hotel restaurants. It had a simple Thai food menu with amazing views. Thankfully, the cloud cover had lifted. The staff were friendly, and the chicken fried rice and garlic chicken was good. We really wanted to have a brownie at the cool cafe with pink flower and angel wings (on the pool level) before we left, but we ran out of time.
What to do at Genting Highlands
After you’re tired of taking in the magnificent vistas (or taking some drone video like we did), here’s our list of the activities we checked out:
Awana Skyway Cable Car
View from the cable car: T Jelsma
You’ll find it on the 4th floor. The queue for the glass floor gondola was much shorter so that’s what we purchased tickets for. Note: glass bottom gondolas are every tenth gondola. They pack in the people into the regular gondolas (can take 10 pax) so the line for regular gondolas moves quickly. The choice is yours! You can purchase tickets from machines there or online at Klook.
Premium Outlet Stores
Enjoy the 10 minute cable car ride to the Premium Outlet Retail Centre where you can shop, grab food or drinks. There is an amazing range of shops and brands on offer. If you’re a serious shopper, you should definitely consider this Savings Passport which gives you even bigger discounts.
Head back up to First World Plaza on the cable car when you’re ready.
Check out Skytropolis – the indoor amusement park
We weren’t expecting it and were quite blown away by it all. Lots of families and older kids were having the time of their lives! You can get discounted tickets to Skytropolis online.
We didn’t go on the amusement rides, though I did consider the zip line from one side of the mall to the other. Instead we went to The Void, an augmented reality experience. Putting on VR gear, we became storm troopers and had a mission to fulfill. It was very cool!
VR experience at The VoidDinner
After wandering around some more it was time for dinner. We shared a tapas plate at La Fiesta. Good service, good meal – I’d eat there again, for sure.
It was getting late, but we turned down the movies and bowling for karaoke at Studio K on the 3rd floor. I LOVE karaoke! There are very few things that wash away stress like karaoke, for me. Though the rooms were nice, unfortunately, the English song selection wasn’t that great, and I wouldn’t go there again.
Sunday
After breakfast we packed up, handed in our room key and jumped on the motorbike. The weather was cool but clear.
The Chin Swee Temple has a commanding view: N JelsmaChin Swee Temple
10 mins down the hill is the Chin Swee Caves Temple. There is a lot more to see at this complex than I was expecting. All with amazing views too. It is a Buddhist temple with a pervasive feeling of calm. It looks like they get lots of crowds, but we were there at 9.30 am with very few other people.
They also have dioramas depicting the ten courts of hell – like Haw Par Villa in Singapore. Check out my Instagram highlight for what you can expect.
Strawberry Farm
Another 10 mins further down the hill and you get to the lower township of Bandar Gohtong Jaya where you’ll find the Genting Strawberry Leisure Farms. I can imagine this would be a fun place to bring kids. You have to pay to get in (not much). You can pay extra if you want to pick your own strawberries from their hydroponic “fields”. There is also lavender and other flowers growing year round.
Seeing all the fresh strawberries got us wanting something strawberry, but we didn’t want to buy a large punnet. Follow the path and you’ll get to the cafe where you can buy fresh strawberry snow freeze (very good), strawberry shakes (OK) and chocolate covered strawberries (don’t do it, the chocolate was terrible). There are other drinks, snacks and ice creams available too.
All things strawberry, even the table: T Jelsma
We made the mistake of sitting down to enjoy our strawberry snacks in a relaxed fashion. When really, we should have done it takeaway style and ate as we walked. Because who knew there was another 10 minutes of walking through retail stores and garden areas before you actually get to the exit?! It was hilarious, and reminded us of duty free stores at the airports these days. Clearly, they are geared up for high numbers of tourists. Clearly, we’re not their target market. But the ice cream was good.
Homeward bound
We took the B road back to the highway around KL, then continued home to Singapore. We stopped for lunch at the R&R Seremban on our south bound journey. The highways in Malaysia have good R&R (rest and relaxation) stops for road trip weary travellers. You’ll find picnic tables, fuel, toilets and food options. We chose to eat at A&W, mostly because it was extremely hot, and they offer cold root beer floats. Yum…
A quick note if you’re riding motorcycles on the highways in Malaysia: there are lots of toll plazas, but motorcycles are free. Stick to the very left hand lane and you’ll see a small lane for motorcycles. Sometimes they look like small garden paths.
We took a detour on our way home, looking for a wide road through palm plantations without much traffic. All with the purpose to do some drone flying and use the “follow me” option where the drone follows you when you ride. If you want to know where exactly, drop me a comment. Otherwise, just stick to the highway.
Back in Singapore as the sun sets: T Jelsma
You’ll want to be back at Tuas by 6.30 pm to avoid heavy Sunday traffic entering Singapore. At 6.30 pm the traffic (cars and motorcycles) was starting to build up. We got through pretty quick though and walked in our door just after 7pm.
We both enjoyed Genting more than we expected. Travelling in a car would be a comfortable road trip to Genting Highlands from Singapore – with air conditioning you wouldn’t notice the huge changes in temperature.
If you’ve ever wondered what entertainment in the tops of hills might look like, I’d recommend it as a road trip from Singapore, for sure!
Peace out!
Trip taken August 2019.
