From Penang International Airport to Batu Ferringhi will take almost an hour. The reasons why we decided to start our vacation at Batu Ferringhi over the weekends instead of Georgetown is to avoid the weekend crowds in Georgetown and to travel back to the airport is shorter, about 15 minutes car ride.
As Batu Ferringhi is close to the beach, there are many high rise hotels and resorts for tourists. There are also high-rise sea view condos which are selling at an expensive price tag. Nevertheless, Batu Ferringhi is a great getaway destination from the buzzing city life.
The bathtub is like Kayden’s karaoke corner. He would sing out loud in the bathroom as if this world belongs to him entirely. Our Day 2 of Penang is to visit Penang Hill, the best destination to get a bird’s eye view of Penang’s cityscape. With 833 meters above sea level, you will expect a cool temperature when you are in Penang Hill.
We Are Going To Penang Hill
We had our breakfast buffet in DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hotel Penang before we set off to Penang Hill. Instead of the usual breakfast buffet such as sausages, pancakes and egg, the restaurant also serves Malaysia delights such as Roti Canai, Nasi Lemak and Nonya Kuehs.
Using the Grab app, we booked our GrabCar to pick us up from the hotel to Penang Hill at a fixed price of RM20. The journey took about 20 minutes, and the traffic was smooth. Upon dropping off our GrabCar, on the left side is where we will queue and board the train while on the right side is where we will purchase our tickets.
There are two types of tickets to purchase from, Normal or Fast Lane. For Fast Lane, you will have priority queue when boarding the train. In case you buy the Normal tickets but feel like taking the Fast Lane while you are on top of Penang Hill, head to the ticketing counter to exchange for Fast Lane vouchers. Each Fast Lane voucher will cost RM60. If you are travelling with a baby, please get the Fast Lane tickets.
The train ride from the Lower Station to the Upper Station will take about five minutes. Sometimes, the train will stop in the middle of the stations to pick up some of the residents and workers.
The cabins are fully air-conditioned, and each cabin can fit about 15 people. Upon reaching Penang Hill’s Upper Station, the most obvious is the Skywalk and Skydeck where visitors can view the cityscape of Penang. I will not recommend parents to push strollers on the Skywalk because of the crowds keep taking selfies of themselves. Nevertheless, please enjoy the 360-degree view of the island. It’s beautiful.
Continue to walk towards Dataran or plaza, and you will get to see the Second Generation Train Coach. Besides this historical train coach, there is a short staircase at Bypath A where you can get to look at the lots of love locks where lovers express their love for each other. This is a sweet photo spot for lovers!
Next, to the Old Waterfall Road, there is an Earthquake & Typhoon Pavilion where visitors can experience the intensity of up to level 8 magnitude earthquake and up to level 12 of a typhoon. We have to skip this exciting attraction due to baby carrying Baby N.
How to visit the Monkey Cup Garden the easy-peasy way
From the Earthquake & Typhoon Pavilion to Monkey Cup Garden is about 4km. Going up the slopes can be very challenging for parents with young children. If you wish to visit the Monkey Cup Garden to experience the exotic pitcher plants and a wide variety of plants from the jungles of Malaysia and Indonesia, take a buggy ride which will cost RM30.
The 4km ride up to the Monkey Cup Garden will take about 10 to 15 minutes. Along the way, the driver will share with you some of the historical buildings on the hills. You will also get to see one of the oldest post boxes in Penang built during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837 to 1901).
Here are some photographs were taken in the Monkey Cup Garden. You will spend about 45 minutes to an hour in this lush greenery tropical garden. When you are done with the tour, you can take a free ride down to the Earthquake & Typhoon Pavilion.
If you are not travelling with young children, you can visit more places in Penang Hill such as The Habitat, Bel Retiro Gate House and David Brown’s Restaurant. Exploring the whole of Penang Hill will take 8 hours or more. That means you can view the cityscape during sunset. As for myself, I have spent 4 hours in Penang Hill. After taking a train down to the Lower Station, we took a GrabCar back to DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hotel Penang. The price for our GrabCar is RM18.
Heading back to our hotel, we had our late lunch in the Makan Kitchen. We had Italian Pasta, Local Wanton Noodles and Penang’s Assam Laksa, each main is priced around RM30. Slurping delicious noodles!
The nearest shopping mall from DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hotel Penang is Tesco Tanjung Pinang. In this mall, you can find stores like BATA, McDonald’s, KFC and the hypermart, Tesco. We took a GrabCar to Tesco Tanjung Pinang during the evening for dinner as well as some supermarket shopping. The price of our GrabCar is RM9, and the journey is less than 10 minutes of drive.
This is our last night in DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hotel Penang. Three days two nights seems to pass very fast. For our last night in the hotel, we had KFC for dinner. Next stop, Georgetown.
Address of Penang Hill
Perbadanan Bukit Bendera
Jalan Stesen Bukit Bendera, Air Itam
11500 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Website: http://www.penanghill.gov.my
