Perak
Ipoh
Colonial heritage and the country's best coffee
About Ipoh
Once a booming tin-mining town, Ipoh has become Malaysia's favourite weekend escape for old-world architecture, limestone cave temples and a food scene locals will argue about for hours. Restored shophouses and grand colonial civic buildings anchor an Old Town that rewards slow, unhurried wandering.
Things to do
Old Town heritage walk
Dewan Bandaran Ipoh, the Moorish-revival railway station and Birch Memorial Clock Tower, all within walking distance of each other.
Concubine Lane & mural trail
A restored heritage alley of trinket shops and cafés, part of a wider street-art trail by artist Ernest Zacharevic.
Perak Tong & Kek Lok Tong cave temples
Buddhist temples built into limestone caverns on the edge of the city, with a giant Buddha statue and a hidden garden courtyard.
Where to eat
Ipoh white coffee
Kopi putih, roasted with margarine instead of sugar, best tried at one of the original Old Town coffee shops.
Bean sprout chicken & Ipoh hor fun
The city's two signature dishes, both built around Ipoh's famously soft, limestone-filtered water.
Getting around
Ipoh is roughly 2 hours north of Kuala Lumpur by car or ETS train from KL Sentral, with Ipoh Railway Station itself a short walk from the Old Town heritage core.