by dkm1981

Blackburn, England, United Kingdom

June 1, 2011

by Gwilym Owen

London, England

September 3, 2006

Erm, the record for the world's tallest two freestanding towers?

But it DOES look far swankier than those buildings, and I’m sure there was no coincidence that the hotel room we booked had a clear view of it.

That first night we hightailed out to KLCC for a look round and gazed in awe up at the sheer majesty of the beautiful structures above us!

The next morning we woke up early to make sure we got a couple of only 800 daily free tickets for the Sky Bridge on level 41 (closed on Mondays!), so you could miss out if you turn up late! Once you have your tickets you go into a sort of mini museum on the construction of the building, followed by a guided tour up on the Sky Bridge itself.

The tapering twin towers share an Islamic-influenced geometric octagonal plan with 88 floors (all these ‘8’s are on purpose as they signify the lucky Chinese number. If you fancy some background revision, check out the movie Entrapment, which features the Petronas Towers in some detail.

There is also a fantastic shopping centre here and we got to see the spectacular movie Hero on its opening day in Malaysia, a film that had yet to see general release in the West at the time.

by beautysan

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

June 13, 2006

The double-decked Skybridge is located at the 41st and 42nd storey, connecting the twin tower in mid-air. We took the speedy elevator up to the Skybridge, travelling at an amazing rate of 3.5m to 7m per second! On the Skybridge, sweeping view of Kuala Lumpur is presented under our eyes. We were only allowed 15 minutes time on the Skybridge, which is really short compared to the time spent in the queue, but it's worth it for this architectural marvel. Don't forget to visit the exhibition hall on the ground floor for the explanations of the architecture, lifts, Skybridge, etc.

As we needed to get tickets to the Skybridge (only limited number of tickets are given out each day, and they are free), we had to queue up very early in the morning, at around 7am (on weekends), in order to get the tickets! I queued up for the ticket twice, and half way thru the queue (around 8:30am), they have already ran out of tickets I had to come back again some other time! So, I would strongly recommend tourists to visit the Skybridge on weekdays, as weekdays are usually the off- peak visiting period.

by Koentje3000

Hamme, Belgium

May 3, 2006

by Muchmor

Belleville, Ontario

October 20, 2005

by wanderer 2005

Phoenix, Arizona

January 24, 2005

When you visit the towers, the sky bridge is the highest point you can reach. There is also a restaurant at this level. You can pick up your free tickets on the ground floor before 10am, and the views from the sky bridge are unmatched.

by Asia Traveler

Onalaska, Wisconsin

December 11, 2004

by Purple Mais

Cambridge, United Kingdom

September 8, 2004

We took an early bus (RM8) from Melaka to KL to take us back to where we started. After installing ourselves in another hotel in KL, we set off to see the definitive landmark of KL that can be seen wherever you are in the city, and we had glimpsed on many occasions transiting through, but we had not yet visited – the Petronas Towers. We took the Putra line metro to KLCC station and nothing can prepare you for what you see when you step out from below ground into the shadow of the towers. You are first met with the wide curvature of glass and steel of the base of one of the towers, and that was just the back view. The eyes are automatically drawn upwards and it is at first difficult to comprehend the scale of the tower before you…coming from the UK we don’t have a culture of big skyscrapers, so I guess we are easily impressed.

Crossing a busy road to walk round to the front of the towers, the other tower comes into view. In front of the towers is an avenue of trees and seating where one can relax, admire the perfect symmetry of the towers and try to photograph the huge structure…which is no easy feat to do justice to the sense of scale. Unfortunately we had arrived too late to go up to the walkway or ‘skybridge’, (on the 42nd floor and not even half way up the full height of 88 floors). Finding out where to get these tickets was also a challenge in itself.

On entering the building you realise that it is actually a working office building with people in suits going about their everyday business (the towers are home to many multinational companies). Continuing through to what is effectively between and behind the towers you emerge in one huge shopping mall. If you love to shop, then here must be your idea of heaven, with every brand from high street to designer all under one roof. There’s also a massive food court on the ground floor serving any cuisine from around the world – perfect for a lunchstop, if you can decide what to have from a complete choice overload.

We decided it was time to leave the Petronas towers when we noticed an ominous grey stormcloud brewing. I’m sure that the towers get hit by lightening rather a lot and it is perfectly safe, but all the same we headed back to the Chinatown area where our hotel was. Since we were leaving the next day, we decided to give ourselves one final treat – An ais kacang, a shaved ice dessert similar to cendol but with fruit and syrup instead of beans and jellied noodles. Antony chose the durian one since he seems to have acquired the taste for the pungent fruit. But I will not forget the look on his face when half way through his big bowl of dessert he came across the layer of sweetcorn?! It just goes to show that like traveling around Malaysia, just when you think you understand the culture and know what to expect, it throws up something surprising and gives you another revelation from the cultural mixing pot of Malaysia.

by Kez

Broadbeach Waters, Australia

May 23, 2004

As these towers seem to be nearly always in your sight, you couldn't come to KL and not go up to the viewing platform.

The towers themselves are so modern and dominating they appear almost surreal against the skyline. Amazingly, the exteriors of the towers are made entirely of stainless steel and glass; this is very unusual and very expensive.

Although these are among the tallest buildings in the world, the high-speed elevator only whisks you up to the 42nd floor. The view is still great, but if you were hoping to make it to the top you will be disappointed.

On the bright side, entry is free. You collect your ticket from the ticket counter where it is stamped with the time of your ascent. You go off and shop for about 25 - 30 minutes and then come back and wait for your turn. It is all very efficient.

If you have your credit card, the KLCC centre is at the base and offers some of the most exclusive shopping in the city.

by phileasfogg

New Delhi, India

June 10, 2003

So off we went, one warm morning, taking the local Putra LRT train to KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre), from where Petronas is a hop, skip and jump away. Every morning, 8.30 onwards, 1,300 free visitor passes are given out to go up to the skybridge at Petronas, and we managed to get a pair- for a 12 o’clock visit, which was just a few minutes after we reached the building.

The Petronas Towers, inaugurated in 1999, soar to 452 mt. The buildings were designed by an Argentinian architect (Cesar Pelli) for an American architectural firm, one tower being built by a Japanese construction firm, the other by a South Korean one (that takes some beating when it comes to being truly global!). The entire structure’s made of glass, steel and reinforced `superconcrete’ which allows the towers to sway as much as 10 inches in strong wind conditions. One tower’s occupied by the Malaysian petroleum company, Petronas; the other houses mega multinational companies such as Boeing, Alcatel, Reuters, GE, and others.

The tower’s design- of interlocked squares, with alternate corners angular and rounded- is carried through the entire building. As soon as you enter the lobby, you’ll see it: in the flooring and the chandeliers, and of course later when you whiz up to the skybridge and look down between the towers. Silvery and gleaming, it’s all very impressive.

Our trip to the skybridge wasn’t very long- 1,300 visitors in the space of a few hours means you don’t get much time to loiter about at your own pace. Anyway, the 10 minutes we got were fairly sufficient. We were zoomed up in a special lift (which travels at the rate of 1 floor per second) to the skybridge on the 41st floor, where we were allowed to take as many photographs as we wanted while a guide explained the basics of the building. The view from the skybridge, even though it’s not from the top of the Towers, is spectacular- you can see all across the city below, and beyond too. Fabulous!