A Guide to Visiting Putrajaya from Kuala Lumpur

Shhhh – I want to tell you about an absolute hidden gem. As our taxi pulled in to the side of a main road to drop us off, I wondered where on earth we were, but as we strolled through this deserted, beautiful, green city, it was one of the best days we had on our recent trip to Malaysia. Let me fill you in on one of the country’s best kept secrets!

Putrajaya is a beautiful city about 30 minutes from Kuala Lumpur, and only 10 minutes from Kuala Lumpur international airport. It’s Malaysia’s administrative capital, home to its many government buildings. It’s also known as a garden city, set around a lake, for its lush greenery and flowers everywhere. It makes a perfect day trip from Kuala Lumpur, or first/last stop on a trip around Malaysia.

How to visit Putrajaya from Kuala Lumpur

• Putrajaya is 30-45 minutes drive north of Kuala Lumpur.
• The easiest way to reach the city if you don’t have your own car is via Grab Taxi, which will cost around ￡6 each way.
• You can reach Putrajaya via public transport, by taking the MRT Putrajaya Line from KLCC or Conlay station in to Putrajaya Sentral. This will cost around ￡3 in total and take 55 minutes.
• If you take the MRT, you will then need to take a Grab taxi to the start the walk below, or any of the points of interest listed.
• You can also visit Putrajaya from the airport. A Grab Taxi from there will cost around ￡2. It’s a perfect first or last night in the country rather than an airport hotel if you can manage it!
• Finally, there are a number of tours which take you to Putrajaya from KL, but only for a boat ride and visit to the pink mosque – they cost around ￡30-￡40 per person and you only really see one part, not the whole city. In my opinion, it’s not worth it and much better to visit independently.

Lovely

Things to do in Putrajaya

Putrajaya is centred around a main thoroughfare, stretching across a number of its precincts. We started in Precinct 5 and effectively walked at the waters’ edge, then came inland for a stroll along the main avenue, through precincts 4, 3, 2 and ended in 1. It was effectively a (wiggly) straight line, and end to end the walk took 2 hours.

The items I list below are in order as we saw them on the walk. In total we spent 6 hours in Putrajaya including the travel time, doing this walk, taking in the sites on the way and eating lunch before heading back to KL.

Seri Gemalang Bridge

We started our visit to Putrajaya by being dropped off at the roadside next to Seri Gemalang Bridge, a ceremonial and ornate bridge connecting two parts of Putrajaya. After taking in the majestic views, we took the steps down from the bridge to the water front (on the opposite side of the river to the Convention Centre), and strolled along the front to our next stop.

Anjung Floria

About 15 minutes later after a lovely stroll in the sunshine, we arrived at Anjung Floria, a pretty park. It’s home to some nice sculpted gardens and beautiful Chinese pavilion. We had it all to ourselves and I particularly loved the pandas! We sat here for a while just admiring our surroundings, the scent of the flowers and chirp of the birds our only company.

Iron Mosque

Just a short hop back along the waterfront and you’ll come to the imposing Iron Mosque jutting out in to the river. It’s actual name is the Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Mosque, and was opened in 2010. It’s silver all over and its dome glistened beautifully in the sun.

After approaching the Mosque from the water, before we reached it we turned inwards away from the water and crossed a couple of roads to reach an underpass. We emerged up some steps with a view back to the Iron Mosque which was quite striking.

Views of the Iron Mosque

Putrajaya Square & Federal Court of Malaysia

The stairs pop you up in to Putrajaya Square, a beautiful and open green square which opens to the Iron Mosque above on one side, and the Federal Court of Malaysia on the other. The Court building was truly breathtaking with its imposing domes.

Views of the Federal Court building from the square

Persiaran Perdana

From here, we turned left when facing the court building, and walked straight down the beautiful and wide road Persiaran Perdana. It’s lined with architecturally striking government buildings and reminded us a little of the wide avenues we’ve seen in Budapest and the US! I of course particularly liked the department of Finance building.

Putra Mosque

Eventually the road brings you out on Putra Bridge and then…..neither of us could stop saying WOW as the Putra Mosque came in to view. The most beautiful mosque I think I’ve ever seen from the outside, in hues of pink in the sunshine. And even better, there was no-one else on the bridge, not one single person.

Putra Square

After crossing the bridge, the mass tours hit – riding out on boats and taking snaps all around the main square in to which the bridge opens up with the mosque to the left. At this point we had barely encountered any tourists and were having a fabulous day – I think it would be entirely different if all you did was the tour and all you saw was the square. The square itself was another grand affair, with an open view to the Prime Minister’s office (which was very heavily guarded)!

Putrajaya Botanical Gardens

By the time we left Putra Square, we’d walked 8km and had had a really lovely half day out. In hindsight, we should have just got a Grab taxi back to Kuala Lumpur at that point, however I wanted to visit the Putrajaya Botanical Gardens.

Whilst they were lovely, and absolutely worth a visit, they aren’t a patch on the Perdana Botanical Gardens in Kuala Lumpur, so if you’ve already visited those, then the extra 3+km to walk there and walk around probably aren’t worth it. In addition, you’ll probably be hungry by now but the restaurants in the Botanical Gardens only took AliPay, cash or TouchNGo cards (none of which we had).

Inside the Gardens

That said, the gardens are still great to walk around and explore. We managed to find a late lunch shortly afterwards in a nice little local restaurant, and then head back to KL at around 3pm after a magical day out.

Other Putrajaya Visitor Information

• Putrajaya is more of a local city than a tourist city, and so I did feel a little out of place in a summer dress! I wish that I had worn something slightly more reserved – especially as I would have loved to go in to the Pink Mosque but obviously couldn’t given what I was wearing.
• You can take boat trips out on the water as well, I think this would have been a nice way to finish the visit instead of the Botanical Gardens.
• There are not huge numbers of eating options in Putrajaya, but we found a lovely local restaurant. If you are looking for Western food, I recommend travelling early and getting back to Kuala Lumpur for lunch (though there is a Burger King!).
• Visiting at the weekend will mean it’s at its quietest given it’s mostly full of people there for work Monday to Friday only.
• Putrajaya, like the rest of Malaysia, gets scorching hot. If you follow this post, given the amount of walking, please take water, suncream and a hat with you.

So, what do you think of magical Putrajaya? Both my husband and I put it in out ‘top 5’ experiences of the holiday – we thought it was amazing and gave a completely different experience to Kuala Lumpur.