Perdana Botanical Gardens Tours and Activities

Get a healthy start to the day by heading to KL’s green lungs, the Lake Gardens, which are walking distance from KL Sentral Station. Popular from dawn to dusk with runners, tai qi practitioners, couples in white gowns and tuxes looking for a photogenic backdrop for their wedding photos, or city dwellers seeking a brush with nature, the Lake Gardens are the city’s most popular park. Built around an artificial lake and spread over 920,000 square metres, there are botanical gardens, a herb garden, two children’s playgrounds, and rowing boats for hire. Look out for the park’s tribe of monkeys swinging in the trees, and the resident monitor lizards sunning themselves by the side of the lake. The Lake Gardens were established by the British colonial government back in the 1880s as a place to stroll and socialise away from the crowds and humidity of the city. Now there is a wide range of attractions dotted around the grounds, including the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park, a deer and butterfly park, the National Planetarium & Space Agency and the Islamic Art Museum.As the site is so large and the weather is always so warm, the tourist train which connects all the attractions in the gardens is worth catching for a minimal charge. If you arrive early or late in the day, when the weather is a little cooler, take the opportunity to wander around the grounds to see the hundreds of species of trees and flowers that attract native and migratory birds. Follow the signs to see the sunken garden, a hibiscus park and a herb garden. For kids, there are plenty of fun things to do, from the two playgrounds and the rowing boats for hire to monkey spotting. The Lake Gardens are located near KL Sentral Station. They are open every day of the year. General admission is free, though there are charges for boat hire and most other attractions.