How is Kuala Lumpur as a digital nomad base?

I spent last month in KL and it was ok - Bukit Bintang area. 26. Jan > 01. Mar.

I also came from Thailand like @Riennn , oh man what a depression hit me when I entered a room in a thing they call 3 star hotel. My God!
Be sure to always check room size!
I spent 2 days looking for another suitable hotel, as from what I could see it was difficult for me to find decent place up to 30$ US/day.
Either the room is to small or there is no window.

Second thing about hotels - cleanness could be issue, I have read trough dosens of comments while I was looking for another place to stay, and I did it for same hotel on couple of websites: booking, agoda and hotels. Lots of people complaining about that.
Most of the Hotels look very poor from outside and I just got a feel that they don’t care about it.
So take a good look of what you get if you are booking hotel - daily housekeeping!
I was in 2 hotels, they don’t clean room unless you ask, I don’t know is it just me but have that in mind.

After finding suitable place to stay the other part

What I found as a good thing about KL is that when you walk into any coffee shop, there is always at least 2-3 people with laptops working something. Meaning you can sit in any of these places couple of hours without any problem and do your work.

I used prepaid Maxis (Hotlink) 4G with 2+2Gb data plan for 36RM/Month then I just buy addons of 1,5Gb for 12RM when I spend that (I spend ~ 10-12Gb/month). Download app.
Wifi in Starbucks did not satisfy my need for speed, and other coffee shops when there is lots of people with laptops can get overcrowded so it’s always good to be independent.

The weather was so-so, sunny with showers, sometimes to hot when there is to much clouds, but you can always hide in air conditioned space or mall, there are lots of mall’s there.

To go out, Changkat is a street where you can find bars, usually they have happy hour after 10pm. While bars in malls have happy hours until 8pm.
Eg. Guinness pint ~ 20RM, or when non-happpy hour then ~ 30RM.
Coke is cheap ~ 5RM, Caffe Latte in SB ~ 13RM.
Always check small letters to see if prices are subject to service 10% and GST 6%.

Zouk is a popular night club, entrence 45RM+ (depending on program) before midnight including a drink, and they don’t allow short pants.

There are couple of coworking places, but I didn’t visit them, I just kind of like more to spend same money in a nice coffee shop, and then change couple of them trough days.

For a travel guide about what to do/see etc, I checked: http://www.kuala-lumpur.ws
There is lots of things to explore.
I did go to see both towers, Petronas and KL Tower, I don’t know… I always climb these things even the ticket is expensive. I did KL during day and Petronas night, for Petronas you need to buy ticket day in advanced and you can do it online.
Petrosains is a must see, I really liked and recommend that. Just a tip, maybe it would be good to avoid weekend and try to get there in a time when there will not be to many children or adolescents, you can spend hours there.

Food is good, I had no problem with that. Usually regarding the food/bars I check 4sq/tripadvisor app.
They don’t have pork that much because it’s a muslim country so if you want to eat pork, then google for pork

Overall experience was very good for me, it’s a nice city, very good connected to everywhere around. You can find everything you need there, just take a good look when/if you book a hotel.
I just missed DN meetup in KL, as usual I saw it on twitter the other day, darn!

Heading to KL beginning of June. Was there to visit gf last time for a week, this time I will stay for 2 months and would like to meet you guys there.

What’s the internet like at internet cafes in Penang? Works fine or are co-working spaces the only place to go if you want to upload/download larger files?

Hi @all:) I am in Kuala Lumpur until Sunday - anyone likes to meet uo? best, Feli

Lived in Kuala Lumpur for a few years. Fun city, relatively cheap and great food. Most of the expat community there is really friendly and welcoming. At the time I didn’t have too much money to travel to different countries, but there were so many cheap and gorgeous places to go to within Malaysia, that I really didn’t mind

Also, where you live in the city can have a massive effect on what you think of the place. If you do end up planning to move there, ping me and I will be happy to chat about specific places to look for accommodation in

Hi all,

Just landed in KL yesterday. I’m in Bukit Bintang today thru Wednesday. Any nomads around? Is there a specific coworking space everyone goes to?

I just got back to KL after a time in Europe and then Bangkok. What I miss in Thailand is English. Thai people just seem to hate speaking English. And in Malaysia the Ringgit is currently is also very low, which makes it cheaper.
Any other nomads around in KL right now?
There is a Couchsurfing Meetup each Friday in Bukit Bintang btw.

Any neighborhoods in or around KL of interest to DN?

Nomad Capitalist’s Andrew Henderson is based out of Malaysia although I think he’s found a smaller city around KL’s orbit that serves his needs and is even cheaper. He’s written a good article about KL though here.

I live in kl so if you have any questions feel free to contact me via my website at elizabethtai.com. Always happy to help nomads in town though my schedule has been really hectic so I may not be able to take you guys around town. Would love to though!

I have been to KL previously and now I am back using it as a base for SEA. The city is nice, not as crazy and chaotic as Bangkok and people speak very good English. Its not as beautiful and culturally active as Singapore but its also a lot cheaper.
If you are in KL at the moment and wanna meet up for a beer at Changkat, drop me a line!

Ive been staying in KL the last year, but not as a digital nomad. KL is a great getaway to SEA! The good thing is that most foreigners can get a 3 month visa on arrival!

Living costs in KL are quite cheap, and the standards are good. You can find a shared flat from as low as 650-1500 RM. But be aware the deposits are quite high - about 3,5 month rent. Cool areas are Bukit bintang (near Changkat) or Bangsar.

There are many international departures from KL airport, and with airasia its quite cheap. Airasia also has a cool ASEAN pass promotion: http://www.airasia.com/ot/en/book-with-us/asean-pass.page

There are plenty of coworking spaces in KL, but I think there are mainly locals hanging out there. Plenty of nice chic cafes to work from as well. There are also monthly events for entrepreneurs and expats so it will be easy to meet new people. You can for example check out the event called “Drinkentrepreneurs” to meet entrepreneurs, or you can meet other expats through internations or couchsurfing events…

Good luck!

Hi Marta,

I’m live in Malaysia but currently working in Singapore.
KL is not bad for gateway to others countries and islands. As I know most of the people love the beaches in Malaysia. But you might get difficult time to have internet in islands. If you don’t need then it will be great to enjoy there.

The main airport is in KL. If you are plan to stay awhile in Malaysia before going to other SEA countries, you can go to Penang and have a look. Penang island is like a Malaysia version of Singapore (but not that advance like them ). As I know there is some startups going there and it is awesome. Peoples there more friendly and not very busy life like in KL.

Is your choice now haha. Let us know more here if you end up in KL and what you feel in Malaysia. Enjoy!

May I suggest good old Bangkok as an alternative? It’s well connected to Thai islands and everywhere else in SEA. It’s the most diverse city, I can think of.

Ofc in KL you have Air Asia’s home airport, so you can’t beat those airfare prices. But Bangkok has lower costs of living than KL, so it might all equal out.

You should also have a look at Visa policies, before you make a decision.

Hey Marta

I live in KL and it is a good place ( KL is trying to be Silicon Valley of SEA) so if you are particularly interested in Startup, it is a good place to be in. I am not sure about Digital Nomad community here yet.

To me it is a good travel base and you have options to choose your co working space.

If you need any specific suggestion, kindly let me know

Wish you all the best

Marta,
If you ever do come around Kuala Lumpur, drop me a line and I’ll be happy to bring you around and show you what KL has to offer. It’s an exciting city, albeit a little chaotic. It’s also advanced enough for any digital nomad to operate in. It’s not as cheap as some people would like to believe, but compared to places like Australia, it’s still affordable.

It’s difficult to describe Malaysia. It’s a mix of numerous cultures in one. In one corner you feel like you’re in India (Brickfields) and in another Hong Kong (Chinatown). And then there are tonnes of expats in hip and happening Bangsar … KL is just very different.

Most people speak good English here, and there’s a number of co-working spaces too.

Hope to see you here. We need more nomads down here!

You can contact me via e-mail at liztaiwrites AT gmail.com

KL is a nice option, although I’d choose Singapore if it wasn’t because it’s pretty damn expensive. Then you have Jakarta as well but it’s such a crazy city. So it’s not easy to find a perfect place. If you do, let me know!

I haven’t lived there, I stayed there for about 2 months. As you say KL is amazing as a gateway. The airport is probably in every mayor route for any place in Asia so that is a plus. Regarding the city itself I haven’t found it super interesting, but that doesn’t mean it is not a nice city. It will really depends of what type of job you are doing and what are your intentions. If you are choosing KL only because of the airport, I think you can find better options in Asia.