Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur

Petronas Twin Towers.

The Petronas Twin Towers (or "Menara Berkembar Petronas" in Malay) are twin skyscrapers located in the Kuala Lumpur City Centre ("KLCC"). Soaring to the height of 451.9 metres, the Twin Towers were certified by the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat as the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004. They are presently still the tallest twin towers in the world.

Designed by renowned Argentine-born American Architect Cesar Pelli, construction of the post-modern styled buildings began in April 1994. The 88-storey buildings were completed in June 1996, first occupied by Malaysian petroleum company Petronas in January 1997 and officially declared open by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on 1st August 1999.

The twin towers are constructed of reinforced concrete with steel and glass facade referencing motifs found in Islamic art. A sky-bridge connects the two towers together at midpoint.

Besides the national petroleum company, the towers also hosts other multi-national companies. At the base of the towers are the Philharmonic Theatre and a shopping mall called Suria KLCC.

For those interested in visiting the towers, Visitor Operations are conducted from the concourse at the lower ground floor.

Ornamental water features in front of the Petronas Twin Towers.

Main entrance into the Twin Towers.

Ground Floor Lobby.

Look for the escalator going down to the lower ground concourse.

Go down the escalator.

Tickets cost RM84.80 (foreigner) & RM26.50 (Malaysian)

Look at the electronic screen to see available slots.

Go towards the ticketing counter.

Queue and buy your tickets.

With your tickets in hand, you may leave and return back before the appointed time.

Queue here at the appointed time.

You will be given a visitor pass.

You bags will then be screened in a baggage scanner and you will go through a metal detector and patted down for security purposes. You will be asked to keep your bags in a baggage storage room and given a tag with which to redeem your bags later. Then the staff will take photographs of you for purposes which will become apparent later.

A short safety and security briefing will be given to members of the group via a projector. The group is usually kept small so that the whole party can fit into the lift.

Safety briefing.

After the safety briefing, you will be taken up by lift to Level 41 of Tower 2. Level 41 is where the lower floor of the double-decker skybridge is.

Level 41.

Welcome to the Skybridge.

The skybrdge actually connects the two towers together and is a double-decker structure with Level 41 being for visit operations and Level 42 being for private use by office tenants. The sky-bridge is designed to not be physically attached to the two towers allowing for swaying of the buildings during high winds.

You will be allowed to stay here for 10 minutes to take photographs or just admire the views. There is also an electronic touch screen at the centre of the sky-bridge.

The lower deck of the Sky-bridge.

View of landscape architect Roberto Burle-Marx's KLCC Park from the sky-bridge.

View of the Suria KLCC mall down below.

View of the ornamental water features below.

After 10 minutes you will be asked to queue to take the lift up to Level 83.

Level 83.

From Level 83 you will ushered to another pair of smaller lifts which will take you up to the actual observatory on Level 86 of Tower 2.

At Level 86, you will be given another 10 minutes to wander around.

Architectural models.

Model of KL city.

KLCC area.

Petronas Twin Towers scale model.

Model of Tower Pinnacle.

Phenomenal view of the city skyline.

Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Kampung Baru.

Tower 1 and KL Tower in the background.

Tower 1.

Pinnacle.

After 10 minutes, you will be brought down back to Level 83. There is a small souvenir shop here as well as a panels depicting most of the tallest buildings in the world.

Level 83 shop.

Petronas Twin Towers & the Burj Khalifa, present holder of the tallest building in the world.

Your tags will be taken back here before you are brought back down from Level 83 to the concourse at the lower ground floor. You will be given the opportunity to buy your photographs taken earlier by the staff which have been superimposed over the Petronas Twin Towers. You can also buy other merchandise at the gift store before finally exiting.

The Petronas Twin Towers are icons of Kuala Lumpur, and a must visit for those who want to say they have "been there and done that!"

Petronas Twin Towers

Address: Lower Ground (Concourse) Level, Petronas Twin Towers,Kuala Lumpur City Centre,50088 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Telephone : +60 (3) 2331 8080     

Email :   pettvo@gmail.com

Operation Hours: 9:00am to 9:00pm, Tuesdays to Sundays. Closed on Monday; and between 1:00pm-2:30pm on Friday.