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.

I have been living in Kuala Lumpur for 1 year and I love it but yes, it definitely lacks on working spaces.

The thing is if you are a visitor here you are probably staying in Bukit Bintang and I have no advice on places to work there specifically sorry but I can recommend some local coffee chains that you should find in most areas of KL.

The place where I work almost every day is Oldtown White Coffee, this is a chain restaurant in Malaysia and depending on the location they have comfortable seating and table with power sockets near all tables. The meals here are also very inexpensive and pretty tasty, can get a lunch set meal and drink for about 10RM. The best one is in Bangsar South, you could literally spend all day there comfortably working as many people do. Open till midnight.

Another Malaysian chain is Cosan’s Coffee, this place feels like it’s designed for working at with varying sized tables and power sockets nearby every seat. The coffee is Starbucks prices but it’s very good! Some are open till 1AM.

Third Wave is a cafe in Nexus, Bangsar South and it’s one of my favorite places to work at. Very chill and good, fast wifi. Food and drink is a bit pricier like 20RM+ but I can spend a good few hours working there comfortably and the staff don’t mind.

Publika is a mall in Mont Kiara although it’s not really a typical mall because it’s basically a mall of different cafes restaurants and bars. There’s a place called Mono Coffee there which I frequently spend a couple of hours working at. Coffee is Starbucks prices but decent. Again, it’s comfy and has everything you need for working. It’s quiet and never very busy. There are many other coffee shops in Publika that are probably great to work at as well.

If you are in KL more permenantly those are some places to check out for sure. I’m sorry I don’t have any recommendations for in the more central and touristy areas.

Can also check out this article: http://www.timeout.com/kuala-lumpur/food-and-drink/kls-best-cafes-for-lingering

I’ll be in Malaysia from Sept 24 to Oct 12. George Town, KL, Pulau Tioman, Singapore is the route. Happy to have the list for KL, I assumed it would have been easy to find work spaces there! Anyone spent time working from either GT or Tioman?

Great toasts at Paper&Toast but their wifi is not so good, sometimes it didn’t work and they asked me to use the wifi from the hotel next door. And if you want to go to rest room, they don’t have one, they will give you a key to go to the next door hotel to use its rest room.

Starbucks is bad in Malaysia, always crowed, terrible wifi.

The only place I could work in Malaysia was Old Town White Coffee, it’s everywhere, in KL and also in Penang. They have fast wifi, great Chinese food, good coffee, and power points.

However, after all, KL or anywhere in Malaysia is not a good place for me, and maybe for other DNs as well. I also dislike the airport (KLIA2 - the hub of AirAsia), never want to use it again. It’s ugly, cold (I was nearly frozen), more like a giant shopping mall so you have to walk a lot to go to checkins and departure gates. (KLIA1 is good but AirAsia is not there).

I’ll be coming over to KL from August 21 to August 25. I’m planning on visit Paper&Toast and already listed some of the coffee bars you guys are mentioning. Anyone more experienced with co-workingspaces in or around the city centre? (I’ll be staying somewhere near the Petronas Twin Towers)

I’ve spent more than a month in total working from cafes in KL over the last few years. Apart from ubiquitous cafes in air conditioned malls, I spent the majority of time in Old Town White Coffee. They have everything a DN need: good wifi, power sockets, good food and drinks and staff who do not care if you spent a whole day in the cafe.

I spent 4 days last week trying to work from KL, and so far it’s been the worst place in the world for me to try and get work done.
The Wi-Fi in my residence was abysmal. The 3G wasn’t particularly snappy - and was expensive.

The biggest struggle for me was/is that in order to be in synch with the rest of my team around the world - I need to work well after midnight. The only people KL seems to cater for after midnight is people who want to party.

I realised I must have been a bit spoiled by the plethora of 24-hour cafés in Chiang Mai, having just come from there. I’d been led to believe there was a 24-hour Starbucks, but after trudging around an assault-course of roadworks in the main city - I got there to find the place firmly shut, having evidently changed their mind on being open 24-hours.
In the end, I found the best places to work were:

• [Daytime] - VCR - This place was great to be fair. Expensive, like the rest of KL, but otherwise, exactly the kind of place you want to get some work done. It’s open until 11pm too, so perfect if you do need to work in the evening (pre-midnight).

• [Evening / Night] - The Whisky Bar - Yep. A bar. For Whisky. Right in the middle of a load of other bars full of pumping music and drunk people was this relatively civilised place that was open till 2 or 3am, had an acceptable level of noise and clientele who quietly kept themselves to themselves. Unlike every other bar on the street, it didn’t feel like a ridiculous place to crack open a laptop. Unfortunately, I only found this place on my last night!

I wanted to add my vote for VCR. I stumbled upon them because my Airbnb apartment was a block away and ended up going there every day for coffee and/or brunch plus to get work done. I was only in KL for 3 nights and the wifi in my apartment was crap so I’d have gotten nothing done at all if I’d not found them.

The coffee is great, the service pretty good and it’s a comfortable work environment with lots of power outlets. I’m not sure if I’d travel across the city to go there but, if you are close by, worth a shot.

I would highly recommend Einstein café or Coffee Amo. It’s both in China Town. They are almost neigbours and a bit hard to find, because they are situated on 2th floor. They have good coffees, food and you have a decent place to work with a mediocre speed of internet. Einstein opens at 9.00 AM and Amo at 9.30 AM (but it’s better to go there later, because they’re not strict with that!

Here’s an extensive list of all good coffee shops in KL:

Few that I’ve personally been to:

1. VCR
2. Feeka
3. LOKL Coffee
4. jeneris by AHREN

VCR Coffee & Cakes - fantastic place to work from.

I’ve never found reliable wifi in a KL Starbucks.

The VCR guys have great coffee, decent-ish food, fast wifi and a large comfortable workspace upstairs.

It’s an end row terrace painted black (v inconspicuous), next door to the “Swiss Gardens Residence” high rise. Finding it is easiest if you ask a taxi to take you there.

Try mamak shops most have free WiFi 5mbps<

Yes, you can try the co-working spaces listed in nomadlist. I was last week in KL, and there is no place like small coffee places with free wifi, at least not in the city center. Perhaps you could find something in the malls, but won’t be what you are looking for.

KL is strange city… street food is incredible, very good, tourists spots or real ones for workers, at the same time you’ll find very luxurious places and enormous malls; Warm climate and humidity causes everybody live inside them. Everything happens inside a mall … :S

Don’t spend more than 3 days there if you are just on vacation. Go to Singapore, much more interesting city. If you are going to stay longer, maybe find a nice and expensive condo + coworking is a good idea.

I tried hard to demonstrate that KL was an interesting city … but I wasn’t lucky… Twin towers, Batu Caves, Little India and China Town, and then you are done. You can avoid night life there and you’ll miss nothing.

I liked it cause I’ve never been to China or India, and KL has those both worlds there …

I repeat, KL doesn’t offer various options to work remotely. You’ll need coworking if you have things to get done.

I’m heading to Kuala Lumpur in 2 months and already found this coworking place which I think I will work there http://nook.my/

This is always such a disappointing answer… we should be striving to support local businesses, not big corporations! Does anyone know of smaller places that are not SB or McD with free wifi and maybe some other digital nomads about?

Any Starbucks will do. They have pretty decent WiFi. There is a time limit on WiFi usage but generally you can ask for another login code if you need.