The Petronas Twin Towers sit magnificently on Jalan Ampang and it is one of the latest landmarks in the city. The towers are about 452 metres (1480 ft) tall and both of them are linked by a skybridge on the 42nd floor. Both towers reaches an auspicious 88 storeys. The building are mostly covered by glass and stainless steel of which both give the towers its futuristic look. The towers are truly an amazing work of state-of-the-art engineering techniques.

Some interesting points to note are the skybridge is double-level  and it’s one of the highest in the world at 170 metres (560ft). The Petronas Twin Towers also has one of the world’s highest numbers of “double-deck” lifts which run at speed of 5 metres (16 ft) per second which means going from the basement to the top floor takes about a minute only!

Visitors are only allowed to ascend to the skybridge on the 42nd floor. Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones had access to the top when they filmed the movie Entrapment, but if you want to get to the higher floors, you had best ask the Prime Minister.

The Petronas Twin Towers are actually office blocks, and make up a section of a larger development called the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC). The whole development of KLCC includes a cinema complex, one of the largest shopping centres in KL (the ultra-modern Suria KLCC) and an oil and gas museum. There is
also an art gallery and a small but magnificent concert hall, the first dedicated classical music venue in Malaysia. The development also has a pretty landscaped park, hotels and a big convention centre. The most recent addition is the Aquaria KLCC which is an impressive aquarium with over 3,000 types of fish on display.

The Petronas Twn Towers futuristic look. You can see the skybridge linking up both towers.

At 42nd floors of the Petronas Twin Towers, the skybridge links up both towers. Visitors are allowed to hang around on the skybridge for around 15 minutes. When you are up on the skybridge, the thing that you can do is to snap pictures of the magnificent surrounding sky view. From there, I bet you will surely admire the scenic view of Kuala Lumpur since you are so high up in the sky.

Admission is free but you need to get up early to queue for the tickets since the tickets are offered on a first come first serves basis. I was out of luck that day as I reached there at around 9:30am and the tickets were all out. The bad news was the building was only opened half day. That was on Monday and I was out of luck. So my advise is don’t go there when the building is open only half day unless you could reach there as early as 8am. Another advise for not visiting when the building is open half day is there is less free tickets since the tickets are only given in the morning for both morning and afternoon visiting sessions.

Fortunately, I was there before but that was about 2 years ago. I guess I could still remember some of the experience I had when visiting the Petronas Twin Towers and that time I managed to go up to the skybridge.

If you had successfully gotten the ticket and be admitted, you will be guided to a mini theater where you will be briefed on the history of the building while waiting for your turn to visit the skybridge. From there, you will also learn about the technology used to construct the Petronas Twin Towers, the difficulty the engineers faced and also the materials used.

One of the amazing things about the twin towers is the skybridge is actually not rigidly attached to both towers. Its flexibility prevents it from being destroyed when both towers where it’s connected to stretches. Because of this, you can feel the skybridge swings slightly when you are on it and it happens that there is strong wind it only moves slightly. So there is really nothing to be scared of.

When you done at the skybridge, at ground zero you will be seeing some information booths where you will learn more about the Petronas Twin Towers in terms of its history, purpose, architecture design and technology used.

Another picture shot of the Petronas Twin Towers from different angle.

Suggested things to do while you are at the Petronas Twin Towers

Here are some of the things you could do if you are going to visit the towers. These suggestion are purely based on my experience of visiting the Petronas Twin Towers before.

1.   If you were a photographer, the best thing for you to do is to take pictures of the Petronas Twin Towers from ground zero all the way up to the skybridge. This magnificent structure is really a test to your photography skills from day to night. From the skybridge, you can also snap pictures of the view overlooking the Kuala Lumpur city skyscrapers. Remember, you only have 15minutes on the skybridge. So appreciate the time while you are up there.

2. If you were a structure or mechanical engineer,  I am sure you will want to learn about the technology used to construct this building. One of the most interesting aspects is to know about the method used to avoid the towers being destroyed by lightning. Since these towers are so high up in the sky and you know Kuala Lumpur is a rain-prone area, it’s interesting to find out how the engineers are able to safeguard this building from lightning. If you want to know, you can go check it out yourself.

3.  If you were an architect or an artist who loves building design, this is the place for you. The Petronas Twin Towers has some very unique cross section if you look at it from the top and it also contains some Islamic design.

4. If you were a parents with kids, this is a good place to bing your kids to learn some of the sciences involved. Beside, bring your kids to the latest aquarium, Aquaria KLCC.

5. Visit KLCC Suria. The KLCC Suria is one of the latest and modern shopping mall and it carries a lot of brand name such as Louis Vuitton, Versace, etc.

If you are planning go to visit the Petronas Twin Towers, I would suggest you to get up as early as 6am and be there at no later than 8am. And this is especially true if you are planning to visit during weekend or public holidays. The tickets are only given in the morning for both morning and evening visiting sessions. If you missed the tickets in the morning, you will have to come back the next day. You could still visit the KLCC Suria shopping mall.

Getting to Petronas Twin Towers

The Jalan Ampang street is a traffic congestion prone area. Therefore, take Putra LRT if possible to avoid being stuck in a traffic jam.  Take the Putra LRT at the KL Sentral terminal and if you are taking other transit such as STAR or KTM, you can change to Putra LRT at others terminal and from there just heads to KLCC terminal. From KLCC, ask around where the Petronas Twin Tower tower 2 is and from there, you can collect the ticket and reach the entrance.

Location, Map and Driving Direction to Petronas Twin Towers:

What Others Are Reading

Discounted Hotel in Malaysia