The last time I visited Genting Highlands was more 30 years ago. Back then, we travelled by coach up a winding road to the peak where there were a couple of hotels and a casino. This place has undergone tremendous transformation since then. Now, Genting Highlands is synonymous with Resorts World Genting, an integrated hill resort development comprising hotels, shopping malls, theme parks and casinos. 
Perched on the peak of a 6000 feet high mountain, only 58 km from Malaysia’s capital city of Kuala Lumpur, Genting Highlands offers cool comfortable weather almost all year round. This in itself is a major attraction for those living in the hot and humid cities within South-East Asia. Together with another couple who are our long-time friends, we planned to spend a few days at Genting Highlands. This is mainly to escape the hot humid weather back home and also to experience the “new” Genting.
We flew from Singapore into Kuala Lumpur International Airport by Scoot arriving at about 11 AM. There are many ways to get to Genting Highlands from the airport. We chose to rent a car at the airport and drove to the hill resort.
It took us about an hour along the well-maintained Malaysian toll roads and highways to arrive at Gohtong Jaya, a small town at the foothills, about 5 km before the resort on the peak.
This small town was erected and named after Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, the founder of Genting Group. It houses several shops, apartments and more importantly, a row of restaurants offering good and cheap local food. Gohtong Jaya is a perfect place for lunch before heading up to Genting.
About 5 minutes drive from Gohtong Jaya is the Genting Highlands Premium Outlets. We decided to stop by here after lunch since it was still too early to check in at our hotel.
This premium outlet centre features over 130 designers and brand name stores. I like the open layout where we get to enjoy the cool Genting air while moving from one shop to another. The prices are not much discounted compared to outlets malls in the US or Europe. Nevertheless, my wife still managed to spend some money at the Kate Spade store.
Besides shopping, there are also many food outlets that are worth checking out. We had our coffee break at Nam Heong Ipoh. They are famous for the eggs tarts and excellent coffee.
This is also the place to take the cable car up to Resort World Genting for those who came by bus or tour coaches. I was glad we had our rental car when we saw the crowd and long queues at the cable car station.
Where we stayed in Genting Highlands
There are many places to stay at the Resort Worlds Genting. Hotels that are part of the integrated resort include First World Hotel, Crockfords, Theme Park Hotel, Maxims Hotel or the Genting Grand.
There are also accommodations that are slightly away from the hill top complex such as the Gloria Residences Ion Delemen or the Grand Ion Delemen Hotel.
We stayed at the Grand Ion Delemen Hotel that offers great value for money. This full-service hotel offers a wide range of accommodation options that include deluxe and one-bedroom suites designed for individuals or couples, as well as two- and three- bedroom suites which caters to families or larger groups.
Living area cum kitchen in the 2 bedroom suite in the Grand Ion Delemen Hotel.
My wife and I were upgraded to the two bedroom suite that includes private bedrooms, a separate living area, and kitchenette with complimentary bottled water and canned drinks in the mini refrigerator.
A complimentary shuttle service is provided to and from the hotel to First World Plaza. This shuttle operates from 9 AM till midnight on an hourly basis. We did not need to use this service since we had our own rental car.
Views from our hotel room during our stay
Almost all of the apartments in Grand Ion Delemen Hotel offer unblocked views of the surrounding mountain ranges.
View of the surrounding mountains ranges. 5956 feet above sea level.
I spent quite some time in the balcony of the suite, enjoying the cool crisp mountain air while shooting many photos of the landscape, made more interesting by the low clouds, flowing and rolling constantly across the mountains.
Sunrise as viewed from our apartment, Grand Ion Delemen Hotel.
Resorts World Genting complex shrouded in clouds, as viewed from Grand Ion Delemen Hotel.
These are what we did during our stay
1. See the SkySymphony show at the SkyAvenue Mall.
There are many upscale stores located at SkyAvenue Mall. We are not avid shoppers so we just did window shopping.
What we did not miss is the SkySymphony show. This is a spectacular show that runs daily at the atrium on the first floor of SkyAvenue (in front of the main entrance of SkyCasino).
This family-friendly and free visual experience lasts around 15 minutes and is performed every two hours between 10:00 and 18:00, followed by hourly intervals from 18:00 until midnight.
SkySymphony show at the SkyAvenue Mall.
The spectacular performance made use of 1,001 winch balls suspended from the four-storey high ceiling, as well as gigantic screens installed throughout the mall’s main atrium.
I also took some photos of the mall’s interior which was quite well done up.
Series of escalators at the SkyAvenue mall at Resorts World Genting.
Trip report: Visit to Chin Swee Caves Temple at Genting Highlands.
3. Eat durians and mangosteens at annual Genting Durian Festival.
Every year, Resorts World Genting would hold its annual Durian Festival where visitors could try various varieties of Malaysia’s best durians at one place. The varieties of durians include D24, Mao Shan Wang, X.O., Red Prawn, Black Thorn and Tekka.
For 2019, the festival ran from 25 May to 16 September 2019, 12 PM to 10 PM, at the Genting Grand outdoor carpark on level 16.
It was here that we sampled the Black Thorn durian for the first time. This rare variety of durian originates and planted only in Penang and hence not readily available.
Trip Report: Enjoying the King and Queen of Fruits at Genting Highlands.
4. Have dinner at Burger and Lobster.
Lobster is one of our favourite seafood. Having tried the Burger and Lobster restaurants in London and Stockholm, a visit their Genting outlet was a must for us.
Like most Burger and Lobster restaurants round the world, the fresh Canadian lobster could be served steamed or grilled. We recommend the grilled lobster.
5. Visit the Highline Rooftop Market and lunch at Harry Ramsden Fish and Chip
As the name implies, the Highline Rooftop Market is a food market located on the roof of SkyAvenue Mall. There are many restaurants offering semi al fresco dining at the outdoor atrium, overlooking the Genting skyline with a cold breeze.
We stopped by at Harry Ramsden for a casual lunch. Harry Ramsden has been serving world-famous fish and chips since 1928 in the UK.
The fish and chips were served in take-away boxes and we consumed them on wooden tables painted with the Union Jack.
6. Supper at Motorino Pizza @ SkyAvenue.
We went to this restaurant just before their closing time. We tried their pizzas that was made to order from scratch with fresh dough, homemade sauces and baked in an actual oven.
The pizza was good but the fried calamari was disappointing.
7. Tea break at Nam Heong Ipoh @ SkyAvenue.
Having enjoyed the coffee and egg tarts at the outlet located in the Premium Outlet, we went to the Nam Heong Ipoh cafe located at SkyAvenue again. In addition to the coffee and egg tarts, this cafe also offers a variety of delicious Cantonese Tim Sum dishes.
Tim Sum dishes at the Nam Heong Ipoh @ SkyAvenue. What we did not do at Resort World Genting
These are some of other attractions that we did not try but may be interesting to other visitors.
1. Gamble at the casinos.
There are two main casino outlets in the resort which are Genting Casino and SkyCasino. Many visitors came to Genting just to gamble. Not for us.
We did go into the SkyCasino for a brief look. We were amazed by the modern sophisticated jackpot machines that were so different from the coin-operated ones we played 30 years ago.
2. Ride on the Genting Skyway Cable Car.
We considered taking a joy ride on the cable cars but it was simply too crowded. And we had our own car to get to Chin Swee Cave temple and the Premium Outlet so we gave this a miss.
3. Skytropolis Funland
This is the indoor theme park & video games park. It was good for a stroll to see the young people and those “young at heart" folks having fun.
Other than rides, there is also a virtual reality centre, where visitors get to choose from a variety of VR experiences such as Star Wars, Wreck-it Ralph, etc.
4. Genting Strawberry Leisure Farm
This is a small strawberry farm and flower garden located at Gohtong Jaya. We actually drove to the entrance of the farm on our way back from Genting. We did not enter since the entrance fee was not justifiable.
5. Ripley’s Adventureland
This is a family friendly entertainment hub located on level 4 of SkyAvenue. It houses various attractions such as Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, Jurassic Research Center, 4D Trick Art Museum, Zombie Outbreak.
The latest addition was Eagle Landing Zipline, an exhilarating 200 metres zip-line.
6. Catch a show at the Arena of Stars.
The Arena of Stars is a 45,000 square feet musical amphitheater for stage performances and concerts.
There was no scheduled performance during our visit.
7. Watch a IMAX or 3D movie at the Bona Cinemas.
Located at SkyAvenue, Bona Cinemas consists of four cinema halls equipped with state-of-the-art projection technology, Dolby Atmos surround sound systems and comfortable seats. A 250-seat Imax hall is also available for those who like to watch Imax movies.
8. Eat at Penang Food Village and other eateries like Beauty in a Pot.
There are so many eateries in Genting that we could not try them all.
Maybe next time!
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