visit petronas tower

Visiting the Petronas Towers Observation Deck

Petronas Towers are the most renowned landmark buildings in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia. The twin towers are both 452 meters (1483 ft) tall, they were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004, when Taipei 101 in Taiwan was built.

As of today, Petronas Towers are still the tallest twin towers in the world , they can be seen from most area of the city of Kuala Lumpur. Due to their highly recognizable shape, Petronas Towers are one of the most popular tourist attractions in Malaysia. Two observation decks on Petronas Towers are opened to tourists for viewing the cityscape from high above. One observation deck is on the 86th floor of the Tower 2, the other one is on its iconic skybridge that connects two buildings in the air . Tower 1 is not opened to tourists but fully occupied by the owner of the twin towers (PETRONAS) as its headquarters.

Petronas Towers Observatory opens Tuesday to Sunday, closes on Monday. The opening hours is 9 AM to 9 PM, the last admission time is at 8:15 PM, and it will be closed during the hours between 1 PM to 2:30 PM on Fridays.

Visitors need to purchase admission tickets to get access to the observation decks on Petronas Towers. As of 2023, the standard price of a ticket is 70 Malaysian Ringgit (approximately 15 US Dollars) . Tickets can be booked online, and can also be bought on site at Petronas Towers, see the detail below:

Book tickets online in advance (Recommended):

Book entry tickets online is recommended, as you do not need to wake up early and wait half an hour or longer to buy a ticket. You can book tickets at the website of Petronas Towers, but it’s also not very easy, first you will need to register an account at there, though it seems unnecessary to register an account to buy tickets for just a single attraction, and you will need to print out the receipt, which will be used to redeem the actual paper ticket at the ticket office. In addition, the connection to their website is not secure, as is warned by web browsers. Many booking sites offer easier options to get tickets for Petronas Towers, you can book at here to get a mobile voucher without printing out it. When you visit the twin towers, just show your mobile voucher to redeem the paper tickets .

Buy tickets on site:

It’s not easy to purchase entry tickets on site. Ticket sales open at 8:30 everyday at the ticket office of the towers, tickets are sold on first come first serve basis. The amount of tickets is limited to under one thousand each day, and tourists usually start queuing long before ticket sales open, therefore tickets are sold out very early everyday. You need to wake up very early to get tickets on site.

Visit Process

Before you go to visit Petronas Towers, don’t forget to bring your passport, you’ll be asked to present it at security checkpoint. The ticket counter or entrance of the observatory is at the Concourse level of the shopping mall under the twin towers.

You first enter the mall, then take an escalator to the lower ground floor, after that you will see the ticket counter, which is located opposite the gift shop of the twin towers.

Be aware that the admission is time slotted, your entry ticket is valid only on the specific date and time slot, which you selected when you book the ticket. So don’t be late, you should arrive the ticket counter 15 minutes before your scheduled time, otherwise you’ll need to ask them to reschedule a time slot for you. The visit is well organized, tourists are grouped based on the time slot selected by themselves, each group has 20 to 30 visitors. At the ticket counter you will be given a colored lanyard to wear, the color is used to identify the group which you belong to. After the security check, you will first watch a gallery about the construction of Petronas Towers, and then watch a short movie about the twin towers. Then you will be escorted to a large elevator, which can hold more than 25 visitors a time, the elevator will whisk visitors to 41st floor of the tower, which is the floor that has skybridge connected. Then you can access to the skybridge to see the views around. The skybridge is 170 meters (558 ft) off the ground, it’s the highest two-story bridge in the world.

As you see around, the guides will introduce the bridge and the places in the city seen from it, and will also answer you any related questions you may have.

There is a wider section at the midpoint of the bridge, from there you can look down at the arch legs that support the bridge.

Visitors are allowed to stay in the skybridge for about 15 minutes, for some people this amount of time seems a little short, but for the same reason, the viewing platform doesn’t get crowded by visitors, you can easily find a empty area beside the windows to take pictures or see the views. On many other observation decks in the world, you can hard to find an empty area near windows or glass, the views is always blocked by other people.

After visited the skybridge, your group will be escorted to enter another elevator that will take you to the 83rd floor, which is an transit floor for tourists, at there you’ll enter the third elevator to reach your destination, the 86th floor.

The observation deck on this floor is much larger than that of the skybridge, and is much higher, at a height of 370 meters (1214 ft) above the ground. It offers 360 degree aerial views of the city with its floor-to-ceiling windows, which are distributed on the edges of the floor plate forming the shape of an eight pointed star seen from above, with circular sectors added between the star points. Below is the view seen through the floor-to-ceiling windows at one of a circular sectors.

The nearest and tallest building seen in the picture below is known as Four Seasons Place, it’s the second tallest hotel building in the world.

At the southwest side of the observation deck, you can get a close view of the upper portion of the Tower 1 and look down at its lower portion. In the same direction you will also see the KL Tower in the distance, it’s another iconic landmark of Kuala Lumpur.

There are some exhibits inside the observatory, including a model of Petronas Towers and a model of the city of Kuala Lumpur.

Like the skybridge, your visit time at 86th floor is limited, each group of visitors are allowed to stay there for 20 minutes, for most people this is enough for enjoying the views and taking pictures. After visited the 86th floor, you will be taken back down to the Concourse floor, where the ticket counter is located, this time you will be escorted to enter a gift shop, you can purchase some souvenirs at there. Then the whole visit is complete.

Are you planning to visit the Petronas Towers in person? You can book admission tickets at here . If you are interested in observation decks on skyscrapers, also have a look at the top 10 highest observation decks in the world .

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