Penang Hill Hike — Attraction in George Town

I did this hike solo and it’s a beautiful hike! I went through via the Moon gate, which is located more north and easily identifiable via the beautiful moon-shaped entrance that was constructed by a wealthy Chinese man in the past. It’s a 2-3hr hike one way and has a difficulty rating of hard on AllTrails. I would advise to go with another person as I encountered a large troop of ~20-30 monkeys and there may be snakes along the trail, especially after the rain.

Tips: Bring water and some packaged snacks. Avoid strong smelling snacks as it may attract monkeys. There’s 3 rest stations throughout the hike. Station 5 was my favourite as I got to meet some very friendly locals and enjoy Malaysian coffee with them. I was impressed by the kitchen and workout equipment they carried up the hill themselves! Bring bug spray, sunscreen and a towel. You’ll get sweaty. There are signs with arrows with the words “Penang Hill” written on them. Follow those signs and stick to the main path. There will be one fork after station 84 where the sign is a little less visible, but it’s on the right hand side. If you go left, you’ll encounter some angry dogs. Don’t hike via this gate if it’s going to rain. It rained the afternoon before for me so the trail was relatively dry, but it is a little slippery and muddy near the top. Be prepared to go up a lot of stairs.

Best time to go is in the morning to avoid the heat. I hiked up at 8:30am and was the only one going up at the time on a weekday. Got up to the top by 10:45. There’s a few cafes and shops at the top, plus you can pay 60RM to visit the rainforest sanctuary. You can get down either by hiking, taking the funicular (which was 15RM per person at the time), or riding a jeep. This is definitely an activity every tourist new to visiting...

My comments below refer to Penang Hill Hike starting from Air Itam. The peak can be reached from other parts of the island, notably Botanical Garden area.

There are at least three variations of the same trail up Penang Hill starting from the base station of the funicular railway to the middle station: (a) The Heritage Trail starting from the wooden arch marked Laluan Warisan.- 25 mins (b) The Hye Keat trail -45 mins (c) The Durian Valley/Bat Cave trail - 35 mins

(Note: As I have said, there are other trails starting elsewhere in Air Itam but still allow you access to the peak.)

All three trails above merge at the vegetable plot just above the middle station. Great view of the air itam valley is seen from the ( somewhat neglected) farmland. Watch out for dogs here. Mind you, the Chinese man running the neglected farm is fiercer than his dogs so just walk on by.

Time to pass vegetable plot - 15 minutes Forest trail from Claremont station to Viaduct station - 15-20 minutes Viaduct station to Top station (755m)-15-20 m Estimated total time taken: 70-120 minutes depending on individual ability. Best time recorded (as far as I know) is a mind-blowing 27 mins !! Super human effort, I kid you not.

One thing is for sure. You will sweat a bundle so bring a bottle of drinking water, face towel n a change of t-shirt. Great workout. Losing 400-500 calories is expected. If you don't sweat, you are not human! Change in the toilet at the top station. Young ladies, walk with a partner for your safety but generally it is very safe. Also newbies, please don't use the trail after 6.30 pm. It gets dark earlier...

I love the Heritage trail. In fact, I've hiked it many times since I've been here in Penang. However, an incident happened yesterday - I was chased and bitten by a pack of dogs above the middle station (after the toilets, to the right of the trail) near a Chinese temple, there's a little farm house full of dogs.

Usually, the owner would come out and shushed his dogs, but yesterday, he didn't come out. The alpha pack leader chased me down the stairs, bite me at my ankle and wouldn't leave me alone. I didn't provoke him, in fact, I stopped immediately when I noticed I was spotted from afar. He still charged at me :(

I looked for help as I was bleeding. Two gentlemen helped me fetch the security. They brought me down on the funicular. I had to pay for that ticket, which I wasn't really happy about that. I drove myself to Island Hospital to get rabies shot after a failed attempt at a nearby O2 clinic (they're out of rabies vaccine) I ended up with a RM894 hospital bill.

An...