njihan357A stay at Hilton Garden Inn (North), Kuala Lumpur
The Hilton Garden Inn (North) is located in the heart of Chow Kit Road, a once very busy and famous area in Kuala Lumpur. It still is, I guess. There are two of Hilton here, one is North and the other one is South. The one I stayed at was at the North building. I chose to stay here because it seems newer compared to the one in the South.
The service is good, all the staff greets you with a smile and they are helpful. There is a chair lift for the disabled but there are no ramps to roll our luggage on. We had to carry our massive trolley bag up a couple of steps. It was still OK for us since it’s about 5 steps each time and the staff on duty is always ready to help you out. Our room is very spacious looking out to KLCC and it’s ready with the basic amenities. There’s also a fridge, so you can keep your tin of Coke really cold for a hot day. The downside of the room is that the bed is slightly small, in my opinion. It is a queen size as stated on their website so I expect it not to be big, but it kind of seems like it’s a super single instead. Thank goodness it was comfortable and the pillows are soft too.
If you’re a Malaysian and you’re driving towards this hotel, I figured you’re already aware that there will be massive traffic and an absolute nightmare to find a parking space. If you’re a tourist from outside of the country, this is the situation basically anywhere inside KL City Center. It’s best if you walk or take public transport. The monorail is a stone’s throw away from the hotel. You can get down at Chow Kit station and do a 5-minute walk to the hotel. If you’re driving, you can find nearby parking spaces (I think mostly private car parks, price varies) or you can opt for a RM10 valet parking service from the hotel.
We chose to stay here because we wanted to visit a friend who is in a ward in the KL General Hospital, Also, we wanted to check out the food in the Kampung Baru area. I am a super slow walker, so our walk from the hotel to the hospital took about 20 minutes, it was about a kilometer away. Along the way, there are markets, shops, eateries & bus stops – plenty to feast your eyes on.
On our way back, we stopped by a food court named KL Last Exit. It was late evening so this place was really well-lit. There is plenty of food to choose from. We ordered from 3 different shops and they all taste good and the prices are OK too. Be sure to try out their mango smoothie from the main beverage stall – it tastes good and refreshing and the cup size is massive so you can share it too (save some bucks, tho it’s not that cheap! Haha). We ended up just eating here and disregard our plan to go to Kampung Baru.
The next morning we went to the hotel lobby for the buffet breakfast. The buffet spread was good, it had all the basics – nasi lemak, porridge, noodle soup, pastries, salads, chilled juices, and coffee. The taste is OK too – not the best breakfast but we can’t compare it to other posh hotels, right? We enjoyed our breakfast as there were plenty of tourists so we had some people-watching time.
The pool and rooftop bar are shared with the South hotel which is 1 building away, so it’s basically next door. This hotel has more rooms as it has 24 floors and the 25th is where everything happens. The view of KL city is amazing. You can see all the towers. The bar opens at mid-day as informed by the security downstairs. The pool is small and there are only a few pool chairs. They have 3 lifts at this hotel and it can get pretty busy at times so you have to wait for quite some time. Having entered both hotels, I still prefer the North where I stayed – it’s almost like it was child-free so less chaotic.
Anyway, we had fun staying here and think it’s a great value-for-money hotel. Recommended to check it out when you’re in KL.