The Petronas Towers may be Kuala Lumpur’s most well-known landmark, but the Menara Olympia isn’t too far behind. Kuala Lumpur’s pride and joy, the 421 mt high Menara Olympia is a telecommunications tower (the fourth tallest in the world) and offers a stunning view of the city below. The word menara is Malay for `tower’, and the tower’s architectural basis is the Islamic muqarna (squinch). I didn’t think the tower at all pretty, really (except for the rather nice blue-and-ochre tilework at the entrance), but the view from the top is great. The Menara Olympia stands atop a hill which is part of the Bukit Nanas reserve- there’s a fair bit of greenery around, and we even saw a few dark grey monkeys as we made our way up to the tower.We visited Menara on the very first day we arrived in KL; and after we’d fished out the entry fees (a solid RM15 per person), we were herded, along with a group of other tourists, into a lift headed for the top of the tower. The lift whizzed up to the observatory deck at an ear-popping speed, and there we were- looking out over the city. At the top, there are personalised audio presentations- each on a walkman which you can clap onto your head- which allow you to view all of Kuala Lumpur from the top of Menara, at your own pace, telling you exactly what you’re seeing from so-and-so-window, etc, etc.
And what you can see is really most of the capital city: the Parliament, the National Mosque, the Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve, the Petronas Twin Towers, Central Market and a number of nearby mosques and churches (one in Chinatown, liberally besprinkled with Chinese lettering all over its otherwise very European twin-spired façade).
If for nothing else, Menara’s worth visiting just to see the city below.