Wild Rose Travel

Cameron Highlands

October 2022

Roughly 200km North of Kuala Lumpur lies the Cameron Highlands. Travelling from Ipoh (90km East), the Cameron Highlands are in easy reach by bus. Not for the faint-hearted or easily unsettled stomachs, the short (approx. 2-3 hours) but heart-racing journey takes you up and amongst the highland hills via twisting roads and along narrow cliff edges. The journey is definitely an experience with a traditional Malay bus driver, who is not phased by the health and safety hazards countries like the UK would simply not allow! But of course – that is all a part of the fun when travelling South-East Asia.

The Cameron Highlands are named after British (Scottish born) explorer and geolist William Cameron, who first explored and discovered the beauty of the highlands in 1885. Comissioned by the then colonial government, Cameron mapped out the highlands before they developed into the tourist and local hotspot they are today.

In the main street of Tanah Rata you can find an information board, explaining the Highlands history and a brief introduction of William Cameron, alongside a trail map.

Accommodation

We stayed in Evonne Budget Hotel in the centre of Tanah Rata – I would probably not recommend however if you are easily pleased and not too fussed about your base, it was fine. The location was perfect, there was a free water-cooler in reception (always an accommodation plus!) and all rooms were en-suite. We payed £62 total for 2 people, for 6 nights. This works out at £5.16pp, per night.

You can find the hostel we stayed in here.

In my opinion you definitely need to rent a scooter in order to enjoy the full scope of the Highlands. There are public buses however not many, and besides this you’d have to do a lot of walking on foot or pay for private taxis or shared mini buses. Most attractions are quite a way from each other, and not everything is in walking distance from the centre.

Weather

One thing that became significantly noticeable when departing Ipoh was the drop in temperature. It dropped around 10 degrees and was a lot cooler up in the hills. In addition, we were there in rainy season (October) and it boy did rain – a lot. It didn’t ruin the experience for us, and we found it was nice to have a break from the warmer climate.

Best food spots

Tanah Rata ended up being one of my favourite places in Malaysia for the food. There were tonnes of options in a relatively small town, and some well known places that lived up to the expectations. Some I’d definitely recommend are:

• Singh Chapati – absolute must visit! (I recommend the butter chicken)
• Sri Brinchang (for traditional Tandoori Chicken)
• Korean Chicken food van

BOH Tea Plantation

The highlands are home to Malaysia’s most fertile grounds, attracting farmers of all kinds of produce to the area. Over 5,000 metres above sea level lie tea plantations that spread for miles (712sq km to be exact!). With the actual name being ‘Sungei Palas Tea Garden,’ you can access the site easily from the centre of Tanah Rata by bike, and park in the free carpark. If not, visiting the gardens as part of organised tours are other popular options. If going yourself and using maps.me, it is located at “39000 Ringlet, Cameron Highlands”.

The centre houses two cafes where you can try an array of tea flavours, as well as cakes and pastries. We tried the BOH strawberry tea flavoured cake, and cheesecake, as well as the raspberry and lychee flavoured teas.

There is a viewpoint that looks across the rolling hills of tea, and a small museum at the back showing old tea harvesting machinery and the history of BOH. There are no entrance fees, so you can visit for free if you don’t want to purchase any food or drink.

Butterfly House

We stopped off at the Butterfly House on the way back from BOH Tea Plantation as we had a few hours to spare. In general, I probably wouldn’t recommend visiting as it isnt in the best condition, however there are other animals to see here (goats, reptiles etc.,) and it’s a nice place to walk around if you have time spare like we did.

Trails/Waterfalls

One of the main things to do in the Cameron Highlands is – of course – hike. We did 4/5 hikes in total. The easiest way to navigate is to download the maps.me app, and follow the trails on there. They are numbered 1-8, and of varying lengths and difficulties. You can also pick up trail guides and maps from the tourist centres in town.

Some of the best waterfalls we found were:

• Robinson Falls
• Taman Eko Rimba Parit Falls
• Lata Kinjang Waterfall

A separate post detailing all the best hikes and waterfalls in the Cameron Highlands can be found here.

Mossy Forest/Coral Hill

We were in the Highlands during monsoon season, which meant the mossy forest was closed for safety reasons. There had also been a few landslides in the area, including on the road that led up to the Mossy forest so it was impossible to reach anyway!

We did our research and were recommended by a local guide to visit Coral Hill instead – this is known as the ‘mini Mossy forest.’ We followed maps.me and did a self guided trail throughout, parking in a layby at the bottom of the road. It’s definitely worth a visit if the Mossy forest is closed, or in addition.

As usual, my number one favourite thing to do in any new destination is explore by bike – you get the best views! See some of my favourite photos below 🙂