Planning An Ipoh Day Trip? Here are 13 Places to Add In Your Ipoh Itinerary

Planning a day trip to Ipoh? It’s just 2, 3 hours away from KL. I lived there for a year, and here are 13 places, activities and food places that I can recommend you to add in your Ipoh itinerary.

As a bonus, and considering the economy, the places in this list are also budget-friendly and affordable to experience… if you don’t go overboard with the shopping and eating that is.

Under each recommendation, I added Google Map Search keywords that you can type in to find these places. Just use Google Map to locate them. 

#1 – Concubine Lane Ipoh (2 hours)

Concubine Lane Ipoh is a must-go location. Go for a walk to look for the murals and go in the small shops selling knick-knacks. If you have the munchies, highly recommend you to buy an egg tart or two.

Google map search: ‘Dataran Kong Heng’ ; ‘Concubine Lane Ipoh’

#2 – Dataran Kok Heng (1 hour)

Dataran Kong Heng is very ‘industrialist chic’ with an abandoned building vibe, and a great place to take instagram pictures. On weekends, they also have a mini flea market. 

#3 – Yasmin Ahmad Museum (1 hour) 

It is not a bad idea to combine #1-3 during your Ipoh day trip, especially if this is your first time visiting. Simply go to Dataran Kong Heng, walk along Concubine Lane Ipoh, then visit Yasmin Ahmad Museum. They are all located in Ipoh city center and nearby each other, within walking distance.

The entry fee to the Yasmin Ahmad Museum is just RM5 donation, ridiculously cheap. If you enjoy Yasmin Ahmad’s work, you will like this place. 

Google map search: Yasmin Ahmad Museum

#4 – Eat at Restaurant New Hollywood, a halal Chinese food court (1.5 hours)

Restaurant New Hollywood is very packed on weekend mornings, but worth going. They have chee cheong fun, curry mee, lobak, and many other delicious items. Try the famous Roti Goyang. 

Google map search: ‘Restaurant New Hollywood’

#5 – Drive around Tambun area, then go buy pomelo/ limau bali (2+ hour)

Tambun area and its surrounding is SO beautiful. On a good day, you can see details of the mountain range. At certain places, you can walk up and view the high, gorgeous, prehistoric walls up close. There are tiny crevices housing families of birds, and many varieties of insects (ProTip: wear mosquito repellent), and just… amazing plants that somehow grow on what is essentially a big rock.

Drive around, enjoy the view then go buy what Ipoh is famous for: pomelo. A good-size pomelo is about RM10. Pick a shop that offers free samples. Some of them can even help you to remove the skin, so you can enjoy it on the go.

Google map search: I have no particular routes to suggest, but you can try Ipoh-Tambun-Tanjung Rambutan-Tambun-Pomelo shops-Ipoh. Plenty of pomelo farms and shops along ‘Jalan Tambun Baru’

#6 – Attend Garden Market at Food Truck Garden (2+ hours)

Garden Market happens every Friday, Saturday and Sunday after 6pm. They have food trucks, preloved market, open cinema, and local performances.

Super hipster. Very cool side of urban Ipoh.

Find out more here.

Google map search: ‘P.O.R.T. (People of Remarkable Talents)’

#7 – Go to Sunday flea market  (2+ hours)

Ipoh Sunday flea market is also known as Memory Lane Ipoh, as well as Pasar Karat Memory Lane. It starts early on Sunday morning, and ends early: 7am-12pm.

This is probably the best flea market I’ve attended in Malaysia, so far. None of those flea-market-but-actually-tudung-market. People actually sell good junk treasures.

Google map search: ‘Memory Lane Morning Market’

#8 – Kek Lok Tong Cave Temple (2+ hours)

It’s a temple. It’s a cave. It’s a park. It’s Kek Lok Tong Cave Temple!

If you’re the slightest bit interested in:

• Rock formations
• Caves
• Stalactites and stalagmites
• Buddhist temples
• Miniature figurines of tiny people doing stuff
• Miniature stuff in general like bonsai and stuff
• Tame (?) geese (Disclaimer: results may vary)

Go here. Entrance is free, but donations encouraged.

Google map search: ‘Kek Lok Tong’

#9 – Gunung Lang Recreational Park (1+ hour)

Aka the cheapskate’s version of the Banjaran experience. Entrance is free, and you can purchase boat tickets to the attractions area, where apparently there’s a mini zoo.

Alternative: Sneak into The Haven. It’s a luxury condominium with hotel, and security is tight, but gosh if you can bullshit your way in, the view will take your breath away. Just say you want to go to the restaurant there or something.

Alternative if you’re ballin’: Have a couple thousand ringgit in loose change? Just go to The Banjaran. Even I haven’t been here, but I know people who do, and every time they talk about it they have this dreamy face on.

Google map search: ‘Gunung Lang Recreational Park’; ‘The Haven Resort Hotel & Resort Ipoh’ ; ‘The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat’

#10 – Bike along River Walk @ Kinta Riverfront Hotel (2+ hours)

Rent a bicycle (test it first, some are wonky) then just cycle around this area. It’s very cooling during late afternoons. Watch lovebirds whisper sweet nothings to each other. See a couple of displays about Ipoh’s mining past. If you’re lucky, you might find a couple doing their engagement/wedding shoot.

Google map search: ‘Kinta Riverfront Hotel & Suites’

#11 – Eat chicken wings at Wing Zone (1-2 hours)

I lol-ed before adding Wing Zone in this Ipoh day trip guide. Wing Zone is an American-style joint serving Americans-style buffalo wings, with celery and blue cheese dressing on the side. It’s ridiculous and slightly pricey, but it’s also delicious. The joint have non-stop MTV (or similar) music video channel and fast WiFi.

It’s worth a visit because it’s fun to choose between like a million flavours of chicken wings.

Google map search: ‘Wing Zone Wings Burger Flavor’ (??? but that’s what it says!)

#12 – Drive to Tanjung Rambutan and see the famous hospital (1-2 hours)

It’s really just another building, but you can’t help to be excited to be in Tanjung Rambutan because of its reputation as mental illness recovery area.

For you non-Malaysians, let me elaborate. It’s pretty common for parents to threaten to send misbehaving kids to the Tanjung Rambutan Hospital. I don’t know how this came about, but it’s just a place you hear about since you were little. If you tell Malaysians you visited here, they’ll get a good appreciative laugh out of it.

Google map search: ‘Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta’

#13 – Walk and eat at a local Ipoh pasar malam

I’m not familiar with ALL pasar malam in Ipoh and surrounding areas, but I know they have it nightly or almost nightly.

(Technically I should call this Ipoh night trip not Ipoh day trip, lol. Pasar malam starts from about 7pm until late.)

• Every night @ Gerbang Malam (Ipoh city centre)
• Tuesday @ Medan Ipoh (nearby AEON Kinta City Mall)
• Wednesday @ Stadium Perak
• Thursday @ Taman Perindustrian Tambun

Google map search: ‘Gerbang Malam’ ; ‘AEON Kinta City’ ; ‘Stadium Perak’ ; ‘Pasar Malam Taman Perpaduan’

Note: The days may change without notice, so if the info/location here is wrong let me know

What other things to do in Ipoh?

Hope you like these recommendations! Hope you will enjoy your Ipoh day trip, while you save up for international trips 🙂

For those of you who have been to Ipoh, what did you add in your Ipoh itinerary that is not included here? Please add in comments, would love to try your recommendations 🙂