Want to experience the natural side of Penang while barely leaving the city? Consider visiting The Habitat Penang Hill!
Located on Penang Hill behind George Town, this is a great place to go for cooler air and beautiful surrounds as well as great views over Penang, the Penang Strait and over to the mainland. There are some fun opportunities here to explore nature, to learn and to have a whole of fun.
It’s the perfect way to enjoy this part of Penang after taking the cool funicular railway up here. It’s basically a rainforest discovery centre + amazing views of Penang.
If you are wondering if it’s worth visiting Penang Hill Habitat on your trip. I can help.
Below, I walk you through everything in The Habitat Penang review. You’ll find out how to get to The Habitat. You’ll get information on all the different attractions available and what they are like, The Habitat Penang Hill ticket price, opening hours, information about the cafe and more in this full The Habitat Penang Hill blog.
You can also watch our video about travelling up Penang Hill which includes a walk-through of The Habitat.
Click here to find discounted tickets.
Travelling to Malaysia? Click here to download your free Malaysia Trip Planning checklist. We’ll help you get ready for your trip!
Have any questions? Join our Malaysia Travel Planning Facebook group here now! It’s the perfect place to ask any questions and to be inspired.
Contents
How To Go To The Habitat Penang Hill
Address: Jalan Stesen, Bukit Bendera Air Itam, Bukit Bendera, 11500 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
You can’t drive to The Habitat or take a taxi. You have two options.
- You can take the funicular railway up Penang Hill and then it’s a short walk to The Habitat. Go straight ahead with the road just to the right of the hill up to the temples, and you’ll find it.
- Go to the Penang Botanical Gardens (accessible by road). From here, you can pay for a jeep ride up to The Habitat. This costs RM160.
You can find The Habitat Penang Hill map below – click on it to open it.
The Habitat Penang Hill Review
Before we start, you can see a brief overview of The Habitat here:
We visited The Habitat after taking the funicular tram up Penang Hill. We were with our three kids aged 6, 11 and 12.
We were initially confused where to find The Habitat, and I was surprised to find no signs at the top signalling where to go.
It is close and easy though. Head straight ahead after walking out of the funicular station and keep going on the road that is to the right of the hill in front of you. You’ll soon see signs for it to the left.
We already had discounted tickets from Klook (find them here) so we were able to scan the barcodes on those tickets and go straight in which made it very easy.
The first three attractions discussed here are included with your ticket. The rest require a different or add-on ticket.
Trails And Gardens
As soon as you enter, you are at the start of the Penang Hill The Habitat nature trail. It’s 1.6 kilometres long and takes you through the length of The Habitat as well as below three historic bungalows.
The canopy walk and tree top walk (coming up) are both connected to this trail and you reach the start of the canopy walk not long after leaving the ticket office.
There are “framed lookouts” along the way. There are two with swings where you can relax and take in the views and pose for that special Instagram memory 🙂
There are also themed gardens such as Butterfly Bank, Fern Garden and Fragrant Garden as well as educational signs to learn more both about the history of the area and the surrounding flora and fauna.
What I loved most was how quiet and peaceful everything was on this side of Penang Hill. I am used to exploring the other side looking at George Town where you never completely feel like you have left behind the hustle and bustle.
Langur Way Canopy Walk
The Habitat Penang Hill canopy walk is named after some langurs that were spotted sitting on the cables when this was being built!
It is a 230 metre long walkway that is 40 metres above the forest floor. It spans over three headlands and two valleys. It’s been designed to be tree friendly and doesn’t have any rigging on the trees themselves.
The forest underneath is 130 million years old primary rainforest.
It gave us amazing views over the rainforest and some of the large trees as well as over the west side of the island, a side I have rarely seen with most of Penang Hill attractions aimed towards George Town.
Curtis Crest Tree Top Walk
This Tree Top is a viewing platform set up for maximum views over Penang. It’s amazing.
At 13 metres tall, it’s situated on a plateau and, all up, is about 800 metres above sea level. This is the highest viewpoint on this island of Penang. It’s also the best with 360 degree views. On a clear day, it’s possible to see all the way to the Langkawi islands.
It’s such a great viewing point that it was used as a military parade ground in the early days of the settlement as the troops stationed here could look out for approaching ships. They were able to signal Fort Cornwallis in George Town if they saw anything bad approaching so they could prepare for battle.
The attraction is named after Charles Curtis, a renowned botanist who set up a garden here in the 19th century. Many plant species on this hill are named after him.
There are quite a few stairs to get up here but it’s nothing terrible, especially as it’s cooler up here than down in George Town. Take your time, wander round the walk and enjoy.
There are also some shady sitting areas underneath if you need a break.
Sunset Walk
For a great sunset view, you can walk around the Curtis Crest Tree Top Walk in the evening. On a clear night, there are great views with the sounds of the rainforest as the backdrop.
This experience starts with a guided nature walk lead by a naturalist before walking round the tree top platform for sunset.
After watching the sun set, there is a guided night walk along the Nature Trail by lantern looking out for wildlife. This could include the flying lemur, giant flying red squirrel, Penang gecko, tarantulas and more.
The Flight Of The Colugo Zip
The general entry ticket does not include entry to this attraction. You can buy tickets at the counter if there is space.
If you do it, you’ll get to complete this adventure course which has three zip lines, one abseil and one rope bridge. It’s named after the Sunda Colugo which is the Malaysia Flying Lemur.
It was not open when we visited.
VR Experience
An add-on you can buy when you book your tickets for the Penang Habitat Hill are for the Wild Immersion VR Experience.
This allows you to pick one movie from four to watch in VR. They each run for about 10-12 minutes.
We did not do this.
Click here to buy discounted tickets now.
The Habitat Cafe Penang Hill – Rimba Cafe
Open daily, The Habitat Penang Hill Cafe is in a beautiful spot surrounded by nature. The floor to ceiling windows really take advantage of it and the black and wooden interior helps make the forest the focal point.
You can have a great coffee here or a smoothie. There are nice juices as well as cakes.
If you need something more filling, there’s a curry chicken set.
It’s also a shop with some beautiful items on sale if you need a souvenir. I could have bought many things in here!
The Habitat Penang Hill Video Walk-Through
Below, you can see a full video walk-through of our most recent experience of visiting Penang Hill from catching the funicular up to finding the best views to exploring The Habitat Penang. It shows you everything you want to see at The Habitat Penang Hill.
The Habitat Penang Hill Ticket Price
You can pay The Habitat Penang ticket price on arrival or on their website, but the cheapest and easiest way to go is to buy your tickets on Klook beforehand.
This way, you save 10%.
The Habitat Penang price depends on if you are adult, child (4 – 12 years old) or senior citizen (60+). At the time of publishing, the discounted price on Klook was RM54 for an adult and RM36 for a child or senior citizen. The Habitat Penang Hill price is more than this if you buy tickets at the venue.
You can also pay a little extra for the VR Experience.
Click here to buy your discounted tickets now.
The Habitat Penang Hill Opening Hours
The Habitat Penang Hill is open daily from 9am to 7pm. Last entry is at 6pm. On weekends, sunset walks are available from 5:30pm with the centre shutting completely at 8pm.
Final Words
The Habitat Penang Hill is a relaxing place to go to enjoy nature and views of Penang. It feels much more remote and enjoyable than the other side of Penang Hill, in my opinion, while still being super close to it.
I liked that I saw more of the west side of the island and was able to feel like I had escaped the hustle and bustle of Penang so easily here.
It doesn’t take that long to visit, and everything is in great condition.
The one complaint I have about visiting here is that we finished the trail at the cafe and shop. and we had to exit The Habitat to go inside here.
From here, it is a 1.2 kilometre walk back to the funicular on a small road. We didn’t expect this. It is handy to know that you will need to walk this or get a buggy back to the train.
If I was to do this again, I wouldn’t have exited at the shop and cafe. Instead, I would have walked back to the main entrance.
The walk inside The Habitat is much nicer than what it is after exiting and much more shaded which also makes it more pleasant.
Otherwise, we enjoyed visiting here and highly recommend that you consider visiting The Habitat Penang Hill.
Don’t forget The Habitat Penang Hill promotion. Click here to see the latest discounted ticket prices.
Looking for other things to do on Penang Hill? Find our full guide to Penang Hill here. You can also find our full guide to things to do in Penang here. You can find our full guide to where to stay in Penang here and all our guides to Penang here.
Planning a trip to Malaysia? Have any questions? Join our Malaysia Travel Planning Facebook group here now! It’s the perfect place to ask any questions and to be inspired!
