Ipoh Old Town

Ipoh grew rich on tin in the late nineteenth century, and the old town on the west bank of the Kinta River is what that money built: two and three storey shophouses with five-foot ways, a white civic core, and a railway station of 1917 in the same Moorish idiom as the government buildings of Kuala Lumpur. When the tin price collapsed the town emptied out and the buildings were left alone, which is exactly why so much survives unaltered. Since the 2010s a slow reoccupation has filled some shophouses with coffee shops, galleries and murals, while whole streets remain as they were. Concubine Lane and the alleys around it are the busiest strip; the quieter blocks north of it are more rewarding.

What you actually see

• The shophouse streets - continuous five-foot ways, tiled facades and shuttered upper floors.
• Ipoh railway station - the white 1917 station building with its domes and long arcades.
• Concubine Lane - the narrow restored alley, now the busiest lane in the old town.
• The wall murals - painted scenes on gable ends in the lanes around Market Lane.

When to go

Morning until about eleven, then again after four, because the middle of the day in the Kinta valley is genuinely hot and the streets offer little shade beyond the arcades. Weekdays are far quieter than weekends, when day trippers arrive from Kuala Lumpur. Many kopitiams close in the early afternoon, so breakfast is the serious meal here.

Honest expectations

The restored core is small and walkable in an hour, and Concubine Lane in particular has become a souvenir corridor packed solid on weekends. Outside that strip many shophouses are shuttered and decaying, which some find atmospheric and others find bleak. Heat and traffic noise are constant. Parking in the old town is difficult on weekend afternoons.

Nearby

The Kinta valley cave temples, Kellie's Castle and Kuala Kangsar are all within an hour by road.