Kluang (GPS: 2.02929, 103.3168; Traditional Chinese: 居鑾; Simplified Chinese: 居銮; Jawi: كلواڠ) is a town in central Johor. It is located within the Kluang District. Sungai Mengkibol flows right through the town. Although it gives its name to Kluang District, Kluang is not the administrative seat. That honour goes to Simpang Renggam. The district has a population of a quarter million people, of which about 60% live in Kluang town. The town is very much surrounded by undulating plantation land. Oil palm and rubber are the main commodity crops here.
By Car
Exit the North-South Expressway at Exit 244, Air Hitam Interchange. Take Route 50 towards Kluang (going in the opposite direction takes you to Batu Pahat).
On my recent visit to Kluang, my wife and I stayed at the Rail Hotel, a budget hotel at Pusat Perniagaan Tasik in Kluang. We were there to join a food tour of Kluang organized by Singapore cookbook author, Evonne Lyn Lee. Ms Lee often organizes food tours to various parts of Malaysia. If you are interested to know about her future food tours, please submit this form.
During the food tour of Kluang, I had the pleasure to meeting up my good friend, Catherina Hosoi, who is also another cookbook author in Singapore.
Catherina Hosoi and I (4 August, 2019)
What to see in Kluang
Kluang isn't so much a place with sightseeing spots, as it is more a place with good food. Having said that, I will list down the sights in Kluang which I have visited in the map below. One place worth checking out is the Street Art Alley, which has attracted tourist interest since it was created in 2016.
The famous kaya toast from Kluang Rail Coffee. (3 August, 2019)
The main road through Kluang is Jalan Batu Pahat. This is the trunk road, also known as Route 50, that goes all the way to Batu Pahat, where - ironically - it is known as Jalan Kluang. The roads in town are quite straightforward - Jalan Mersing leads to Mersing, while Jalan Kota Tinggi leads to Kota Tinggi.
Emergencies Numbers
Police tel: 07 772 2222
Fire Brigade Jalan Haji Manan, 86000 Kluang, tel: 07 772 4444
Kluang Post Offfice Jalan Omar, 86000 Kluang, 07 773 3555
Kluang General Hospital Jalan Hospital, 86000 Kluang, tel: 07 772 3333
Telekom Malaysia tel: 07 771 9191
Hospitals in Kluang
Kluang General Hospital Jalan Hospital, 86000 Kluang, tel: 07 772 3333
Kluang Utama Specialist Centre 1, Susur 1, Jalan Besar, 86000 Kluang, tel: 07 771 8999
History of Kluang
The history of Kluang goes back to 1910, when a decision was made to develop Central Johor for agriculture. The site of Kluang was selected and in 1915, it was made the administrative capital of central Johor. A railway station was built there, and this helped to spur the grown of the town and region.
Kluang is said to have been named after a village called Kampung Kluang, which in turn was named after the fruit bat, keluang. The fruit bat has all but disappeared in the Kluang area.
Hotels in Kluang
Anika Hotel 1, 3 & 5 Jalan Dato' Abd. Rauf, 86000 Kluang, tel: 07 772 4977
Merdeka Hotel 30 Jalan Mengkibol, 86000 Kluang, tel: 07 772 4911
Nagaria Inn 3 Jalan Intan 1/1, Taman Intan, 86000 Kluang, tel: 07 773 9999
Prime City Hotel 20 Jalan Bakawali, 86000 Kluang, tel: 07 771 1111
Regal Hotel 42 & 44, Jalan Dato Captain Ahmad, 86000 Kluang, tel: 07 772 4923
Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.
While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.