Discover Pahang

Discover Pahang (31 December, 2006)


B. Melayu

Map of towns in Pahang

Towns in Pahang

Major Hill Resorts in Pahang

Categories of sights in Pahang

Map of Places of Interest in Pahang

Other places of interest in Pahang

Kuantan (31 December 2006)

Introducing Pahang

Pahang provides you useful information for planning your visit to Pahang Darul Makmur, the largest state in Peninsular Malaysia, and the third largest in Malaysia. Pahang has a total area of 35,964 sq km and a population of about 1.4 million people. It is located on the east coast of the peninsula, although several of its highland towns are accessible from the west coast.

Pahang shares a border with Kelantan to the north, Terengganu to the northeast, Johor to the south, Negeri Sembilan to the southwest, and Selangor and Perak to the west. It shares borders with more states than any other state in Malaysia. Pahang has a stretch of coastline on the east facing the South China Sea. Much of the central part of Pahang is still undeveloped and forested. Most of the towns are located along the fringes, along the eastern coast as well as on the Main Range on the west part of the state.

The capital and largest city in Pahang is Kuantan. The city is on the east coast facing the South China Sea. Pahang is a sultanate, meaning it is ruled by a sultan. The official residence of the Sultan of Pahang is in the town of Pekan, to the south of Kuantan.

Pahang has been ruled over by differing regional powers over the ages. It was controlled by the Srivijaya empire in the 8th and 9th century, followed by the Siamese and then by the Malacca Sultanate and the Acehnese. The present ruling family of the Pahang sultanate traces their family history to the Johor sultanate, which ruled Pahang since at least the 16th century. The Sultans of Pahang are descended from the son of the Bendahara of Johor of the 19th century. The civil war fought by the two sons of the Bendara for control of Pahang in 1853 to 1863 provided the British an excuse to plant a British Resident there as administrator and de facto ruler.


Sultan Ahmad Shah Mosque, Kuantan (30 December 2006)

Getting there

Considering most of the main towns of Pahang are on the east coast, the most practical way to visit them is to take a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kuantan. To visit Pahang's hill stations such as Cameron Highlands and Fraser's Hill, the usual way is to go by road from the west coast.

By Plane

Malaysia Airlines has regular services between Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) and Kuantan's Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Airport (KUA). Low cost carrier Firefly has services connecting KUA with Subang Airport (SZB) in Kuala Lumpur.

By Road

Kuantan can be reached from the west coast via the Karak Highway (E8) and the East Coast Expressway (E8). There are regular bus services from most major cities to Terminal Makmur in Kuantan.

Districts of Pahang

List of States in Malaysia

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About this website

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.