Bukit Malawati (GPS: 3.34141, 101.24639) is a hillock on the left bank of Sungai Selangor, a short distance from the river mouth. Its strategic overlooking the coast makes it the location for the siting of the seat of the Selangor government in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The ruler Sultan Ibrahim Shah (r. 1778-1826) erected a fort here to protect his stronghold.
When Selangor was sucked into the tussle between the Dutch and the rulers of Johor and Riau, the sultanate of Selangor eventually fell to the Dutch, which took over the fort and renamed it Fort Altingsburg. However, with the help of fighting men from Pahang and Permatang, Sultan Ibrahim managed to get back the fort in 1785.
Today Bukit Malawati is preserved as a historic site. A walk around its well-maintained grounds takes you to various historic relics, some of which I document below. Instead of walking, you can also take the Bukit Malawati Tram which encircles the hill and stop at Kota Malawati for you to disembark. It was a hot day when my wife and I visited the place. We saw the ice cream carts stationed by the roadside doing brisk business. There are two type of monkeys on Bukit Malawati - the more common long-tail macaques and the less common silverleaf monkey.
Staircase going up Bukit Malawati (7 July, 2016)
Location of sights at and around Bukit Malawati on the map
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While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware.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.