Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Alila Bangsar

Price per night from$55.16

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (MYR240.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Alila Bangsar Photos

Style

Domino effect

Setting

Bangsar’s beacon

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Soaring more than 40 storeys above the streets, Alila Bangsar commands some of the finest views in Kuala Lumpur – but the interiors are equally arresting, designed by master minimalists Neri & Hu. With the hotel beginning on the uppermost floors of a jet-black skyscraper, arriving there is an event in itself: the moment you step from the lift, you’re struck by the zen-like design, flood of daylight and the views, which stretch from the Petronas Towers to the mossy hills of the Cameron Highlands. The spacious rooms are just as enticing, complete with floor-to-ceiling windows, king-size beds and furnishings fashioned from a forest of woods. It’s worth pulling yourself away, however, as the other diversions include a three-tiered rooftop bar, pool with a view and restaurant Entier, a high-altitude homage to French cuisine.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

For Studio bookings, a signature cocktail each at Pacific Standard Bar; Suite bookings get a bottle of wine and a platter of fresh fruit

Facilities

Photos Alila Bangsar facilities

Need to know

Rooms

143, including six suites.

Check–Out

Noon, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £47.66 (MYR254), including tax at 6 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional government tax of MYR10.00 per room per night on check-out.

More details

Rates don’t usually include breakfast, served in Entier on the 41st floor. Sample the city’s homegrown cuisine with a Malaysian, Indian or Oriental dish, or keep it classic with buttermilk pancakes and a platter of tropical fruit.

Also

Each floor has a communal living room with snacks, a coffee machine and free-flowing iced tea.

At the hotel

Rooftop cocktail bar; 24-hour gym; yoga studio; free WiFi throughout; laundry. In rooms: flatscreen TV, minibar, tea and coffee machine, Alila Living bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Considering it’s in a high-rise, the hotel certainly doesn’t scrimp on space. Even the 38sq m Studio Rooms are capacious, and the vast floor-to-ceiling windows make the rooms feel even bigger, bathing them in sunlight and opening them to expansive vistas. If you’re set on having a terrace, book a Balcony Studio or Deluxe Corner Studio; beyond that it really comes down to how much breathing space you want.

Poolside

Placed at the centre of a light-filled atrium, the pool area is a feast for the eye – saying nothing of the panoramic views it commands on all sides. It’s surrounded by daybeds set on wooden decking, which are are separated by manicured trees and tufts of greenery.

Packing tips

Bring your most stylish swimming gear. The pool sits pride of place in the atrium, so you’ll have a spectator or two.

Also

Not all of the common areas are wheelchair accessible, but there are a few adapted rooms.

Children

All ages are welcome at the hotel, although it’s got more of an adult feel and there aren’t any family rooms.

Food and Drink

Photos Alila Bangsar food and drink

Top Table

The tables at Botanica + Co are all fairly equal, but if you’re eating at Entier, ask for a table by the window.

Dress Code

At Entier, the industrial interiors lend themselves to a monochrome look; in Botanica & Co, the lush greenery calls for a more exotic livery.

Hotel restaurant

Few restaurants in Kuala Lumpur can rival Entier for its sense of refined drama. This high-altitude homage to French cuisine skirts the 41st floor, making the views arresting – but the refined interiors of concrete, exotic wood and blackened steel are just as pleasing to the eye. The kitchen is helmed by Japanese chef Masashi Horiuchi, who spent twenty years at some of Europe’s finest restaurants before taking up residence at the hotel. Some of the standout dishes include the baby cuttlefish, dry-aged Hokkaido beef rump and the Josper-grilled Australian lamb chops. Botanica + Co, the hotel’s Asian fusion restaurant, is on the ground floor of the building. The interiors of this all-day diner are a tamed forest of green, with potted trees, rattan furniture and dangling lamps making for a jungly aesthetic. If you’re after a snack, order a sharing plate of truffle fries or crispy calamari; heartier appetites will be sated by the chicken nasi lemak or chef Sam Neoh’s signature laksa, which he makes from a secret recipe.

Hotel bar

There are three. Pacific Standard pays tribute to Los Angeles as it was in the Fifties, with clean silhouettes, jet-black marble and slender lamps channeling the louche, moody glamour of a noir flick. Slip into the Hollywood scene with an Old Fruit Fashioned or a Billboard Martini, a medley of London dry gin, sherry, vermouth, citrus vinegar and salt. Lido is spread across three tiers on the roof terrace, making it a go-to spot for sundowners, and the third bar is by the pool, saving you from straying into the main bar in your bath robe.

Last orders

Entier is open from Tuesday to Sunday, serving breakfast from 6–10.30am (11am Sunday); lunch from noon to 3pm (4pm on Saturday and Sunday); and dinner from 6–11pm. Botanica + Co is open from 8am to 9.30pm Mon to Fri; from 9am on Sat; from 9.30am on Sun.

Room service

There’s a reduced menu available as room service.

Location

Photos Alila Bangsar location
Address
Alila Bangsar
58 Jalan Ang Seng
Kuala Lumpur
50470
Malaysia

The hotel soars high over the rooftops in Bukit Bangsar, a cosmopolitan district slightly south of the city centre.

Planes

The best place to touch down is Kuala Lumpur International Airport, which can be reached directly from London Heathrow. It takes around an hour to drive from the airport to the hotel; one-way private transfers can be arranged from RM180 for up to three people, or RM350 for up to five.

Trains

At Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), you can hop on the KLIA Ekspres train to KL Sentral, a journey of around 25 minutes. Once there, change to the LRT Kelana Jaya Line and ride one stop to Bangsar. The hotel’s right across the street, towering over its neighbours like a black beacon.

Automobiles

You won’t need your own car if you’re staying in the city, but it’s worth downloading the Grab app before you arrive – it’s essentially Malaysia’s version of Uber, and one of the best ways to get around besides the public transport network. If you do choose to drive yourself, valet parking is RM5 for every 24hrs.

Worth getting out of bed for

Towering high above Bangsar’s streets, the hotel is an inherently calm place – whether you’re gazing from the pool deck or the windows of your living room, even the busiest parts of the city seem muted and serene. While the sun’s out, park yourself in the lounge or on a day-bed by the pool, where the slatted window screens throw shadows as the sun moves across the sky. At dusk, head up to the rooftop bar, admiring the city lights over an apéritif or two. If you’re looking to tick off a few local sights, the Thean Hou Temple is a good place to start. Painted in vibrant colours and adorned with posturing dragons and phoenixes, this six-tiered temple is dedicated to the Chinese sea goddess Mazu. It’s relatively modern as temples go, having been completed in the Nineties, but the design borrows from traditional Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian architecture. Often referred to by its nickname Little India, Brickfields is one of the oldest Indian settlements in the country. The microcosmic pocket is markedly different from its neighbours, full of temples dedicated to Hindu gods, a glut of Indian restaurants and miniature bazaars selling saris, Nehru jackets and other national dress. For a spot of unequivocally Malaysian history, head north to Merdeka Square, where the Malayan flag was raised for the first time on 31 August 1957, the nation’s independence day. Bangsar LRT station is right outside the hotel, making it a breeze to get to downtown Kuala Lumpur, home to high-end shopping malls and the Petronas Towers.

Local restaurants

Known for painting its outposts jet black, coffee shop VCR is seriously dedicated to the art of the brew. Stop in at their Bangsar branch to sample their latest batch of beans, which are sourced from some of the most interesting growers in the business. Their food’s no afterthought – try the chicken and sweet-potato waffles if you’re leaning savoury, or the polenta hotcakes if you’re feeling sweet. For a distinctly casual and authentically Malayan lunch, find a perch outside Nasi Lemak Famous in the Bangsar Selera Food Court. This hawker stall has been turning out Nasi Lemak – a fragrant Malaysian rice dish served on a banana leaf – for years, weathering Bangsar’s transition from quiet suburb to the lively, cosmopolitan hangout it is today. Go for the crispy battered chicken (the thigh or leg meat is best). For dinner, try Opus Bistro, an intimate Italian with a loyal local following. It isn’t exactly authentic – the menu is a fusion of Italian, American and Malaysian cuisine – but the mish mash of cuisines suits Bangsar to a T. Try one of the steaks or seafood pasta dishes.

Local bars

Award winning cocktail bar Coley is named after legendary bartender Ada Coleman, who helmed the bar at the Savoy for 23 years. From the outside, it looks rather unassuming – you could easily walk past without ever knowing it was there – but once you’re inside you enter a hazy world of Sixties glamour. We say ‘hazy’ as it’s hard to have just one – the drinks are easily some of the best in town, made by bartenders that live and breathe their craft.

Reviews

Photos Alila Bangsar reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this design hotel in Kuala Lumpur and unpacked their fabrics from nearby Brickfields, a full account of their city break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Alila Bangsar in Kuala Lumpur…

Bangsar has come a long way over the last few decades, growing from an unassuming suburb into a cosmopolitan mish mash of high-end restaurants, hawker stalls, bars and bazaars. This vibrant and bustling bukit (hill) is just the sort of area you want to be close to – but perhaps not always at street level, for the sake of a good night’s sleep anyway. At Alila Bangsar, they sidestepped the bustle by moving into the top seven floors of the Exchange, a black tower that juts over its neighbours like a vast domino. Because it’s south of the business district, it’s out of the forest of skyscrapers, meaning the views from your room stretch far into the distance – all the way to the lush Cameron Highlands, in fact. A hotel with such an asset could almost be forgiven for resting on its laurels when it came to everything else, but Alila Bangsar does anything but. Stylish restaurant Entier has the makings of a future classic, pairing excellent Franco-Japanese fare with interiors to rival any in the city. The drinks are no afterthought either – take your pick from the three-tiered bar on the roof or Hollywood-inspired Pacific Standard, where the cocktails are as suave as the surroundings.

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