Our little family are as orang KL as they can get, so when I first broached the idea of a staycation in the city (as opposed to an outstation trip), I thought I’d have to face a tough crowd.
I thought wrong.
A Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur staycation
It was a relief to see the kids’ faces light up once we entered the lobby of this five-star property – our home for the next two nights – after our “arduous” 15 minute journey. Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur (“Shangri-La KL”) may have been around since 1985, but there is nothing tired about this establishment, with its gleaming floors, gilded interiors, and friendly faces at every corner. If anything, their deep-rooted presence has provided them a better understanding towards serving parents and their little guests.
After a smooth check-in, we were escorted to our Family Executive Room, which featured a spacious bedroom, dining area and living space. This included, to the kids’ delight, a bright teepee tent (which sleeps two young ones comfortably), with a cheeky “No Parents Allowed” stitched out front. We had no complaints, as we got the king bed all to ourselves while the kids relished their own unique abode!
There was one main bathroom with a shower, a bathtub and toiletries for our little tykes, which was a nice touch, and a guest water closet. Orange juice and chocolate treats also welcomed the kiddos.
Redefining “family-friendly”
While the hotel doesn’t have a dedicated Kids’ Club and full-on water play facilities, they more than made up for it with an array of activities and amenities tailored for young families, under their promotion.
1. Complimentary Sensory Play Welcome Kit by Kechik Play (worth RM149)
My crafty five-year-old was over-the-moon with the Kechik Welcome Sensory Play Kit, which was themed around local flora and fauna, including near-extinct ones. Outside of the requisite bubble baths, she spent all her time in the room fussing over her Malaysian forest-scape that took on several creative forms and shapes throughout our stay. Families can enjoy this complimentary kit when booking the package before 29th December 2022.
2. Special weekend Kids’ Activities
The Kids’ Activities schedule, running every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, is chockfull of fun things to do and challenges for tots and children under 12 from morning to evening.
My kids especially loved the Origami Arts and Crafts session, Junior Chef (they made crabmeat temakis), Koi Fish Feeding, and the House Tour, where they experienced an exclusive glimpse into hotel operations, from the laundry room with its gigantic washing machines, to the patisserie kitchen. They also enjoyed winning prizes in The Maze Garden Treasure Hunt and Bingo.
All the Kids’ Activities, except for Koi Fish Feeding, are run by Shangri-La KL’s director of spa and leisure, Mr Aizar Othman, and his staff. Children under six are required to be accompanied by an adult. If your kids are between six to 11 years old, you can leave them under Mr Othman’s care as you unwind at the Horizon Club Lounge (there is a complimentary afternoon tea and cocktail hour, if you book the Family Premier Suite), or hit the hotel’s impressive gym.
3. Special kids’ breakfast corner and menus for kids
This bright, colourful counter, available at the complimentary buffet breakfast at Lemon Garden and Horizon Club Lounge, is the perfect height for kids to select their own yummy treats. I only wished they provided kid-friendly plates and cutleries, in place of the heavy porcelain and steel ones at the Horizon Club Lounge.
We loved the fact however, that the in-room dining kids’ menu is intentionally designed with much healthier options in mind, such as seaweed soba soup (which my eight-year-old polished off!) and vegetable Mac and Cheese, rather than the typical nuggets and SpagBol. Parents, you’d be in for a real treat too, with Lemon Garden’s Premium Seafood Buffet on Friday to Sunday and the crowd’s favourite dim sum lunch at Shang Palace.
4. Hospitality at its friendliest
The staff at Shangri-La KL are brilliant in engaging and interacting with children. We bumped into Chef Aaron, who spearheads the Junior Chef Kids’ Activity, in the Horizon Club Lounge, and he obligingly allowed my five-year-old to ‘teach him’ to draw birds and rainbows for a solid 10 minutes while I peacefully read my book.
Mr Othman, the aforementioned director of spa and leisure, was similarly amazing with the kids, and attentive to the smallest mood shifts of his little audience. A differently-abled child was present during one of the activities and Mr Othman and his staff guided the little boy with much patience and grace.
5. Safety and security
Amid all the excitement, this distracted stepmama left her windows down after parking in the basement. Despite never providing my vehicle details, Encik Razali from security tracked me down to check if everything was alright. If that isn’t stellar service, I don’t know what is!
As a parent, I also appreciated the presence of an attentive lifeguard at the swimming pool, which isn’t always available at a lot of other hotels.
6. Free shuttle service to nearby KL attractions
Ever ventured into the KL city centre during the weekend or holidays? Then you’d be familiar with the nuisance that is KL traffic and parking. Leave your car – and headache – at the hotel and hop onto their complimentary shuttle bus instead to explore the sights and shops.
There are also plenty of connecting trains, with the Bukit Nanas Monorail Station roughly an eight minute walk away from the hotel. If you have slightly older kids, you could also opt to take the 1.2km walk to KL Tower and Taman Eko-Rimba.
Seeing KL through fresh eyes
Here are some other attractions you and your family can explore, if you do decide to leave the lush comforts of the hotel behind:
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KL Craft Complex (free entry)
Apart from an amazing display of beautiful traditional handcrafts within these photogenic Malay-style buildings, your little ones can also discover old-school local games like batu seremban, congkak and gasing, and see how things were crafted in the olden times. Fill up a quick survey after you’re done, and allow your kids to pick free magnets and keychains as mementos.
I personally loved looking at the intricate anyaman bags, baskets and pendant lamps from all around Malaysia.
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Museum of Illusions Kuala Lumpur
We hopped on the free shuttle bus to Fahrenheit 88 to check out Museum of Illusions KL, nestled within Ansa Hotel next to the Fahrenheit 88 mall. Plenty of wacky photos were captured for memories, and we appreciated the staff helping us to navigate the many optical and spatial illusions.
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MinNature Malaysia
A short walk from Pavilion KL will take you to Sungei Wang Plaza, where you can find MinNature, a place to celebrate the wonderful cultural heritage that makes us Malaysian, from dim sum spreads to heritage architecture – all in mind-blowingly detailed miniature form!
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KLCC attractions
If you choose to take the hotel’s free shuttle bus to KLCC, you can explore multiple places of interest in the area, such as Aquaria KLCC, Petrosains, the KLCC park playground and waterplay area, and Kinokuniya (one of my personal favourite bookstores).
You can either take the free shuttle bus from the hotel to Avenue K directly, or walk through the underground tunnel from KLCC to get to this large indoor family theme park that caters to every age and taste. There’s even a pedal car track and a tube slide, making it easy for our family to spend an entire day there.
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KL Tower attractions
From the hotel, you can take a short ride via Grab or a 1.2km (slightly ascending) trek to KL Tower, where there are many fun things to do, such as Taman Eko-Rimba (free for kids under 6 years old, RM10 for MyKad holders and RM1 for children and senior citizens), the KL Upside Down House, KL Tower Mini Zoo and KL Tower Sky Deck.
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Street art murals
Try venturing further to Petaling Street, where you can take a heritage walk (guided or on your own) or walk through Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rahman to appreciate Insta-worthy street art and murals!
Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur best lah!
Colour me (genuinely) surprised, but the hotel’s has become my children’s benchmark of a truly fun vacation – outranking plane rides and seeing actual snow.
My eldest is already in the midst of strategising our return here for the next school holiday. In his words: “This is the most fun hotel I’ve been to!”
By Nora Ismail
makchic’s stay was sponsored by Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur. The writer’s opinions – and especially that of her kids, however, are solely their own. The hotel is currently running their promotion, designed with young families in mind, for stays until 29th December 2022. For more information, please visit their website or check out their Instagram page.
Hoping to experience the Family Fun Getaway for yourselves? Read on to find out how you can win a 3-days/2-nights stay at Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur on Instagram or Facebook!
All the best, #makchicmumsquad!
makchic x Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur Giveaway Terms and Conditions
- The giveaway is open to residents of Malaysia aged 18 years or over, except for employees of makchic and Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur and their close relatives and anyone otherwise connected with the organisation or judging of the competition.
- By entering this giveaway, an entrant is indicating her/his agreement to be bound by these terms and conditions.
- makchic and Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur retain the unlimited right to use the submitted text for commercial and non-commercial purposes which include editorial, website, and social media usage at no cost. The entrant will be credited.
- There is no entry fee and no purchase necessary to enter this giveaway.
- The giveaway will be on makchic and Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur’s Instagram and Facebook platforms.
- The giveaway will run from 21st October 2022 until the closing date for entries on 28th October 2022 at 5pm. One winner will be selected, based on the correct (and most creative) answers submitted. After this date, no further entries to the giveaway will be permitted.
- The prize will be: a 3-days/2-nights stay at Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur under their Family Fun Getaway package between 1st November 2022 and 23rd December 2022 (the “Prize”). Travel dates are subject to availability and prior reservation is required.
- No responsibility can be accepted for entries not received for whatever reason.
- The rules of the giveaway and how to enter are as follows:
- Follow both @makchic and @shangrilakl on Instagram or “Like” us on Facebook at @makchicdotcom and @shangrilaKL.
- Like our giveaway post.
- Answer the following questions in the comments section: (1): What’s the secret message written on the teepee tent in our video? (Hint: our latest article might also have your answer!) AND (2): What is your favourite family tradition?
- makchic and Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur reserve the right to cancel or amend the giveaway and these terms and conditions without notice in the event of a catastrophe, war, civil or military disturbance, act of God or any actual or anticipated breach of any applicable law or regulation or any other event outside of the promoter’s control. Any changes to the competition will be notified to entrants as soon as possible by makchic.
- makchic is not responsible for inaccurate prize details supplied to any entrant by any third party connected with this giveaway.
- The winner will be notified by email and/or DM on Instagram/Facebook within 24 hours of the closing date. If the winner cannot be contacted, we reserve the right to withdraw the prize from the winner and pick a replacement winner.
- makchic’s and Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur’s decision in respect of all matters to do with the giveaway will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
- No cash or credit alternative or substitution is available and the Prize is not transferable or negotiable. The winner will be solely responsible for any and all taxes and/or fees, as well as all additional costs such as travel and food expenditure that may be incurred in connection with the Prize.
- Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur will take reasonable care to ensure that the Prize is as described in the giveaway. However, the Prize is subject to availability and Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur may replace, substitute or amend any prize with another product of similar or equivalent value.
- The giveaway and these terms and conditions will be governed by Malaysian law and any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Malaysia.
- The winner agrees to the use of his/her name and image in any publicity material, as well as their entry. Any personal data relating to the winner or any other entrants will be used solely in accordance with current Malaysian data protection legislation and will not be disclosed to a third party without the entrant’s prior consent.
- This giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Instagram and/or Facebook.
- For room package terms and conditions, please visit:
