MALAYSIA-SINGAPORE

The Cameron Highlands is in an altitude between 1300 and 1800 meters. Obviously is not as hot as in the rest of Malaysia. http://www.pahangtourism.com.my/highlands/index.html
http://www.cameronhighlands.com/
http://www.cameron.com.my/
How to arriveWe previously wanted to go first to Kota Bahru and then Tanah Rata, but we discarded this possibility as other tourists told us there is nothing interesting for tourists in Kota Bahru. So we decided to go directly to Tanah Rata.
From Perhentian islands to the Cameron Highlands there is a daily mini van paying 75RM by person. Organised by Yusoff Awang Or ([email protected], [email protected], Tel. 0060-19 9452999 or 0060-9 7442831).

It took us 6 hours to arrive to Tanah Rata that is one of the two cities that the guide recommends to go at the Cameron Highlands, the other is Brinchang where according to what people comment to us Brinchang covers mostly local tourism, and in Tanah Rata you’ll find more international tourism.
In Tanah Rata money is only changed in cash and only at the Maybank.
Eat & SleepWe arrived on a Friday at 8 in the evening and it was difficult to find two hotel rooms. We finally decided to stay in a dirty and ugly hotel, the BB Inn (79A, Persiaran Camellia 4, Tanah Rata, 39000 Cameron Highlands, Tel. 0060-5 4914551, Fax 0060-5 4914552). We paid 65RM for a double room without breakfast, Mondays to Thursdays costs 45RM.

On the following day we changed to another simple hotel but clean and cosy, the Cameronian Inn (16, Haul Mentigi, 39000 Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands, Tel. 0060-5 4911327, Fax 0060-5 4914966, [email protected]), we paid 60RM for a double room without breakfast. Who prefers to stay in a new one and can go to the Century Pins: http://www.hillresorts.net, where the double room (including the breakfast) costs 197RM standard and 240RM the deluxe room.

We really recommend to go to the The hotel Old Smoke House (By the golf Course, Tanah Rata, Tel. 0060-5 4911215, Fax 0060-5 4911214), it’s exactly like and English cottage, if you want to pay prices like 455 RM for a double room. Another good option is to go there just to enjoy a cup of tea with strawberries from the Cameron, delicious!

In order to eat we recommend the T coffee (4, Nuncan Road, floor Side entrance, first, 39000 Tanah Rata, Tel. 0060-5195722883, www.t-caffe.biz), very recommendable its lasagne. We also enjoyed eating in the Indian restaurant Kumar (26 Nuncan Road, 39000 Tanah Rata, Tel. and Fax 0060-54912624). Restaurants where you definitely must not go another Indian: Suria for their bad service or the Rosendale for their bad quality and also bad service.
What to see & doThe Cameron Highlands are famous for the strawberries farms, delicious vegetables and the tea plantations.

We chose to make a trip that we contracted directly with the hotel Cameronian Inn and we paid only 15RM for 4 hours of excursion. They took us to visit a strawberry farm, a butterflies and insects farm (3RM), a farm of bees, a centre of roses and orchids (4RM), the Buddhist temple of Brinchang and the tea plantation of Boh.

Another option of excursion is to make the top of the Brinchang mount with 2.031 meters, and to do trekking through the jungle in 4x4 and to visit the Boh tea plantation, it costs 40RM per person and lasts 4 hours.

The third excursion offered is the one that lasts all the day and costs 80RM per person and lasts 9 hours. It combines the two previous excursions.

In the environs of Tanah Rata there are itineraries to walk with different difficulties and hardness, we tried to do one and although we recognize that we are not used to the mountain, the different paths are not well signalled as the signs are not clear. We recommend to follow Yen, who is a permanent guest of the Cameronian Inn and that each morning does one of the itineraries during 3 or 4 hours and in return he only asks for a "tip".

There are other excursions to go to the mountain, and we think that the best agency is: CS Travel & Tours, 47 Main Road, 39000 Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands, Tel. 0060-5 4911200, Fax 0 060-5 4912390, [email protected]).