Kuala Lumpur International Airport – KLIA1

Kuala Lumpur International Airport, also known as KLIA, is the main international airport of Malaysia and mainly serves Kuala Lumpur as well as the surrounding Klang Valley region. The airport is located in the Sepang district of Selangor, which is about 50 km (31 mi) south of Kuala Lumpur. The Sepang district is also known for its Sepang International Circuit where major motorsport events like the A1 Grand Prix, the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix and the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix take place.

The airport is very modern, has won several awards and is considered to be in the top 10 best airports in the world. With a surface of about 100 sq km (39 sq mi) is KLIA also one of the largest airports of the world. In 2017 KLIA received over 58 million passengers. The landing strips are large enough to receive the Airbus A380, which is the world’s largest passenger airliner. KLIA is an important hub for airlines like AirAsia, Gading Sari, Malaysia Airlines and Malindo Air.

The airport is divided in KLIA1 and KLIA2. The KLIA1 complex exists of two terminals the Main Terminal Building and the Satellite Building. Travelling between the two terminals is easy via the Aerotrain, which is an Automated People Mover that departs over 10 times per hour from one terminal to the other. The ride between the two terminals takes about 2 minutes. The whole airport is built on the concept of: “Airport in the forest, forest in the airport”. And there is actually a rainforest in the Satellite Building of the airport which has been kept intact from the period when the airport was built in the jungle. Restaurants, lounges and shops can be found in both terminals, but the most facilities are in the Satellite Building. At the airport are also several hotels where you can spend the night.

Domestic flights and regional international flights are processed in the Main Terminal Building while the international and intercontinental flights are processed in the Satellite Building. But after arrival you always have to get your luggage at the Main Terminal Building and when you depart you have to pass the immigration checks which are also in the Main Terminal Building.

If you want to travel from the airport to Kuala Lumpur, there are several options available to you:

Taking the bus to Kuala Lumpur city center
When you go to the ground floor in the arrival hall of the Main Terminal Building you will find the air-conditioned busses from companies like Airport Coach and Star Shuttle that go from KLIA1 to downtown Kuala Lumpur. This bus ride will take about one hour. But there are also coach services available that will bring you to other popular destinations like Ampang, George Town, Ipoh, Johor Bahru, Klang, Malacca, Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam and Subang Jaya. Taking the bus is one of the cheapest modes of travel in Malaysia, but also the slowest because it is subject to traffic delays, it has several bus stops and it probably doesn’t bring you directly to your final destination.

Taking the taxi to Kuala Lumpur city center
At KLIA1 you can choose between two options for getting a taxi. First there are the meter-based city taxis which can be found on level 1 of the Main Terminal Building. Here you have to make sure that the taxi driver uses this meter, or else there is a chance that you will pay too much. Note that you first need to buy a ticket for a metered taxi at the taxi counter before standing in the waiting line.

Secondly there are the coupon-based taxis, which can be found on level 3 of the Main Terminal Building. At the taxi counter you can get a ticket for the coupon-based taxi. The standard price for this ticket is dependent on the zone in Kuala Lumpur where you would like to go to and the type of taxi that you would like to travel with. If you want some more space and luxury you could take a more luxurious taxi instead of the budget taxi, but for this type of taxi there will also be charged some extra. The prepaid taxis that drive from the airport to Kuala Lumpur are from Airport Limo and are safe and modern. By making use of this prepaid rate you can be sure that you won’t be ripped off by a taxi tout. Travelling from KLIA1 to Kuala Lumpur by taxi takes about 45 minutes to one hour. Taking a taxi is in most cases the fastest way to get to the doorstep of your final destination, but it is probably also the most expensive option.

Taking the train to Kuala Lumpur city center
From KLIA1 you can also take the (shuttle) trains from KLIA Ekspres or KLIA Transit to travel between the airports and the ‘KL Sentral transportation hub’ in the city center of Kuala Lumpur. With the train you will avoid the traffic jams during rush hours. The KLIA Ekspres is a modern and comfortable train equipped with WiFi, so that you can do some work online and connect with your family while on the train. It is the fastest of the two trains, because it is not a stop train like the KLIA Transit.

The train departs several times per hour and a journey from KLIA1 to KL Sentral takes about 28 minutes. The trains departs from the first floor of the airport. KLIA Transit uses the same rail as KLIA Ekspres, but has three extra stops at the stations of Bandar Tasik Selatan, Putrajaya & Cyberjaya and Salak Tinggi. This is why KLIA Transit is mostly used by local commuters who travel between home and work. Please be aware that the tickets of KLIA Ekspres and KLIA Transit are not interchangeable.

From KL Sentral transportation hub it is easy to take a short ride in the metro, bus, monorail or taxi to get to your final destination. We from Meet The Cities recommend to buy your KLIA Ekspres tickets at the website of KLIA Ekspres. The advantage of purchasing your train ticket online is that you will get an immediate discount.

At the railway station of the KL Sentral transportation hub in downtown Kuala Lumpur KL is a virtual extension of KLIA and is called City Air Terminal. So if you want to go from train station KL Sentral to KLIA you can make use of the city check-in services provided by several large airlines like Cathay Pacific, Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways, Malaysia Airlines and Royal Brunei Airlines. When you check-in at the City Air Terminal you can hand over your luggage and get your boarding passes, so you can spend some extra time in Kuala Lumpur without having to carry your baggage with you.

Taking a rental car from the airport to Kuala Lumpur city center
In the arrival hall at KLIA1 are various car rental booths from the well-known car rental companies and offer a wide range of modern cars and vans. The highways around Kuala Lumpur are very well-maintained and the petrol in the region is relatively cheap, so it’s a joy to drive there. It is more convenient to book your rental car in advance than comparing and discussing the rates at the different car rental booths at the airport after a long flight. And your selected car will be ready waiting for you upon arrival when you have booked in advance. Or else you can only choose between the cars that are left over at that location. Booking your rental car in advance via a car rental comparison website is in general cheaper than renting at a car rental desk at the airport, because of discount agreements between the rental company and the car rental comparison website.