It’s no fun to visit the center of Kuala Lumpur during the weekend. It is often very busy; the shopping malls are overcrowded and the traffic is jammed. So what is the best thing to do? On Saturday morning we took the train to Putrajaya.

Administrative center

Together with Kuala Lumpur and Labuan, the city of Putrajaya is one of the three federal states of Malaysia. What exactly does that mean? In this case, the central state of Kuala Lumpur has relinquished part of its power to the states. Putrajaya has been the administrative center of Malaysia since 1995. Due to the heavy workload in Kuala Lumpur, they decided to move parts of the administrative tasks. Part of the government buildings is now in Putrajaya, 35 kilometers south of the capital.

McDonald's

From KL Sentral you can reach Putrajaya within 20 minutes by train. A single ticket costs RM14 (€3). From there we took the Grab to the McDonald's, haha. With your hamburger in your hand, you have a great view over Putrajaya Lake and this is the starting point of a nice walking route to the Putra Mosque. Surprisingly, but when we were there it was very hot (Read this line again but then with sarcasm, because every day it's really hot!). There were no clouds, so we walked around in the burning sun.

Business life

During the weekends, you won't find that many people in Putrajaya. Except for some tourists, who are all on their way to the mosque, you won't find anyone on the streets. We had been told that during the week it is very busy with people that work for the different government bodies and on Saturday and Sunday they are off. It's almost like the city turns in a ghost city with some lost tourists. We loved it though because it was the perfect escape from the crowded city. Putrajaya is a bit reminiscent of Washington. Wide streets, green parks, impressive but low buildings and peace and quiet.

Traffic jam

We had a real city trip planned this day, but we didn't get any further than the McDonald's and the mosque mostly because of the weather. We'll have some things to do for our next trip to Putrajaya because it's definitely worthwhile to visit this city. Especially during the weekend! If you go to this city keep in mind that you have to take the train back to Kuala Lumpur. We weren't that clever and took the Grab. We got stuck in traffic for more than an hour and it only takes 20 minutes to get from Putrajaya to KL Sentral.
In a row the different attractions: