One of my absolute favourite spots on my recent trip to Kuala Lumpur was Thean Hou Temple, a lesser known temple outside of the city centre. Kuala Lumpur itself is busy, chaotic and humid, and Thean Hou felt like an oasis away from the main city. I fell in love with the colours, the lack of crowds and the views, and recommend it as an option for your itinerary when in town. Here’s everything you need to know!
If you’re interested in more awesome spots in Kuala Lumpur, you can read my full Itinerary: HERE
What is Thean Hou Temple?
The Temple is an ornate, six tiered temple dedicated to the Chinese sea goddess Mazu. It was opened in 1987, and makes use of authentic traditional design featuring imposing pillars, spectacular roofs, ornate carvings and intricate embellishments. It’s primarily made of red and white colours, with beautiful hanging lanterns everywhere.
The main prayer hall houses three altars, each dedicated to a difference goddess – including the Goddess of Mercy, Goddess of the Waterfront and Goddess of the Sea. The temple is an active temple, and when you visit you will see many people lighting incense and praying.
In addition to the Temple itself, there is also a lovely area of gardens, including a walk through each of the zodiac signs and their animals, plus a pretty Chinese garden with water pools.
How to get to Thean Hou Temple?
As with everything in Kuala Lumpur, the simplest option is to take a Grab taxi. Our journey cost us £2.40 from central KL and took about 20 minutes.
There is an LRT station nearby, but you’d still have to get a Grab from there. Whilst this may be the cheapest option at around £1.50, for ease I recommend just booking that taxi from your hotel!
You could also book to visit on a tour and there are some which combine it into a half day tour with Batu Caves, but it was simple and easy to visit independently which costs less and avoids arriving en-masse. This is the most costly option with tours costing around £12 with Get Your Guide.
Visitor Information for Thean Hou Temple
Dress Code
The Temple is an active place of worship and as such should be treated with respect. For women, it’s important to have shoulders and knees covered. The rules aren’t so strict for men. You can wear shoes around the Temple, but must take them off to enter the Prayer Hall.
When to visit Thean Hou Temple
You can visit the temple any time, but please check before visiting to ensure your visit isn’t coinciding with a religious festival.
I recommend visiting on a week day in either the morning or the evening to avoid the heat of the day. At weekends, the temple is very busy for worship so I recommend avoiding it. We visited at 2pm on a Friday in November 2024 and it was pretty empty.
Other Important Information
- The temple is free to enter
- The temple is open from 8am – 8pm every day
- There are a small number of shops on site where you can buy incense, water etc
- There are restrooms on site
- The temple gets super hot as it’s exposed to the sun on top of a hill, please wear sunscreen and take a hat. We went in winter, in rainy season, and it was still 32 degrees and sweltering up there.
So what do you think of Thean Hou Temple? I absolutely fell in love with it and would absolutely choose it over a trip to the (in my opinion) overhyped Batu Caves.
Completely separately to this post, I’ve had a pretty rough week this week. I’m supposed to be in New York right now, but my husband and I had a complete disaster. We were due to fly on Saturday and on Friday night I came down with Norovirus which meant I was highly contagious and seriously ill. I didn’t think it fair to other passengers to board a plane, and I was in no fit state for an 7hr flight. It was a good decision as I’m still really ill, now full of cold, with a coldsore, conjunctivitis and an eczema flare up, so I could never have enjoyed NYC.
In reality I also think it was fate because it stopped my husband getting on the plane – on Sunday, he spent the day in A&E with severe chest pains which turned out to be lung and ligament inflammation – I can’t imagine air pressure would have done him any good so I guess everything happens for a reason. It’s the first time we’ve ever had to cancel a trip, and we’ve lost around £1,000 on non refundable items. I’m upset about that, but I also know it doesn’t matter in comparison to our health, and I’m grateful to be at home resting.
Let me know what you think in the comments and I hope you’ve had a better week than me! Stay safe and happy travelling!
Saasdia Travel Gid
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