Arau to Taiping

By train the journey from Arau to Taiping is scheduled to take 1 hour 46 minutes to 1 hour 58 minutes depending upon which train you take.

Train Times from Arau to Taiping

There are currently 6 train services a day from Arau to Taiping.

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Location of Arau Railway Station

Location of Taiping Railway Station

About Travel to Taiping

The most popular tourist destination, and largest city, in Perak State is Ipoh. Taiping, located 60 km to the north west of Ipoh, is the state’s second largest city.

The Extraordinary History of Taiping

During the late 19th Century Taiping was arguably the most important city in the Malay Peninsula. The reason for this was that the hills of Perak State are rich in tin ore and, prior to the expansion of Ipoh, Taiping was the centre of the trade in tin ore on the peninsula.

In 1876 Taiping became the administrative centre of the British Empire in the Malay Peninsula. At this point, the colonial administration set about doing what had been done in other parts of the British Empire which was to reorganise local governmental structures and institutions to make them more like those in Britain.

33 Firsts in Malaysia

The local tourist board has identified 33 things that happened in Taiping during the colonial era before they happened elsewhere in Malaysia. These include the creation of the first European style prison, the first professional local police force, the first museum, the first post office, the first public library, and the first zoo.

In some respects what happened in Taiping at the end of the 19th Century laid the foundations of the modern independent state of Malaysia as what was pioneered in Taiping later became common place throughout the entire country. Developments in Taiping served as a model for future development across the peninsula.

Taiping Lake Gardens

One of the most striking features of Taiping is its large city centre public gardens known as Taiping Lake Gardens. Opened in 1884, Taiping Lake Gardens was the first public park in the Malay peninsula. Modern day Kuala Lumpur is famous for its many public parks but they were all created a number a years after Taiping Lake Gardens.

Taiping Lake Gardens is spread over 640,000 square metres and contains 8 lakes and ponds. The range of trees and plants in the park is extensive, some of which were planted in 1884. Taiping receives on average more rainfall than anywhere else in West Malaysia and this keeps the park very green. It takes around 30 minutes to walk around the main lake, and around 2 hours to visit the park as a whole.

Bukit Larut

Bukit Larut is a hill near Taiping that rises to 1,250 metres above sea level. In addition to the height of the hill, Bukit Larut is special because it was the site of the first ‘hill station’ in the peninsula, created a decade before the more famous settlement on Penang Hill.

A cluster of bungalows and a small medical facility, all for the use of British people, were constructed on the hill in 1884, which was renamed Maxwell Hill. Because of the altitude the temperature on the hill is generally lower than in the city below, particularly at night, and it became somewhere for the British to escape the constant heat of South East Asia.

As well as the historical buildings, Bukit Larut has some more recently built cafes, restaurants and small hotels. It’s a pleasant place to visit although getting there is difficult. It’s a 3 hour walk from the main road to reach the old hill station, although if you can find one there are vehicles operated by the municipality which will take visitors to the top for a small fee.