Concubine Lane
A narrow, colourful lane of stalls and snacks.
Slleong — CC0 · Natsudragon — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Michael — Public domain
Ipoh's historic heart, a town built on tin wealth in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, full of colonial-style shophouses and old coffee shops, many still in business. This is the birthplace of the white coffee Ipoh is famous for, and a place to wander slowly through narrow lanes, murals and colonial buildings. Its best-known spot is Panglima Lane, called Concubine Lane in English because wealthy tin miners, the story goes, housed their second wives there. Restored, it is now a narrow, colourful lane of stalls, snacks and souvenirs. Murals painted in 2014 by the Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic are scattered through the streets, the most famous an old man with his cup of coffee. On a nearby square stands the Birch Memorial Clock Tower, raised in 1909 in memory of Perak's first British Resident, with ceramic panels made in London. Wandering is free and always possible; best in the morning with breakfast in an old coffee shop, or late afternoon when it cools down. Concubine Lane gets crowded at weekends. Note that many of the Chinese coffee shops and restaurants here are not halal, so look for a halal sign; the historic Panglima Kinta Mosque is nearby for prayer. A suggested route: from the railway station to the clock tower, then the murals and Concubine Lane, then the Han Chin Pet Soo museum, and finally the Kinta Riverwalk. Two to three hours on foot is enough.
A narrow, colourful lane of stalls and snacks.
Wall art across the old town since 2014.
Ipoh is the home of its famous white coffee.
The old town west of the Kinta River, central Ipoh
Han Chin Pet Soo (Hakka Tin Mining Museum)Malaysia's first museum of the Hakka tin miners, in their old clubhouse at the e3 minutes walk
Ipoh Railway StationOne of the loveliest railway stations in Asia, called the Taj Mahal of Ipoh by l5 minutes walk
Panglima Kinta MosqueOne of Ipoh's oldest and loveliest mosques, built in 1898 by Dato' Panglima Kint7 minutes walkThere are Malay and Indian Muslim restaurants with clear halal signs, and you can try white coffee at certified-halal coffee shops. Do not assume every old coffee shop is halal.