The Cameron Highlands in Malaysia is a lovely place to visit and explore for at least a few days. Located on the Peninsula Malaysia, it’s just a few hours by car, south of Penang or north of Kuala Lumpur, or an all-day drive if you have kids! There are a few clear winners when it comes to things to do in the Cameron Highlands, and we’re excited to share those with you today.
I don’t think the towns in the Cameron Highlands are amazingly beautiful or anything. The area has a bit of an eclectic look. It’s an important agricultural area, so it certainly forms part of the visual landscape.
The Cameron Highlands weather is a big drawcard for locals. Cooler temperatures offer a welcome reprieve from the heat and humidity in the lowlands. There are also some lovely places to visit, plus plenty of delicious food on offer.
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Getting to and around the Cameron Highlands
If you plan to travel to the Cameron Highlands, I’d definitely recommend hiring a car or driving your own. Alternatively, you could take a tour bus or ride a motorbike once you arrive. You really need a car or a motorcycle to get between the farms and other sights.
Apparently, you can hire a driver to take you around the sights if you choose. However, it’s a little pricey compared to doing so in places like Indonesia. We hired drivers at very affordable prices for our 10-day road trip in North Sumatra. Another option is to get a taxi from one of the towns to a farm, but you would have to ask the driver to wait and take you back. If you’re going for this option, make sure you negotiate the price beforehand.
One thing to know about the roads is that there is one main road in and out. The traffic was ok for us arriving on a Wednesday evening. However, when we left at 11:30 am on a Saturday, the traffic was at a standstill. It took us 2.5 hours to drive 7km! Romy and I got out and walked for a while because it was more fun than being stuck in the car.
If you’re coming from Kuala Lumpur, there are two routes to Tanah Rata and Brinchang, the main towns in the Cameron Highlands. The old route via Tapa has windier, more dangerous roads. We opted for the slightly longer new route via Simpang Pulai. Maybe the other route would have been better, considering the standstill traffic we encountered!
Let’s get into this Cameron Highland attraction blog post with our top picks for places to visit and things to do.
The best things to do in the Cameron Highlands
Visit a strawberry farm
One of the main attractions in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, is the many strawberry farms throughout the countryside. Big Red Strawberry Farm is a popular choice. However, we decided to visit Raju’s Strawberry Farm.
We did think for a moment about whether we would go for the “pick your own strawberries” option since it’s twice the price of simply buying them (?). Ayla did end up picking her own, since it was kind of the point of going there.
We love strawberries, and we enjoy showing the kids where their food comes from. The strawberry picking activity is also a good lesson in patience, since you aren’t allowed to eat them along the way! Overall, we enjoyed our visit and would recommend including a strawberry farm on your itinerary for things to do in the Cameron Highlands.
Visit a tea plantation
The cool temperatures in the Cameron Highlands allow a wide variety of plants to happily grow there. As a result, the Cameron Highlands produces many of the vegetables that it’s too hot to grow in other areas of the country.
One of the big crops of the area is tea. The tea plantations and Cameron Valley tea houses have established themselves as major Cameron Highlands attractions. There are many tea plantations in the Cameron Highlands that you can visit as part of a day tour, either independently or with a tour company. We decided to visit the Boh Tea Plantation, which is one of the major ones. It’s situated on a hillside along one of the little, narrow, winding roads in the Highlands.
If you’re looking for the best places to visit in Cameron Highlands, make sure you visit a tea plantation! You’ll be rewarded with views over a brilliant, bright, lush green area. We loved walking along the cute little path and steps (with all the other tourists!) to reach the Boh tea cafe perched on the hillside. It has the most incredible view over the valley.
Don’t go there hungry!
We made the mistake of thinking we could get a nourishing lunch there. It’s all just tea, pastries, and cakes, folks, so don’t go there hungry like we did! It was also quite busy with both local and international tourists.
At the Boh Tea Plantation, you can sample any of the local favorite brews and take a short self-guided tour around the factory at certain times. There’s also a mini-movie screening where you can learn about the plantation’s history and the processes your tea undergoes. Despite it being very touristy and us ending up hungry while we were there, we really enjoyed our visit.
Go hiking
If you’re looking for Cameron Highlands things to do and you really want to get amongst nature, there are plenty of great hiking trails in the area.
Mossy Forest is maybe the most popular /famous Cameron Highlands trail. This is evidenced by the fact that you have to pay 30rm per person to walk on it, and several tours go there. Other trails, such as the ones I meandered on, are pretty mossy forest-like. Therefore, I didn’t feel the need to go to that one.
Mossy Forest is also not very convenient to drive to. It’s about a 30-minute drive further on from the Boh Tea Plantation, along a little windy road. That didn’t appeal much to me either, as it’s probably an hour or so to get back to the villages from there.
The hiking trails in the Cameron Highlands are all numbered. For example, you can hike up Mount Brinchang via Trail 1. I use maps.me to navigate trails like these. It tends to be more reliable than relying on signposts!
“Me time” hiking in the Cameron Highlands!
We only had two full days in the Cameron Highlands, the first of which was spent out and about as a family, visiting the strawberry farm and tea plantation.
By day two, both the grown-ups wanted ‘alone’ time, especially knowing that we had two consecutive overland travel days coming up next!
I got the morning to explore. Hiking is one of my favorite things to do in the Cameron Highlands or anywhere! Therefore, I was intent on making it happen. I also wanted to drink coffee by myself, so I limited myself to two hours of hiking ☕. The family got stuck in a traffic jam later, so I ended up getting plenty of coffee time!
The hiking trails I took in the Cameron Highlands
I kept my hikes simple because Colin had the car. This meant I was going by foot from the town and back again. The cool thing is that you can get onto the hiking trails from town quickly enough. It just meant that I didn’t climb any peaks this time.
First, I headed to Robinsons Falls via Trail 9. I didn’t see a single other person on the trail. It was rather slippery even with trail shoes, so it’s not very family-friendly. It’s probably wise to take a buddy too, in case of a sprained ankle. You can continue along Trail 9 up to the peak if desired. This takes maybe another hour or so.
From Robinson’s Falls, I headed back to the park in town and along Trail 4 to Parit Falls. Again, I didn’t see anyone on this wee trail, which was less slippery and therefore more family-friendly. There was only one little spot where the hillside was falling away, so you have to scramble a little. Sadly, there’s a bit of rubbish floating around under the falls, but otherwise it’s a pretty trail.
Other things to do in the Cameron Highlands
There are some other fun things to do in the Cameron Highlands if you’re staying a little longer, or if you like to get through the sites faster than we do! Here are a few more ideas for what to do in Cameron Highlands:
- The girls visited the Butterfly Farm with Colin
- You could also visit bee farms
- Check out the Time Tunnel Museum, which is the local museum in the town
- Visit a tea house
- Enjoy the delicious Malaysian Indian food on offer in many restaurants
- Some hotels offer ‘high tea,’ where you can enjoy the English influence of scones with your tea
- The Agro Technology Park could be a good option for a place to visit in Cameron Highlands, especially with kids. There are gardens, strawberries, rabbits, and butterflies to see there
- Visit the weekend night market in Brinchang, or the morning wet market in Tanah Rata
- Check out Sam Poh Temple, a large Buddhist temple perched on the hill in Brinchang
- Visit the Mah Meri Art Gallery
We hope you found our Cameron Highland trip blog useful, and that you now have plenty of ideas of things to do in the Cameron Highlands.
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