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In many cities there's an obvious place to go for a run, such as along a beach front, around a lake, along the river, or some nice big park.

In Kuala Lumpur the river is sadly neglected and undeveloped but it would make a perfect park.

The only park I've stumbled across is in the KLCC next to the Petronas Towers and it doesn't seem so big or natural but I'll settle for it if that's all there is.

What I would really like to find is a bigger natural park with as many of these features as possible:

  • Preferably with a small free outdoor gym or exercise machines, especially a chin-up bar.
  • Preferably with a body of water - there may be a lake since the river's not suitable and there's no coast.
  • Within one hour walk from Chinatown, or accessible by public transport without changing lines.
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  • One thing you should consider when doing outdoor sports in KL is the haze, especially if you consider staying for a while. You can see the current values here: apims.doe.gov.my/apims/hourly3.php
    – drat
    Commented Mar 13, 2014 at 7:23

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Natural, open areas are not a strong suit for Kuala Lumpur.

Potential sites (both are near public transportation, neither have chin-up bars):

  • ASEAN sculpture garden (not natural, not particularly big, no water, but the area around it is natural and shaded in places)
  • Merdeka square (big, not natural, not shaded, no bodies of water).

Here's a running route map from the JW Marriott in Kuala Lumpur: running route map JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur

I think most locals go to gyms for running and pull-ups.

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    I have found that there are parks with outdoor gym equipment, but so far they are very difficult to get to via public transport. Taman Lembah Kiara listed in an article in Time Out Kuala Lumpur being a prime example.
    – hippietrail
    Commented Aug 6, 2013 at 5:34
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    I ended up at the sculpture garden and Merdeka Square in my later wanderings. They're both fine for strolling but not really for jogging and I didn't see anybody jogging. The sculpture garden is pretty close to the Botanical Gardens though which has good hilly paths for jogging and even had a couple of local joggers.
    – hippietrail
    Commented Aug 9, 2013 at 8:06
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The Botanical Gardens actually fulfilled all my prerequisites except the outdoor gym.

  • It's about a 25 minute walk straight to the west of Chinatown.
  • If not actually natural it's certainly nicely landscaped and full of trees and plants.
  • It has a lake in one section though not a huge one.
  • It has quite a few paths running all around it and a small number of local joggers.

It even has a very large childrens' playground, parts of which are useable for chin-ups. And at least when we were there not many kids were using it so we weren't disturbing anyone.

Next time I went to the Botanical Gardens I found a very crummy outdoor gym at a site that's mostly dug up for something new. It was only good for a couple of leg exercises though and didn't have any of the machines you see in parks around the world, nor did it have a chin-up bar or anything else for upper-body fitness.

(I'd still love to hear about another place with a half-decent outdoor gym if one is reachable without a car.)

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It's a little bit of a walk but if you go to Universiti station and either bus/walk/taxi to the entrance of the university campus there's a outdoor gym there and a path for running.

Haven't found anything else in around the core area.

Hope that helps.

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  • I think this needs a bit more info. I'm not in KL anymore so can't explore it in person. Looking at Google Maps though I've got no idea where it might be. That includes where the campus entrance is.
    – hippietrail
    Commented Mar 13, 2014 at 12:19

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