Penang Travel Forum

We are planning for a gourmet trip to Penang for our brisk walk club members. To stay true to the purpose of the club, we thought we should organize at least a walk in Penang. :D

Is it ideal to bring the brisk walk club members to visit Botanic Gardens for our morning walk at around 7am?

Where can I find the recommended route for the walk?

Is there a brisk walk club in Penang that we can contact to organize a walk with them?

Many thanks in advance for your contribution. :)

Vanakam.

Instead of Botanic Gardens, I'd recommend something even better.

Take the cable car up Penang Hill, then walk down. Trust me, its very invigorating, you'll certainly enjoy it, especially the treet-top walk. Takes about 4 hours, & is an experience you'll cherish for life.

Your hotel will be able to help you get the requisite directions.

Cheers.

I haven't heard of any brisk walk club but Hash club is rather active in Penang in organizing runs.

Not sure how long is your brisk walk. Here are some options:
1) Botanical Garden - upper circular walk, lower circular walk, detour to Lily pond.

2) Youth Park then proceed to Botanical Garden

3) Botancial Garden entrance up the jeep road to 84 (mid point) - 30 minutes steep walk one way or all the way up Penang Hill.

4) Gurney Drive

a nice walk would be from the city bayview to around the clocktower and then fort cornwallis back to the bayview in the early morning say 6.30am. Have a shower then go have some breakfast in penang road (if breakfast not included in room cost).

Thanks VJ for your suggestion. I agree with you that taking the funicular railway up the Penang Hill might be an unnerving experience for some of the weak hearted ones in our walking club! *lol*

I suppose to coordinate a walk for a group of 50, we will have to set out very early in the morning to catch the 6.30am train. Would you happen to know what is the seating capacity for each cabin?

It is highly unlikely that they would want a 4-hour walk down as our usual walk of 3-4km averages about an hour and a bit. Would you know of a route that is of mid-level intensity that we can go on from/at Penang Hill? :)

Thanks,
Karan

Thanks, Mr Liew.

We meet our brisk walk club members every 3rd Sunday of the month and lead them on an average 3-4km walk at different parks and gardens in Singapore. We have 3 groups of walkers -
the fit ones who will walk with Tom on the planned circuit;
the keen ones who will try to catch up; and
the third group which I take extra care of - a handful 10 or so enthusiastic senior citizens who can't walk very fast.

We have never been to Botanic Gardens. The map that Tom found - http://jkb.penang.gov.my/virtual.html - does not offer a scale. Mr Liew, do you think I should lead the senior citizens on the lower circular road walk or do you think the upper circular road walk is manageable?

Thanks,
Karan

PS. The tour operator warned us about the monkeys and discouraged the visit. What do you think?

I suppose I won't want to risk bringing a group of 50 on early morning walk into the city as there are too many points where I have to worry about traffic, however remote that might be in the early morning on a weekend.

It is perhaps something Tom and I could do on our own when we visit Penang again in late July.

The last time that I was anywhere near Fort Cornwallis, it was with a couple of friends who weren't interested in such historial trails. :(

Anyway, thank you very much, japappy, for your suggestion. It is a very good suggestion and you should put that as a tip too!

Karan :)