I have been toPenang Hill about 10 years ago and recently, they are doing the train replacement and we did not manage to go up there. Heard that for the time being, the jeep service can be reached for those wanted to go up, but expensive charge.

So, my experience with my wife was so refreshing when we were there. That time,the train was old and it took quite a while to reach the hill top. We could see the Penang city and they were many type of flowers grown. So, if the train had been fully replaced, defintely we will go up there again and this time, with my 2 lovely daughters. Waiting for the day to come.

Hi,
Please do not visit the small privately owned bird park at the top of Penang Hill.
We were outraged when we saw how the birds were treated; kept in very small cages, some of them couldn't move at all, and several had broken feathers; it was miserable.
We tried reporting this, but were told the most efficient way to do something is to let other travelers know here on TripAdvisor, which is what we are doing now.
The rest of Penang Hill is very nice and interesting, definitely worth a visit! Just avoid the bird park.

It is high time Penang Hill is closed indefinitely in Feb 2010 for a major upgrade. After visiting Hong Kong & Victoria Peak around the Christmas holidays, we were very impressed with the cleanliness, shopping mall and how everything was so up-to- grade. We visited Penang Hill after that, and in contrast, it was so run down, lacked maintenance, and the eating stalls and toilets were so filthy. It was evident there was no effort to improve the facilities there.

Worst of all, the tram rides uphill and downhill were excruciating and arduous - it took about 45 minutes each way. We were packed like sardines into the trams, and many young and old people had only standing room. The heat was unbearable as the fans were not effective. We did not understand why we had to wait for 15 minutes at mid station, after we had to change trams to continue the journey uphill or downhill.

It was a terrible ride that we will not want to remember. We were surprised we survived the most horrible ride of our lives. Regretted wasting our time up there. The management should learn something from the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

The view from the top of Penang Hill is very beautiful, but the trip to get there is quite stressful. We were there as an adult family of four and went as part of a Penang Hill and Temple tour. The funicular ride is horrible - it takes about 30 mins to get to the top and the tram is packed full like sardines. It is a race to get in - and no regard for safety. There are a lot of rude and pushy people on the tram. It was hot, stuffy and all together a horrible experience to ride up.

The funicular is being renovated from February 2010 and hopefully once this is done the trip will be more pleasant and faster.

On inspection it seems that there are 4WD trips to the top of the hill which I dare say would be a far more pleasant experience, but I cannot comment on these as we did not do it. We wish we had known before hand.