This is the other Kuala Lumpur, the one of glass towers, giant malls and neon, built in a hurry over a few decades as Malaysia grew rich. The walk starts with dinner on Jalan Alor, the city's best known street of hawker food, crosses the busy shopping junction of Bukit Bintang and then follows a covered, raised walkway above the traffic all the way to the city center park and the foot of the Petronas Twin Towers. It ends on Saloma Link, a glowing footbridge over the river where the towers and the old Malay village of Kampung Baru face each other. It is about four kilometers, flat, and shaded for much of its length, which makes it one of the easiest self-guided walking tours in a hot city. Time it right and you start at the food stalls in the late afternoon and finish on the bridge just after the towers light up.

Before you set off

Allow about an hour of walking and three hours or more with dinner, the park and the towers. The best plan is to start around five in the afternoon, when the hawkers on Jalan Alor are setting out their tables, and to reach the bridge after dark. The heat eases a little by then, and Kuala Lumpur at night is half the show. The middle of the route runs along an elevated walkway that is covered and partly air-cooled, so the sun and the sudden afternoon downpours matter less here than anywhere else in the city. If a storm hits while you are in the open, the malls and the walkway make easy shelter, and the rain rarely lasts long. The streets around Bukit Bintang are crowded and the traffic is fast, so use the signal crossings and footbridges. If you want to go up the Petronas Towers or visit the aquarium, book ahead and check times before you go, and do the same for the evening fountain show in the park, since the schedule can change. Carry water, wear light clothes and keep a small umbrella handy. A light layer helps too, because the malls are cold enough to make you shiver after the heat outside.

Jalan Alor

You are standing in the city's most famous food street, a strip of old shophouses where the restaurants spill onto the road every evening in a crush of plastic tables, red lanterns, sizzling woks and grill smoke. Jalan Alor is where Kuala Lumpur's love of eating out is easiest to see. The food here is mostly Chinese Malaysian, but the street borrows from everyone, and that mix is the story of Malaysian food itself. Look for satay grilled on skewers over charcoal and served with peanut sauce, stingray and fish grilled in banana leaf with sambal chili paste, smoky char kway teow noodles fried at high heat, and chicken wings so famous at one stall that people line up for them. Fruit sellers offer mango, mangosteen and, in season, durian, the spiky king of fruits, whose smell is so powerful that it is banned on public transport and in many hotels. Try a little if you are brave. Most places post their menus with photos, and pointing works perfectly well. The street gets busier as darkness falls, so find a table early, order a cold drink, and watch the evening crowd build. When you have eaten, walk to the end of Jalan Alor nearest the tall malls, cut through to Jalan Bukit Bintang and turn left. The big junction is about five minutes away.

Bukit Bintang

Evening in Kuala Lumpur This crossroads is the center of shopping Kuala Lumpur, where Jalan Bukit Bintang meets Jalan Sultan Ismail. The name means "Hill of Stars," and on a busy night, with every facade blazing with screens and lights, it lives up to it. Stand on a corner and look around. You will see big malls on every side, among them Lot 10 with its green facade and the older warren of Sungei Wang Plaza, and above you the monorail glides along on its concrete beam. Changkat Bukit Bintang, a nearby street of bars and restaurants in old shophouses, is where the area does its nightlife. The building boom of the 1980s and 1990s turned this junction into the city's retail heart, and it is still where Malaysians and visitors from across Asia come to shop, eat and be seen. Watch the crowds for a minute, a mix of families, office workers, students and tourists from everywhere, often speaking four or five languages within earshot. Then follow Jalan Bukit Bintang northeast, away from Jalan Alor, for about three minutes. The huge glass front of Pavilion is on your left.

Pavilion Kuala Lumpur

In front of you rises Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, the city's flagship mall, with its tall glass entrance and its forecourt that often fills with seasonal decorations, from lanterns at Chinese New Year to lights at Hari Raya and Christmas. It opened in 2007 on land that for many decades belonged to the Bukit Bintang Girls' School, which says a lot about how this area has changed. Inside there are several levels of shops, from global luxury brands to Malaysian fashion, and a food court that is a good place to try more dishes if Jalan Alor did not fill you up. Malls play a bigger part in daily life here than in many countries. In a hot, rainy climate they work as the town square, the place where families go for a stroll in cool air, couples meet, and friends sit for hours over iced coffee. Even if shopping is not your thing, a slow walk through is a good way to see the city at leisure. More useful for this walk, Pavilion is where the covered skywalk to the city center begins. Go inside and follow the signs for the walkway to KLCC. Then follow it north above the traffic for about fifteen minutes, all the way to the Convention Centre.