travelgasm®

Damansara, a British misspelling of Damar Sara — "precious resin" in Malay — is a gigantic area not far to the west of Kuala Lumpur's core. It began its modern life in the 1970s as a sprawling residential enclave for government officials and now is considered one of the most prestigious and exclusive areas of the city.

As originally designed, Damansara effectively was isolated and car-dependent and had few redeeming qualities if you place importance on walkability and mass transit like travelgasm.com does for its destinations. However, the district was at least developed with a core in the middle of its sprawl — Damansara Town Centre. This town centre provided a dense node of retail, commercial, and government buildings, but it had little transit connectivity.

The Present & Future Damansara

The lack of significant transit for Damansara changed in 2017 when Kuala Lumpur finished the connecting portion of its beautiful MRT. Damansara Town Centre was provided with its own station — Pusat Bandar Damansara (SBK13).

To capitalise on the new metro station, a number of Malaysian companies bought up and bulldozed many of the existing buildings entirely and began constructing new mixed-use, transit-connected developments with integrated malls and attached office, condo, and hotel towers in the immediate station area.

Guocoland Malaysia was one of the first developers out of the gate with Damansara City in 2016, and Pavilion Group's station-connected Pavilion Damansara Heights — with a flagship Pavilion Mall (like in Bukit Bintang) — is under construction. The first phase of the mall is scheduled to open in May 2023 with the entire complex expected to be completed in 2024.

It would be easy to view the new-and-improved Damansara Town Centre as just more skyscrapers and malls, but truly transit-connected development in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur is a major improvement in the city's growth. If these developments are successful, it likely will prove to be a catalyst for further dense, transit-oriented development along MRT lines that reduces the city's car and motorbike usage. This type of suburban development might not be that noteworthy in Hong Kong, Singapore, or Tokyo, but it is a big deal in Kuala Lumpur.

Until Pavilion Damansara Heights is completed, you have to walk from the station around the edge of the construction zone under a temporary covered walkway, so it almost is a future 7 Things Tourists Don't Do in Kuala Lumpur, but You Should. Nevertheless, it still could be of immediate interest to the most dedicated of transit-connected development enthusiasts or property investors. When Pavilion Damansara Heights is finished, it is a safe bet that visitor numbers will grow dramatically. Even then, though, because Damansara is a relatively distant location from the core of the city, the vast majority of tourists probably will stick to Bukit Bintang for their shopping. Damansara likely will continue to be visited mostly by those who work or live in the area or who are travelers with business in the district.

Where to Eat in Damansara

If you do find yourself at Pusat Bandar Damansara station, whether out of curiosity or because you have a meeting in the area (as we did on one visit to Kuala Lumpur), Damansara City Mall has made a bit of a name for itself already for its food selection. We enjoyed Birch — the best-known restaurant in the mall, which boasts a wide variety of international dishes — but other well-regarded options also include Erawan for Thai, Nero Nero for Italian, and Soleil for Modern European.

For good value in this type of work-centric location, look for lunch specials priced for office workers. For example, the posh Soleil has a more expensive dinner menu but an "Express Set Lunch" for RM 35 (US$8/£6.50) and a two-course "Executive Set Lunch" for RM 75 (US$17.50/£14); more than street food in Kampung Baru, of course, but definite bargains for a restaurant of such quality.

Below, we have mapped out the route from the Pusat Bandar Damansara MRT station to the transit-connected developments partially still under construction.

How to Get Here: Take MRT Sungai Buloh-Kajang (Line 9, Dark Green) to Pavilion Damansara Heights - Pusat Bandar Damansara (SBK13). Use Exit B. In the future, Exit B will connect directly into the Pavilion Damansara Heights mall, but for now, it goes to a temporary ground-level covered walkway that skirts the construction zone and leads to the Damansara City Mall and attached highrises.

travelgasm.com's Pusat Bandar Damansara Map (Full Screen)

Cities > Kuala Lumpur > Kuala Lumpur Overlooked 7 > Next: (7) See Potential in SS 15... >>

Like Pusat Bandar Damansara? Tell your friends and frenemies on social media that you discovered it first:

Be sure to see our Top 7 Things to Do in Kuala Lumpur, too.

Intelligent and good-looking readers of travelgasm.com like you also sign up for our free mailing list.

Live in Kuala Lumpur? What's your favourite "local" thing to do? Spotted anything out-of-date or inaccurately translated? Please tell travelgasm.com. Terima kasih! Thanks!