Private Cameron Highlands Day Trip with Lunch from Ipoh

The road from Ipoh to the Cameron Highlands

How to get to the Cameron Highlands from Ipoh? The quickest route is the Simpang Pulai highway, which climbs from the limestone hills of the Kinta Valley into the mountains in about 1.5 to 2 hours. As the road rises the jungle closes in, the temperature drops by ten degrees or more and the first vegetable terraces and greenhouses appear on the slopes around Kampung Raja and Tringkap.

Doing this road in your own private vehicle makes a big difference: our driver-guide stops whenever you want a photo of the valley, a short break or a look at a roadside fruit stall, and adapts the order of the visits to the weather and the crowds. The vehicle is air-conditioned for the warm lowlands, but bring a light jacket, because the highland towns average around 18 to 22°C during the day.

Sungai Palas tea plantation

The Sungai Palas estate north of Brinchang is the most famous tea garden in the Cameron Highlands, where tea has been cultivated since the late 1920s. Its steep, rounded hills are covered in tight rows of tea bushes that look like a green quilt from the viewing terrace of the tea centre. You can follow the short path to the viewpoint, learn how the leaves are withered, rolled and dried, and browse the tea shop.

Plan on about 45 minutes to an hour here, and try a cup of fresh highland tea while you look out over the valley. The tea centre is busiest at midday and at weekends, so on a private day trip we usually aim to arrive in the morning. Please note that the tea centre and factory close on Mondays; your driver-guide will plan the day around this.

The second tea estate on the highland road

On the main road between Ringlet and Tanah Rata lies a second large tea estate, with a tea house built on the hillside right above the plantation. It is one of the easiest places in the highlands to stand among the bushes and photograph the terraces from close up. The estate offers an optional buggy ride or a short walking entrance down into the fields, both paid on site.

Comparing two plantations in one day shows how different the landscapes can be: Sungai Palas has rolling high hills, while this estate falls in steep terraces towards the river valley. The tea house is a good spot for a warm drink and a short rest before lunch, and it is often quieter than the bigger tea centre.

Kea Farm market and a strawberry farm

Kea Farm, just above Brinchang, is the farming heart of the highlands. Its roadside market is lined with stalls selling strawberries, sweet corn, highland vegetables, honey, cactus plants and flowers grown in the cool air, and it is a lively place to walk around and taste local snacks. Nearby you visit a strawberry farm, where the fruit grows in raised beds under clear shelters.

Entry to the strawberry farm is free, and if you wish you can pick your own strawberries, paid by weight. Lunch is included on this day trip, and the Cameron Highlands have plenty of halal restaurants as well as mosques and prayer rooms in Tanah Rata and Brinchang, so every traveller can eat and pray comfortably.

The Mossy Forest (optional add-on)

If you would like to see the misty Mossy Forest on Gunung Brinchang, at about 2,000 metres the highest road-accessible point in Peninsular Malaysia, your driver-guide can arrange the 4x4 transfer on the day. The last stretch of road is too narrow and rough for normal vehicles, so the forest is reached by a local 4x4, with the transfer and entrance paid on site.

Is the Mossy Forest worth visiting? If you enjoy nature, yes: a wooden boardwalk leads through trees covered in moss, ferns, orchids and pitcher plants, often in drifting cloud. It adds roughly 1.5 to 2 hours to the day, and mornings give the best chance of clear weather, so tell your driver-guide early in the day if you want it.