Ipoh wall art murals drawn by talented street art artist Ernest Zacharevic clearly breathes in new life into Ipoh Old Town city. It is now a popular tourist attraction in Malaysia, adding more crowns to Ipoh apart from being a food paradise.
Ipoh town is about 2 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur, an ideal one day trip destination for family during weekends or school holidays. Extended stay of 2 or 3 days will not end up with boring mode or continuous questions of “What To Do In Ipoh“, as the city has shopping malls, Lost World Tambun Water Theme Park, Sekeping, caves, temples, cafes to visit, and more importantly, plenty of good food to indulge.
We had a half day trip to Ipoh during Hari Raya long weekends for our Ipoh wall art mural hopping, just to admire the beautiful street art paintings before they faded off as what happened to murals in Penang George Town. Weather was scorching hot, most Chinese coffee shops especially those famous one were filled with customers and long waiting queue all the time (*expected). We gave up “kopitiam hopping”, turned to Burps & Giggles for coffee and had lunch at Plan B by BIG before heading back home.
For those who aren’t frequent visitors to Ipoh like us and clueless on where to start with for the 8 Ipoh wall art murals, here’s our route of 1 to 7 for reference (check the walking trail for Ipoh murals map) :
Old Town Relives Nostalgia With Trishaw at Jalan Shala (a small backlane after Jalan Market, off Jalan Bijeh Timah)
GPS:4.59531 N, 101.078511 E
1. We began with “Old Town Relives Nostalgia with Trishaw” mural. It is located at a small lane at Jalan Shala, one street away from Jalan Market.
Tin Mining Town With Chinese-Style Painting at cross junction of
Jalan Panglima Jalan Bijeh Timah
GPS: 4.5964 N, 101.079252 E
2. Turn left into Jalan Bijeh Timah, passing Jalan Market, continue to walk on until you reach first cross junction of Jalan Panglima and Jalan Bijeh Timah. “Tin Mining Town With Chinese-Style Painting” street art mural should be on your right.
A Yellow Hummingbird at Jalan Panglima (Oppose building of where Kopi-O
break is drawn, look around at the same carpark)
GPS: 4.596715 N, 101.078483 E
3. At the cross junction, turn left into Jalan Panglima. There should be a huge parking space with buildings at both sides. “Yellow Hummingbird” wall mural is sheltered by a big tree.
A ‘Kopi’ Break at Jalan Tun Sambathan (beside a carpark near Maybank)
GPS: 4.596771 N, 101.078612 E
4. Turn around and look up to spot 4 huge Kopi-O “clinging” street mural on the walls. Drinking “kopi” by sipping it throw a straw from plastic bag is definitely one of the iconic cultures in Malaysia. It works for teh tarik, Nescafe ice, kopi tarik too. Loud applause to Ernest Zacharevic from transforming this into mural wall arts. You’re amazing. Our favourite mural among all.
Girl On A Wall at Bandar Timah
GPS: 4.59691 N, 101.078152 E
5. Continue to walk to the left until you reach the junction connecting Jalan Bandar Timah and Jalan Panglima. Jalan Bandar Timah is one of the busiest streets in Ipoh town for tourists. You’ll find Sekeping, Plan B, thirdwave cafes, kopitiams around. “Girl On A Wall” and ” A Bag of Kopi” is just nearby to each other along the street.
A Bag Of Coffee at Jalan Timah (Opposite Kong Heng Kopitiam)
GPS: 4.595918 N, 101.078195 E
A Paper Plane at Jalan Sheikh Adam
GPS: 4.598776 N, 101.077827 E
6. Turn left into Jalan Dato Maharajarela after Plan B. Walk along the main street, pass by CIMB bank. Continue to walk till you reach a T-junction where Jalan Sheikh Adam is on your left. You will see two kids sitting on flying paper plane.
An Old Uncle Drinking Coffee at Jalan Dato Maharajalela (side wall of
the OLDTOWN White Coffee branch facing Ipoh Padang)
GPS:4.59843 N, 101.078542 E
7. Lastly, walk till the end of the road, you will see Ipoh padang on your right, Old Town White Coffee on your left. Ipoh wall murals are incomplete without “An Old Uncle Drinking Coffee”, a thoughtfully drawn Ipoh mural that pictured down the long heritage of Ipoh in white coffee, a favourite beverage not only well-loved by locals, but also well-known in many countries.
Ipoh Mural Wall Art Map
Violaa! We’ve completed our Ipoh wall art murals hopping. The entire route will better if the weather is good, more windy. You can start from “An Old Uncle Drinkin Coffee” or make it as the last. There are actually more street arts around the place beside this 8 by Ernest. Enjoy!
Some TIPS:
1) Where are these Ipoh wall arts murals located?
Some murals are easily spotted while some don’t. Just look up and down and around you. For us, Kids on Flying Paper Plane, Humming Bird and Kopi-O just appeared suddenly as we walked around. The easiest way- look out for small crowds where there’s people posing around, holdings cameras or using handphone to snap pictures.
2) Should I go by foot or by car?
It does’t matter. We went around by foot due to parking issue but we did saw come family hop around on cars. Take pictures and continue to another Ipoh mural.
3) How long does it take to complete visiting all Ipoh wall art murals?
Around 1 hour walking.
4) How’s the weather?
Mostly hot. Pray for no raining. Apply sunblock, take umbrella with you if you were “ice cream” like Summergirl (easily “melted” , keep finding places to hide from the sun. Oh well, Summergirl is not sunny at all).
