The Taman Tasik Taiping are Malaysia's oldest public gardens, laid out in 1880 on the flooded workings of an old open-cast tin mine. The grounds cover 64 hectares and include ten lakes, lawns, formal flower beds, and several long avenues of rain trees that arch across the road and meet in the centre — one of the most photographed sights in northern Malaysia.
The gardens are still a working public park, used early in the morning by joggers and dog-walkers and by families through the day. Adjoining the gardens are the Taiping Zoo (one of Malaysia's better small zoos), the Perak Museum (the country's oldest, opened 1883), and the trailhead for the Land Rovers up to Bukit Larut. An easy half-day stop on any drive through northern Perak.