Petaling Jaya — PJ to everyone who lives there — is a sprawling satellite city immediately west of Kuala Lumpur, connected to the capital by the LRT and the federal highway. What began as a planned housing estate in the 1950s has grown into a city of over 600,000 people with its own distinct identity: younger and more relaxed than KL, home to a thriving food scene, and packed with the kind of neighbourhood life that the capital's gleaming towers often lack.
The city is divided into numbered sections (SS2, SS15, PJ Old Town, Damansara and so on), each with its own character. PJ Old Town retains some of the original low-rise shophouse architecture and a handful of temples, while the newer sections further out are dense with shopping malls, hawker centres, and independent cafes. The food scene is one of the best in the Klang Valley — expect excellent Chinese hawker food, Indian mamak stalls open around the clock, and an increasingly ambitious cafe culture.
For travellers, Petaling Jaya is more of a base than a destination in itself, but it is a comfortable and affordable one. Accommodation here tends to be cheaper than in central KL while the LRT puts the city centre within easy reach.