Visiting FRIM was a rather plodding experience. Firstly, the site is not as easily reachable as I had hoped. The local mass transit in Kuala Lumpur seems to be much less efficient than expected. Trying to reach FRIM during a stopover on Sunday, I discovered that the public rail system is quite slow - the trains crawl along the tracks, the frequency was very low ( about one train per hour), and none of the major tourist spots seemed to be on the same line. Every change of a train added at least one more hour to the travel time - I was faster walking than taking a train. As a stopover from the airport, this means at least 40 minutes with KL express to KL Sentral station, than 60-90 minutes with a local train in the direction of FRIM. However, none of the trains actually reaches the FRIM garden, so you have to take a bus or walk for half an hour in the tropical sun. FRIM itself obviously expects the visitors to arrive by their own car - there is no support for other possibilities. The bottom line is that I think the 4-5 hour minimal stopover time mentioned in another review is unrealistic - I wouldn't risk it even with an 8 hour stopover time. You need to assume a three hour connection time (one way) from the airport, and this is assuming that nothing major goes wrong. Zipping around the city with local trains like in New York or London doesn't seem to be possible in Kuala Lumpur.

After I actually arrived at FRIM, I was prepared for a rather humble experience - and was still disappointed. Like others, I can't judge the scientific work, but the botanical garden is below average in terms of presentation, gardening, variety, size or maintenance. They had a sign pointing to other famous botanical gardens (like Kew, Singapur and Kirstenbosch), but sorry, I think these play in another league. FRIM can't even compete with many run-of-the-mill big city botanical gardens. Sure, the Skywalk is fun, but is handled more like a thrill ride than a nature experience. Birding was also a total miss for some reason - I saw more birds in the suburbs and at KLCC park than at FRIM. So in the end, this was just a tick for the sake of the tick - nothing I can recommend.

Visited in October 2025.

Importance 2/5 Beauty 2/5 Uniqueness 1/5 Environment 3/5 Experience 2/5