Genting Highlands is one of my husband’s favorite tourist attractions when visiting Malaysia. It’s not only about its resorts, but also about its famous cable car! Genting has got the best cable car that connects Awana and SkyAvenue station.
The cable car, or gondola lift system, can fly us up to Resort World Genting at the peak of the mountains back and forth. Since it is situated in mountain environments as high as 1.800 meters above sea level, it feels like we’re breaking through the clouds!
This skyway is often referred to as the new Awana Skyway that replaced Genting Skyway. My husband tried that in 2016. One of the things he remembered about Genting Skyway was its back-to-back seating, unlike Awana Skyway, which uses face-to-face seating arrangements.
As you read our post about visiting Chin Swee Temple, this new Awana Skyway can bring you to the temple complex. Genting Skyway is still operating, though. However, it only serves as a backup while Awana Skyway is in maintenance closure.
It covers a journey of 2.8 kilometers in 10 minutes from Awana Station to SkyAvenue Station. The total number of gondolas used at Awana Skyway is 100 gondolas, which are divided into 90 standard gondolas and ten glass floor gondolas.
So, we started our journey from KL Sentral at 8 AM. We thought that was the best time to start since it was on the weekend! We wanted to anticipate the big crowds when trying the cable car at Genting Highlands. We also got our tickets the day before, so we didn’t want to miss our bus!
Within an hour, we arrived at Genting Highlands. If you are curious about purchasing the ticket and other related information, please see our journey using the bus from KL Sentral to Genting Highlands.
When we arrived at the Awana Station, we went to the highest floor of the building to buy two tickets that would bring us to the Resort World Genting.
For your information, there’s a self-ticketing machine available at the station if you haven’t got the tickets. However, if you got the tickets already, you can go straight to the cable car departure area!
There are three easy ways to purchase tickets. The first one is through some self-ticketing machines shown in the picture above. However, you can’t use cash when using those machines.
When you don’t have any options except cash, you can use option number two—visiting the ticketing counters, just like we did. Here, you can choose which gondola you want to hop on and how many tickets you need. The staff will help you out.
The last option is to buy them online through Resort World Genting’s official site. The E-tickets purchased online can be used directly at the gate without having to print them out firsthand. Here is the Awana Skyway ticket pricing:
We decided to try Glass Floor Gondola (return) because we wanted to make the journey more terrifying (lol). As the clouds parted, we could see our feet dangling from the dense rainforest canopy and the dreaded drops!
After buying the tickets, go to the cable car queue area. Make sure to enter the correct lane according to the code listed on the ticket (ours was lane E). Then, scan the ticket at the entrance gate until the gate opens. Follow the queue line to ride the gondola.
Each Standard Gondola can seat ten passengers, including children. Glass floor gondolas can seat six passengers. There will be helpful officers who arrange which gondola visitors will enter. When it’s crowded, you might share the gondola with other visitors.
Can I bring my luggage on the gondola?
Yes! Passengers can take along their cabin-sized bag on the gondola. When you have oversized baggage, you’ll have to pay a surcharge of RM 20 per person (one-way). You can store your oversized baggage at Baggage Storage Service available at Awana Skyway building for RM 5 per bag for 24 hours.
Alternatively, you can keep your luggage at KL Sentral Luggage Storage if you don’t stay overnight at Genting Highlands.
Another important piece of information is wheelchairs and strollers are accessible at Standard Gondola, especially the foldable ones. Only baby strollers are allowed in the gondolas, though. You can inform Awana Skyway Team Members for assistance before boarding.
We were lucky that it was still 9 AM, so we could ride the Glass Floor Gondola only for the two of us! When we first entered the gondola, a photographer was asking us to give some poses. We did what he asked even though we were not planning to print the pictures anyway.
The gondola that we took had two rows of seats facing each other. As you can see, it was really made of glass, so it felt like flying! We could see the view and feel the crisp mountain air and the cars passing on the highway under the gondola from above.
After spending some time, we finally arrived at Chin Swee Temple. My husband and I stopped by here because we didn’t want to miss any attractions Genting Highlands has to offer. And there is no extra cost to enjoy this breathtaking temple!
Do you want to find out what you can explore at the complex? Please look at the story of our trip to ChinSwee Temple.
Then we continued our journey on the gondola after taking a tour at the temple. For your information, if you don’t intend to stop at the temple, you can just stay inside the gondola.
As we continued our journey, the weather was the best! No fog blocking the view whatsoever. It was just a clear, bright, and peaceful day we had.
On the way to the SkyAvenue Station, we could see the various outdoor theme park rides. Because it was still early in the morning, it seemed only a few rides were already operating.
After passing through the theme park and several buildings, we finally arrived at SkyAvenue Station. SkyAvenue is an integrated mall with various rides and facilities. There are over 100 brands and shops available at this lifestyle mall. You can find everything from everyday necessities to high-end jewelry, watches, shoes, gadgets, and more.
It only takes about 10 minutes to get to SkyAvenue Station from Awana Station if you don’t stop by Chin Swee. But because we stopped by first, it was definitely longer.
Still remember the photographer that took the pictures of us when entering the gondola? Here’s the booth where you can ask back those pictures. Since we didn’t want any, so we didn’t stop by the booth.
It was nice to explore SkyAvenue. We walked around for quite some time and found many interesting things here, such as indoor and outdoor theme parks, First World Hotel, and Casino. Curious to know more? Please read our travel exploration at Resort World Genting.
We headed back to Awana Skyway Station after walking around at Resort World Genting. Since we had bought the cable car tickets for round trips, we went straight into the cable car without queuing to purchase the ticket again.
So, we finally arrived at Awana Skyway station and waited for the bus to KL Sentral on the ground floor of the building. The bus was late for 15 minutes from the scheduled time, though. After the bus arrived, we hopped on and started the journey back to KL Sentral.
So that’s our experience riding the glass floor cable car in Genting Highlands! We highly recommend you try the glass floor gondola instead of the standard one because the thrill is unlike no other. Although it was more expensive, it was worth every penny.
If you want to save your budget, you might try the glass floor gondola only for a one-way trip. As for the return, you can use the standard gondola. With a cheaper option, you can get to taste different experiences.
