The Happy 8

Top choice in Ipoh


This stylish boutique property invites you to step inside with a gorgeous greenery-festooned timber frontage and an intimate, shady cafe tucked into a side alleyway. The rooms beyond are full of upcycled wood, hand-painted murals and stone-effect bathrooms; the best have balconies peeking through the leaves.

Even if you aren't staying overnight, take a break in the charming cafe, decked out in bamboo and wood, and see if you can get a seat on the mesh platform (there's water beneath your feet).


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Ipoh attractions

1. Han Chin Pet Soo

0.06 MILES

This charming small museum charts the history of Han Chin Villa, a 1929 clubhouse for Hakka tin miners that became a hotbed of prostitution, opium trading…

2. Birch Memorial Clock Tower

0.19 MILES

The clock tower, with a 1.95m-diameter bell, was erected in 1909 in memory of James WW Birch, Perak’s first British Resident. Birch was murdered in 1875…

3. Masjid Panglima Kinta

0.22 MILES

This late-19th-century mosque, attractively painted white and sky blue, is tucked away in Ipoh's new town, on the east bank of the Kinta River.

4. Town Hall

0.27 MILES

Ipoh’s gleaming white town hall dates back to 1916 and is a popular spot for wedding-photo shoots. Visitors are often allowed to wander inside; the upper…

5. Courthouse

0.29 MILES

Ipoh’s courthouse was completed in 1928 by AB Hubback, the same architect who designed Ipoh’s train station and the town hall.

6. Masjid India Muslim

0.32 MILES

Built in the Mughal style in 1908 for the local Indian population, this mosque has an attractive, lacey, green-and-white design. Only Muslims are allowed…

7. St Michael’s Institution

0.33 MILES

A fine example of colonial architecture, this school, on the padang’s northern flank, was founded by the Catholic La Salle brothers in 1912. Not open to…

8. Train Station

0.4 MILES

It's no wonder that locals compare it to the Taj Mahal: Ipoh's train station is a harmonious Moorish and Victorian architectural masterpiece, framed by…