Johor Bahru

Crossing from Singapore to Johor Bahru

Take the Shuttle Tebrau train for the quickest crossing from Singapore. It runs about five minutes from Woodlands Train Checkpoint to JB Sentral, with both immigration checks done before boarding. SBS 170 and Causeway Link buses run all day but queue at the Causeway. Avoid Friday afternoons into Malaysia and Sunday evenings back.

Seats sell out on Friday evenings and at weekends, so buy tickets as soon as your plans are fixed.

Buses take longer but run all day. Board SBS 170 or a Causeway Link service in Singapore, get off at Woodlands to clear exit immigration with all your bags, and rejoin a bus of the same route on the far side. On the Malaysian end you clear immigration and customs at the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar complex, linked by walkway to JB Sentral and City Square. Keep your ticket, as it is valid for the next bus.

Keep your passport with you throughout your stay, and make sure it has the stamps or electronic records to match. Overstaying or losing track of an entry record causes more trouble at the border than anything in town.

Tan Hiok Nee coffee, the Glass Temple and a Legoland day

Spend day one in the old centre of Johor Bahru and day two at Legoland. Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, a short walk from JB Sentral, has the Chinese Heritage Museum and shophouse cafes, Little India is the place for lunch, and the Glass Temple fills the afternoon. Legoland Malaysia is about 20 km west in Iskandar Puteri.

Day one, morning. Walk out of JB Sentral to Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, the old Chinatown street. Start with the Chinese Heritage Museum, which traces the Teochew pepper and gambier planters who built the town, then a coffee in a restored shophouse. The Old Chinese Temple, shared by five clan groups, is a block away; about three weeks after Chinese New Year it leads the Chingay procession through the centre.

Afternoon. Eat lunch in Little India on Jalan Ungku Puan, then take a Grab to the Arulmigu Sri Rajakaliamman Glass Temple, its walls and pillars faced in coloured glass. Move on to the Istana Besar gardens on the waterfront and the white Sultan Abu Bakar State Mosque on its rise to the west, which looks its best in the late light across the strait.

Day two. Families should be at Legoland Malaysia in Iskandar Puteri, about 20 km west, at opening time, before the heat and the queues; the water park is next door. Without children, spend the morning at Johor Premium Outlets in Kulai or on a drive to Kukup's stilt village, and return for a last plate of laksa Johor before crossing back.

Laksa Johor, kacang pool and Hiap Joo banana cake

Johor Bahru's own dishes bring many Singaporeans across for lunch. Order laksa Johor, made with spaghetti under a thick fish and coconut gravy, sweet mee rebus, kacang pool, and banana cake from Hiap Joo. Jalan Tan Hiok Nee and the lanes around it keep the old coffee shops.

Mee rebus comes in a sweet potato-thickened sauce with a boiled egg and lime, and kacang pool, a spiced stew of broad beans and minced meat with fried egg and toasted bread, shows the influence of the Arab traders who settled in Johor. Look for them at Malay breakfast stalls and in the hawker centres.

In Chinatown, Jalan Tan Hiok Nee and the lanes around it have old coffee shops and Hiap Joo, a bakery whose banana cake comes out of a wood-fired oven every morning and sells out early. Seafood restaurants along the coast serve chilli crab, steamed fish and grilled prawns, best shared by a group at night. Little India on Jalan Ungku Puan does banana-leaf rice and thosai.

Kukup, Kota Tinggi and the Desaru Coast by car

Southern Johor is flat and easy by car. Legoland Malaysia is 20 km west, the stilt fishing village of Kukup lies further along the west coast, Kota Tinggi to the north-east has a waterfall below Gunung Muntahak, and the Desaru Coast has beach resorts. Grab or a hire car works best for all of them.

Legoland Malaysia in Iskandar Puteri, about 20 km west, is the obvious one: Asia's first Legoland, with a water park beside it and buses from JB Sentral and Larkin. Further west along the coast, Kukup is a Chinese fishing village built on stilts at the edge of the mangroves, where seafood restaurants sit over the water.

North-east, Kota Tinggi has a waterfall at the foot of Gunung Muntahak, a cool place to swim on a hot day, and river trips to see fireflies in the mangroves after dark. Mersing, a few hours up the coast, is the ferry port for Tioman and the other islands, but the boats run on a reduced schedule or stop altogether in the north-east monsoon, roughly November to February.