SkyBar, Traders Hotel Kuala Lumpur

SkyBar sits on Level 33 of Traders Hotel Kuala Lumpur, and the reason to go is the window: a straight-on view of the PETRONAS Twin Towers and the KL skyline. A recent refit added a vertical garden on the way in and softened the room toward something cosier than the usual rooftop.

The pool sits in the middle of it and stays open to hotel guests until 7pm, at which point the deck turns over to the evening.

What to Expect at SkyBar

Music is the other half of the pitch. The room runs a K-array immersive sound system — the same setup David Guetta puts his name to — and the programming is built around it: DJ sets on Wednesdays, live bands Thursday through Saturday. Mixology has been pushed to the front of the offering since the refit.

For a rooftop bar in Kuala Lumpur, or somewhere with a Twin Towers view and a live band on a Friday, SkyBar has been doing this longer than most of the competition.