We’ve been fascinated by street art and mural artwork whenever we travel to Malaysia.
While Penang is known for some of the best street art, Ipoh has a wide array of vibrant street art that rivals Penang.
Ipoh’s street art is commissioned by local artists such as Eric Lai and international artists such as Ernest Zacharevic (who also created artwork in Penang). We had a fantastic time seeing the storytelling of local Malaysian life through colorful art.
In this guide, we’re sharing where to find street art and murals in Ipoh. You can easily walk around Old Town and New Town to find the artwork and discover these gems.
Also, visiting these murals is free, so it’s a budget-friendly activity to do in Ipoh.
So, let’s wear comfy walking shoes and start exploring!
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What is the Best Way to Find the Street Art in Ipoh?
During our 3 days in Ipoh, we walked around Old Town and New Town to find murals and used Google Maps to find any notable works to check out.
Normally we like to plan which destinations to see, but for the street art, we didn’t have a specific plan. We took the low-key approach to walk around to see what popped out.
Once we returned home, we heard about an official Ipoh Street Art Trail created by the Ipoh Tourist Centre. You can pick up a hard copy at the Tourist Information Centre in Old Town. Click here to location on a map. So, if you’re interested, you can visit the information center and get a map.
Map
Click on a map to see a larger view of the Ipoh’s mural locations. Credit: Map data: Google
Places to See Street Art in Ipoh Old Town
1. Concubine Lane
Concubine Lane is currently known as Panglima Lane.
This street was formally the main housing area for wealthy tin mining owners’ concubines. It was a notorious area for opium, gambling, and brothels.
Now, Concubine Lane is a bustling street that sells souvenirs and snacks, such as fruit on a stick, giant ice cream sundaes, and souvenirs.
The famous street art, located near the entrance of Concubine Lane, is an older man with a concubine and enjoying a cup of coffee. Unfortunately, we don’t know the artist of this art.
You’ll see this street art at the start of Concubine Lane
Note: Concubine Lane is narrow and crowded with people. It’s best to come here early in the morning or off-hours with the fewer crowds.
Location: Concubine Lane, 30000 Ipoh
2. Market Lane
Market Lane, also known as Second Concubine Lane, is one of the major historical streets in Old Town and nearby Concubine Lane.
One of the main highlights of Market Street is the vibrant, colorful overhead umbrellas and colorful ribbons dangling in the air. It’s a pretty place to take photos, especially if you like to take photos of umbrella streets around the world.
The artwork on Market Street includes a wall of conical umbrellas and artwork on the ground. We loved the Pacman and Nintendo art.
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Location: Market Lane, 30000 Ipoh
3. Art by SMJK Sam Tet, Homesoy, and Vilmedia on Jalan Bijeh Timah
Located at the intersection of Market and Bijeh Timah, we saw a mural of a woman and a man enjoying a beverage.
What is amazing about this art is that students from SMJK Sam Tet painted it.
This artwork was a collaboration by SMJK Sam Tet School, Homesoy, and Vilmedia. The goal was to inspire the younger generation with the arts.
This artwork had a collaboration with SMJK Sam Tet, Home Soy, and Vilmedia
Two murals in Penang also had the same collaboration with the local students, Homesoy, and Vilmedia. Learn more about the collaboration here.
Location: Jalan Bijeh Timah & Jalan Market, Ipoh
4. Kedai Sin Ma on Jalan Panglima
Yip Yew Chong is a Singaporean artist who creates artwork based on everyday stories and the local community.
Many of his artworks are on display in Singapore’s Chinatown, Little India, and other locations, yet there is one in Ipoh to check out.
Created in August 2017, Kedai Sin Ma depicts a man relaxing at a storefront selling pomelo, lanterns, and flower garlands. This store sells everything made in Singapore and Malaysia. So, it’s a great reminder to support your local stores.
This street art is called Kedai Sin Ma. Artwork created by Yip Yew Chong
Location: Side wall of 51, Jalan Panglima, 30000 Ipoh
5. The Sleeping Tapir on Jalan Bijeh Timah
The artist, Drewfunk, created one of the most adorable street art in 2022.
It’s a sleepy tapir next to a pink hibiscus plant with the tagline, “Dreaming for a Better Malaysia.”
We like the positivity, so we’re happy to have found this one during our walk.
This artwork is titled, The Sleeping Tapir. Artwork created by Drewfunk
Location: Side of Sinhalese Bar, 2, Jalan Bijeh Timah, 30000 Ipoh
6. Old Uncle Drinking Coffee on Jalan Tun Sambanthan
Old Uncle Drinking Coffee is a popular street art to check out in Ipoh.
It’s about an old man enjoying a cup of coffee, so it’s appropriately located on the side of the famous Old Town White Coffee building.
Created by Ernest Zacharevic, a Lithuanian artist, Old Uncle Drinking Coffee is one of the 7 artworks that he was commissioned to create in 2014.
Here is the Old Uncle Drinking Coffee mural. Artwork created by Ernest Zacharevic
Once you see the artwork, we recommend that you stop by for drinks and food at Old Town White Coffee. We shared a large iced white coffee and a regular-size pandan oolong tea. They were the perfect drinks to enjoy on a hot and humid afternoon.
This artwork is called Ipoh Mural Number 1 on Google Maps.
Location: Side of Old Town White Coffee Building, 19, 1, Jalan Tun Sambanthan, 30000 Ipoh
Read More: Delicious Places to Eat in Ipoh
7. Trishaw on Jalan Shala
Ernest Zacharevic created another mural of a man loading garbage bags onto his trishaw and holding down the garbage bags by rope.
What is neat about this mural is that there is a trishaw embedded in the wall to give a 3-D effect to the artwork. It’s similar to other work by Zacharevic in Penang.
This art is referred to as Ipoh Mural – Old Town Relieves Nostalgia with Trishaw or Ipoh Mural Number 6 on Google Maps.
This street art is titled, Trishaw. Artwork created by Ernest Zacharevic
Location: Jalan Shala, 30000 Ipoh
8. Paper Plane on Jalan Tun Sambanthan
We circled the building a few times to try and find the paper plane at eye level. But you’ll need to look up to see this wall art created by Ernest Zacharevic.
The artwork has two children riding on a paper plane and it’s located on the upper left corner of the building.
This art is referred to as Ipoh Mural Number 2 on Google Maps. It’s only one block away from the Old Uncle Drinking Coffee artwork.
This is the Paper Plane wall art. Artwork created by Ernest Zacharevic
Location: Corner of Jalan Tun Sambanthan & Jalan Sheikh Adam
9. Yellow Hummingbird on Jalan Panglima
Created by Ernest Zacharevic, this yellow hummingbird artwork is on an entire side wall of a light blue building.
It’s referred to Ipoh Mural Number 4 on Google Maps.
On our visit in October 2023, there was a wall of sheet metal surrounding the Hummingbird artwork and the dirt lot, so it was not easy to access.
To take this photo, we squeezed our arms in an opening between the sheet metal. It’s not the safest thing to do, so be careful if you proceed.
This artwork is titled, Hummingbird, and it’s currently hidden behind a wall of sheet metal. Artwork created by Ernest Zacharevic
Location: Side of 37, Jalan Panglima, 30000 Ipoh
10. Kopi-O on Jalan Tun Sumbathan
Here is another creation by Ernest Zacharevic. It’s referred to Ipoh Mural Number 3 on Google Maps and also “The Kopi-O Break.”
This art has five plastic bags with a straw of kopi-o (black coffee with sugar) and different amounts of coffee in them. The plastic bag drink is what you see in Malaysian daily life for takeaway.
We didn’t see this artwork as we didn’t realize it was across from the Hummingbird artwork. All we needed to do was turn our bodies 180 degrees.
To be honest, it would be hard to see this artwork from the sidewalk due to the wall of sheet metal surrounding the empty lot.
Check out photos of the street art on Zacharevic’s website here.
Location: Across Hummingbird Art, 37, Jalan Panglima, 30000 Ipoh
11. Evolution on Jalan Bijeb Timah (Not Recommended to Visit)
This wall art is located on the side wall of the Ho Yan Hor Museum. We randomly came across this artwork as we exited the Ho Yan Hor Museum.
Created by Ernest Zacharevic and referred to as Ipoh Mural Number 5 on Google Maps, it’s a black-and-white artwork of the tin mining process. Ipoh was famous for the tin mining industry in the 1800s.
To be honest, we recommend that you skip this street art.
It’s in terrible condition as the paint has chipped off, so the art looks like it’s burned the building. Also, the artwork has a tape barrier in front of it as a warning.
Hopefully, this artwork will be restored in the future!
This mural is called Evolution, but it’s not in the best condition. Artwork created by Ernest Zacharevic
Location: Side of Ho Yan Hor Museum, 1, Jalan Bijeh Timah, 30000 Ipoh
NOTE: What about the 7th artwork by Ernest Zacharevic? It’s called Girl On A Wall In Bandar Timah, but we didn’t find it. When we checked the GPS coordinates (4.59691 N, 101.078152 E) on Google Maps, and couldn’t see any photos of the location. Therefore, we didn’t include it in this post.
Ipoh New Town Street Art Spots
12. Mural Art’s Lane
Visiting Mural Art’s Lane is a highlight of New Town and is a top tourist destination.
There is a long stretch of artwork by local artists such as Eric Lai and others. This article explains Eric Lai’s reason for creating the mural lane and how it has enhanced the area.
We absolutely loved this area due to the high concentration of artwork. With the variety of street art, you can easily spend time finding a favorite one and having a photo op with it.
From the fun and adorable artwork such as circus animals and bunny-shaped dim sum (see the Featured Photo at the top of post) to artwork highlighting Malaysian people and culture, each one has its charm.
Do you heart Ipoh’s street art as much as we do? Photo credit: Life Of Doing
The quirky artwork such as human bodies with fish-heads are also conversation starters. There aren’t any explanations for the artwork so you’ll need to come up with your interpretation for the unique ones.
This was an interesting wall art of fish head spirits. Artwork created by Eric Lai
Location: Jalan Masjid, Taman Jubilee, 30300 Ipoh
Demon Slayer Anime on Jalan Yang Kalsom
After eating some amazing tau fu fa at Big Mom Beancurd, we saw this cute wall art of Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba in Japanese) at the storefront of Taste Supreme restaurant.
Demon Slayer is a popular anime and manga series from Japan. Learn more about the series here.
You’ll see your favorite characters – Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Inosuke, and Nezuko – on this wall art.
Are you a fan of the Demon Slayer anime or manga?
Location: Taste Supreme, 22-A, Jalan Yang Kalsom, Taman Jubilee, 31650 Ipoh
Final Thoughts
While there isn’t a set walking route to see Ipoh’s street art, we hope you had fun exploring these places.
From everyday Malaysian lifestyle to anime characters, the wall art scene in Ipoh is memorable and changes often. Who knows what we’ll see in the upcoming months?!
If you find some hidden gems not mentioned in this post, please let us know in the comments below. We’ll add them to our bucket list on a return trip.
Check out our other posts about Ipoh below:
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2 comments
Hi Jackie,
What a wonderful story about Ipoh and it’s street art. We are currently staying for four days in Ipoh and must have missed you by one day. Staying in the Bedrock Hotel, a nice hotel very close to the Mural Art Lane and walking there every day. It takes some time to interpret the local murals coming from Europe. After a while they are telling wonderful stories. Take your time and don’t only click the shutter.
By coincidence we were able to watch Eric Lai painting his newest piece, a wonderful dragon.
Ipoh is still a hidden place in the world of traveling.
Hi Edmund – Thank you for sending a lovely comment about Ipoh’s street art. I’m so happy to hear that you’re exploring the street art and even see Eric Lai’s newest painting for the Year of the Dragon. I’m planning a return trip soon so I can’t wait to see it. Enjoy your time in Ipoh!