Awana Skyway is one of the tourist attraction at Resort World Genting. It is a upgraded mountain cable car (gondola lift) transport that connects the Genting Premium Outlet (Awana Central) with Chin Swee Caves Temple (mid way at Chin Swee Station) and the SkyAvenue Resort World Genting. The new upgraded system can serve 3,000 passenger one way every hour and is usually packed with visitors.
The Awana Skyway is a gondola lift cable car that can takes passenger from Awana Central to SkyAvenue in 10 mins.
Type : Gondola Lift , a type of continuous cable car system where a loop of steel cable strung between two stations with intermidiate supporting towers, driven by a huge bullwheel connected to a motor at the terminal. The benefit of such system is allowing detachable grip where the gondola can easily and seamless transfer between different terminal station along a longer journey. This allows a continuous running cable car system at higher moving rate without intermittent stopping to load and unload passenger.
How it works : The gondola grip is detached from the steel cable system into the intermittent rails at the terminal station running at lower speeds allowing loading and unloading of passengers, then at the end of the rail it is grip back to the steel cable system and continues its journey along the cable till it reach another station.
Hence passenger will notice the change in speed during the ride in a gondola lift. The speed of the gondola is usually slow enough for passenger to walk in and out of the gondola before the door automatically closed and takes off.
The transition between the rail at the terminal station and the cable system.
Location : The Awana Skyway spans across genting higlands connecting SkyCentral, Chin Swee Caves Temple and SkyAvenue.
Address : Awana Skyway, Genting Highlands Resort, 69000 Genting Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia
Operating Hours : Daily 7AM to 12Midnight.
Phone: 03-6101 1118 (Awana Skyway), 03-6251 8398 (SkyAvenue Station)
Official Website : https://www.rwgenting.com/attractions/awana-skyway/
The official maps for Genting Skyway and Awana Skyway [Source : www.rwgenting.com]
Passenger can load and unload at the Chin Swee station to visit the Chin Swee Caves Temple with no extra cost, but should still hold on to the ticket to continue the journey descend or ascend with the gondola lift later.
The Standard Gondola of Awana Skyway.
Fun Facts :
- The Awana Skyway gondola lift travels at top speed of 6 meters per seconds ascending and descending the Genting Highlands.
- The Awana Skyway gondola lift can handle 3,000 passangers one way per hour.
- It takes 10 minutes to travel 2.8 km journey (climb 620 meters) between the two terminal station at Awana Central and SkyAvenue.
- There is 99 standard gondola that can carry maximum 10 passenger per cabin, and glass floor gondola that can carry maximum 6 passenger per cabin.
- The monocable gondola lift steel cable is 60mm in diameter and is one of the strongest monocable gondola installation in the world.
- The gondola lift spans across 22 pylons (intermittent supporting tower).
- The tallest towers stands at 53 meters from the ground.
- While traveling on the Awana Skyway along the journey up to SkyAvenue, not for from your left is the territory junction between state of Selangor and state of Pahang. If you travel via Awana Skyway you are travel from Pahang side, however if you travel via Genting Skyway (1km away) you are travel from Selangor side.
- There is many roads to reach here. The Awana Station is located 50km from the Kuala Lumpur City Center via the Kuala Lumpur – Karak Expressway from the south (KL) and east coast (Karak Town Pahang). Alternatively you can also reach here via Jalan Batang Kali – Genting Highlands from the northern part of Malaysia.
- While traveling on the glass floor gondola, you can see the 130-million-year-old rainforest passing below your feet. The fern like trees are the hallmark relic of the past. 130 million years ago is the Cretaceous period (after Jurassic period) , where it is related to the survival of the mass extinction event at 65 million years ago. Yes, you are looking at a rainforest that survived the mass extinction.
The 130 million years old rainforest and the gonola lift.
Limitation :
- Do not exits the passenger limit per gondola. It is strictly maximum 10 per standard gondola and 6 per glass floor gondola.
- One passenger is limited to one cabin-sized hand luggage. Oversized baggage can be stored at the Baggage Storage Service (Level G) for RM 5 per bad for 24 hours.
- Do not rush to get in a gondola. Queue up and follow the instruction of the conductor at the terminal at all times.
The Chin Swee Station.
What you can do :
- Taking photos of the breathtaking view from the glass window of the gondola.
- Enjoy the natural cool mountain breeze from the specialize ventilation holes (or known as louvers) along the windows.
- Spectate the native rainforest below or the scenic view of the Twentieth Century Fox World Malaysia, a theme park at Resort World Genting which is currently still in construction.
- There is charging ports in the cabin just in case you need to fast charge your phone during transport.
From Awana Station to SkyAvenue
The Awana Station is located at Awana SkyCentral at the mid mountain of Genting Highlands. It is a transportation hub with express bus terminal, taxi station, and cable car station. There is also ample parking space of 4500 bays for those who want to visit the Genting Premium Outlets and those who don’t want to waste petrol driving up the winding road up to the Resort World Genting Hotels. Visitors love to park their vehicles here and use the Awana Skyway to travel up to the Resort World Genting Hotels, Casino, Theme park and Sky Avenue complex.
Visitors can take the Resort World Tours (RWT) Express Bus from One Utama, Gombak, Pudu Sentral and KL Sentral. Indirectly for tourist to visit Resort World Genting, they can have an alternative option to travel from KLIA to KL Sentral, then KL Sentral to Awana SkyCentral, before they can take the Awana Skyway to reach the SkyAvenue, which is within walking distance to all the attraction at the Resort World Genting.
The Awana Skyway travelling up the mountain.
A view from the gondola.
During our trip ascending to the SkyAvenue station, the weather is cloudy with large amounts of cloud and mist passing through the mountains. Huge cloud passing in front of us making it feels like flying in the clouds. You can see mist coming through the ventilation port of the gondola. It is a usual occurrence though, as the weather changes can be fast at the mountain ridge.
During ascending to the SkyAvenue station we met a cloud passing by the Resort World Genting.
More clouds passing by the cable car.
The visibility is getting low when the clouds passing by.
We are in the clouds.
It takes a moment before the clouds fully pass by and we have a glimpse on the construction of the Twentieth Century Fox World Malaysia. This is one of its kind outdoor theme park at genting highlands. It is much anticipated theme park for years.
The construction of the theme park started on 17 December 2013 with estimated cost of RM 1 billion, as part of the Genting Integrated Tourism Plan (GITP). It replaced the previous Genting Outdoor Theme Park. The theme park is around 250 acres in size and will feature roughly 25 thrill rides and attractions based on Blue Sky Studios’ Ice Age and Rio, Life of Pi, Night at the Museum, Planet of the Apes, Alien vs Predator, Titanic and Sons of Anarchy.
After the clouds pass by, we are able to see the Twentieth Century Fox World Malaysia in construction below.
The outlines of the theme park is quite clear with artificial mountains and roller coaster rides.
From Genting SkyAvenue to Awana Station
Getting down from the SkyAvenue is rather easy with Awana Skyway. During our descend we are lucky that not much people is waiting for the cable car ride as it can be very pack during peak hours.
The entrance to the Gondola Lift is clearly divided into categories of tour groups, standard and glass floor gondola, express and priority lanes.
Waiting to board the Awana Skyway gondola lift.
First world hotel as seen from the Awana Skyway.
Awana Skyway descending to Chin Swee station.
Awana Skyway from Chin Swee Station to Awana Station.
From the Chin Swee station to Awana Station is a steep descending journey where you can feel the thrills while looking down.
The Awana Skyway cuts through the rainforest.
While the gondola lift travels across the old rainforest, take some time and look at different plants around that you don’t normally see in modern times.
The Awana Skyway cuts through the rainforest
Our trip with Awana Skyway is both rewarding and fun. Do take a memorable ride on Awana Skyway if you are visiting Genting Highlands.
