Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites - Kuching, Malaysia 

I've stayed in this hotel everytime I visit Kuching (which is 3 or 4 time per year for the past 4 years). The rooms I've been are big (they always upgraded me to deluxe) and has nice views. You'll need a bit of a walk to reach the famous Waterfront but it's not sweat (10 to 15 mins). The State Musuem is just beside the hotel (5 mins walk). For local food, you can take a cab to Satok night market (RM7 one way). I've never been disappointed staying here and would recommend it to any age group.

This hotel was recommended to us by friends with young children. We booked it because they had cheap 2 bedroom suites, which suited our purposes. The suite was very roomy and had a gorgeous view of the city, Kuching RIver with the Astana on the other side. It was quite ropey round the edges though, with many stains, tears, broken fixtures, smelly drains in the kitchen and torn sheets. Not fitting for a 4 star hotel. The staff were generally helpful but not always overly switched on. What we absolutely loved was the Italian restaurant downstairs. Fantastic food, lovely staff and they couldn't do enough to accommodate our kids. Coffee shop was also pretty good. There is a wine bar that seemed to have a very nice selection of wines (for Malaysian standards anyway) and a British pub which does reasonable food. It was fairly quiet while we were there and the restaurant opening hours weren't always according to the book - the downside of staying anywhere in a Muslim country during Hari Raya I guess. All in all I think you get what you pay for, and it wasn't exactly bad. I would probably stay there again, but purely for lack of anything better at those prices. Kuching itself is fun, but 5 days with the kids aged 2 and 5 was a bit ambitious. There's only so many walks along the river you can take!!