Balik kampung by car during Raya, what time to depart to avoid the jam?

From my experience the golden rule is leave at odd hours. Departing around 3 to 5am has saved me many times, the kids sleep in the car and the highway is empty until sunrise. The worst times are right after office closes on the eve, everyone floods the PLUS highway at once. Ipoh from KL is normally about 2 hours, but during Raya can balloon to 5 or 6 if you leave at peak. Check the LLM/PLUS Travel Time Advisory they release before festive season, and use Waze for live traffic. Fill petrol and toll card the night before, and pack food so you don't need to fight for R&R parking. Also avoid the contraflow hours if announced.

We do the Ipoh trip every year and the trick that works for us is either go very early morning or go a day or two before the crowd. If you can take leave and travel on a non-peak day, that's the real hack. When we must travel on the eve, we leave before dawn and take the smaller trunk roads via the old route if PLUS is red on Waze. Bring a car charger, snacks, plastic bags and a small pillow for the kids. Also top up your Touch n Go and enable the RFID beforehand, the toll queues are brutal. Don't drive if you're exhausted, better stop at an R&R and rest 20 minutes than risk it. Safety over saving time.