Nuts and Bolts: Melaka Travel Tips

Sunset along Melaka's canal

This page has some Melaka travel tips to aid in planning your own trip to Melaka. Remember, we are a family of five, and we travel mostly to eat. We were in Melaka for about five days in 2015. If your trip to Melaka is significantly longer/shorter/with a different focus, you may have a very different experience.

Melaka Weather

We were in Melaka in June/July of 2015. The weather was typical Southeast Asian for that time of year: very hot, and very humid. We had only a small amount of rainfall during our time there — not enough to affect our trip at all. We tended to get out early and do stuff and then retire back to the guest house after lunch for a rest in the AC.

Getting to Melaka

Melaka is not on any rail lines, which is unfortunate if you (like me) tend to prefer trains to buses. We took buses to Melaka from Singapore, going for the cheapest option rather than the easiest one, which means transferring busses in Johor Bahru. It is all pretty easy.

The daughters hanging out at Johor Bahru, waiting for the bus to Melaka

Staying Connected

When we first arrived in Malaysia, I purchased a SIM and a data plan from Maxis Hotlink. I paid about RM60 (around US$15) for the card and the plan that gave me 2 GB of data. While being connected didn’t come in as handy in Malaysia as it did in Singapore in terms of sorting out transportation routes, it was still very nice to have.

Sleeping in Melaka for the Cheapskate Family

While in Melaka, we stayed at Old Town Guesthouse. It is about a 10-minute walk from the historic center of the city (the area of most interest to most travelers), which may be a long walk for some, but it was just isolated enough to feel quiet and peaceful to us. What’s more, for part of the walk to the center of town, you can stroll along the canal.

Old Town Guesthouse is painted with bright, cheery pictures covering the walls. The kids loved it, and to tell the truth... so did I. Old Town is just a happy place. The walls were so bright that we didn’t even mind that we were in an interior room without a window.

The proprietor is great as well. When we first checked in, he let us get settled and then sat us all down for an orientation. He told us about the layout of the town and gave us advice. Without his help we never would have had one of our favorite experiences: dinner at sunset to celebrate the end of Ramadan fasting.

There is a large common area with seating and books.

The place is small enough that there was very little competition for the shared bathrooms.

We paid RM145 (about US$35) for an AC room that fit all five of us.

This was one of our favorite places. We really recommend it.

Getting Around

The part of Melaka of most interest to travelers is very compact and easily walkable. We took a local bus from the bus station to the center of town. It was cheap, but fairly inconvenient. We took a taxi back when we left.

You will see trishaws like you have never seen them before while you are in Melaka. Near the historic square, trishaws dripping with flashing lights and pulsing music line up, waiting to take tourists for a ride. We didn’t opt to take one, but after leaving, we kind of regretted it. Cheesy but memorable.

What to Do

Walk and eat. You could spend a great few days just wandering and eating.

Melaka has a wonderful canal, an atmospheric Chinatown, and old Dutch colonial buildings. Scattered throughout is more food than you can get through in a few days in the city. We toured the old buildings and ate, ate, ate, ate.

Early mornings walking around Chinatown were some of my favorite times. The streets were mostly deserted. It was just me and the dogs.

Early morning in Melaka

Jonker Street has a weekend night market that is worth a stroll. I found the food to be better in the shophouse restaurants in Melaka, but there is a wide variety of dishes and snacks on display at the night market, and it is not as ridiculously crowded as some other night markets I have been to.

The daughters at the night market

We also took a ride on the canal boat. The boat leaves from near the historic center of the city and travels for 20 minutes or so and then comes back. We don’t recommend this — the interesting part of the canal is the very beginning, a section that you can easily walk through in fifteen minutes or so. After that, the canal runs through high-rise apartments and hotels. Unless you really, really, really, REALLY like boat rides, this one isn’t worth it.

I really liked Melaka. It was a great introduction to Malaysia for us. We had some very good food, and I loved the atmosphere of the city.

Melaka street food!