Backpacking Melaka
Melaka is red. The town hall, the clock tower and the church on Dutch Square are all painted the same rusty red, and between them roll trishaws so loaded with fairy lights, plastic flowers and cartoon characters that at night you hear them before you see them. It is the oldest city in Malaysia, spelled Malacca on half the maps, and since 2008 a Unesco World Heritage Site together with George Town on Penang.
You can read the history straight off the street. The Portuguese, the Dutch and the British all ruled here, and the Peranakan, descendants of Chinese traders who married Malay women, built their own kitchen and their own houses. Walk over St. Paul’s Hill, through the shophouses of Jonker Street and along the river with its murals, and you are walking through five hundred years of trade.
Is Melaka worth visiting? Yes, and time it for the weekend. From Friday to Sunday Jonker Street closes to traffic in the evening and turns into a night market full of chicken rice balls, cendol and satay. Two days is enough, a bed is about eight euros and the bus from Kuala Lumpur takes two hours.
Why Melaka is popular with backpackers
- A Unesco World Heritage city packed with colonial history
- The Jonker Street night market at the weekend
- Peranakan food you will not eat like this anywhere else
- A compact old centre you do on foot or by bike
- A photogenic river lined with murals
- Trishaws in every colour going
- An easy hop from Kuala Lumpur
- Characterful hostels in old shophouses
Best time to visit Melaka
On the west coast and warm all year, with an afternoon storm possible in any month. How busy it is depends more on the day of the week than the season.
Plan Melaka so you are there on a Friday or Saturday. Midweek, Jonker Street is far quieter in the evening and you miss the night market.
Backpacker budget: around €22 a day
- €8hostel bed
- €2local meal
- €3beer
- €2bike hire for the day
Guide prices for a backpacker's day in Melaka. Add a tour or a night out and it climbs fast.
Best area for backpackers
Jonker Street and the old town
Sleep in or right next to the old centre, around Jonker Street and Dutch Square. This is where the shophouse hostels, the food stalls and the sights are, and all of it is walking distance.
The bus station, Melaka Sentral, is a few kilometres out of the centre. You do not want to sleep there: take a Grab or the city bus to the old town and drop your bag.
Why the old town?
- Every sight within walking distance
- The night market on your doorstep
- Characterful hostels in old shophouses
- Plenty of cheap places to eat
- The riverside walking path
In the old town everything you want to see is ten minutes away on foot, night market included.
Best hostels in Melaka
Ola Lavanderia Cafe
A guesthouse above a café in the old town, scoring just shy of a perfect ten. Quiet and spotless, every room has air con, and towel, shampoo and drinking water are included. You can hire a bike downstairs, which in Melaka is exactly what you want.
Good for anyone after some peace, couples and cyclists.
Ringos Foyer Guest House and Hostel
A proper backpacker hostel, and they say so themselves: no spa, no room service. What you do get is a roof terrace, capsule dorms and a few minutes’ walk to Jonker Street. The hostel runs bike tours of the city too.
Made for solo travellers, tight budgets and social backpackers.
Three Little Birds Home
A laid-back house in Kota Laksamana, five minutes’ walk from Jonker Street and Dutch Square. There is a garden, a small library and two free bikes, and coffee and tea are waiting in the kitchen. Heads up: it is cash only.
For slow travellers, readers and anyone who wants to feel at home.
Best things to do in Melaka
Melaka is compact and made for a bike. Mornings for the red square, evenings for the river and the market.
Jonker Walk Night Market
From Friday to Sunday Jonker Street turns into a night market after sunset. Stalls with chicken rice balls, pineapple tarts, cendol, grilled squid and trinkets, and somewhere on a stage an older gentleman with a microphone and a karaoke machine.
Why go?
- The most famous night market in Malaysia
- Street food for a few euros
- A buzzing atmosphere in a historic street
- Free
The heart of a weekend in Melaka.
Dutch Square and St. Paul’s Hill
The red heart of the city. The Stadthuys and Christ Church, from 1753, are Dutch, and a staircase behind the square takes you up to the ruined St. Paul’s Church on the hill, with a view over the rooftops. On the far side of the hill stands the Porta de Santiago, the last piece of the Portuguese fort A Famosa.
Highlights
- The red Stadthuys and Christ Church
- The ruins of St. Paul’s on the hill
- The Porta de Santiago from the old fort
- Five hundred years of history in a few hundred metres
A slice of the Netherlands in the tropics, which is a gloriously strange thing to stand in.
Melaka River cruise
The river winds right through the city, past murals, old warehouses and the wooden village of Kampung Morten. A cruise of about three quarters of an hour shows you the city from the water.
Why do it?
- The city from the water
- Lit up banks and bridges in the evening
- Past the traditional Kampung Morten
- A sit down after a day on your feet
Rather keep your money? The riverside path is just as pretty at night.
A trishaw through the old town
You cannot miss them: trishaws smothered in plastic flowers, flashing lights and cartoon characters, with music blaring from a little speaker. A ride is pure kitsch. Lean into it.
Highlights
- The picture everyone has of Melaka
- At its best at night with every light on
- Fun with two of you
- A loop past the best known sights
Pick a trishaw whose theme suits you. There is a lot of choice.
Baba & Nyonya Heritage Museum
A wealthy family’s Peranakan house on Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, furnished exactly as it was. Gold leaf woodcarving, porcelain, and a guided tour that explains how this mixed culture came about.
Why go?
- A real Peranakan house from the inside
- The story behind the food you eat that night
- Beautiful woodcarving and tiles
- A good place to be when the afternoon storm hits
Sunset at the Straits Mosque
A white mosque with a golden dome, built on stilts in the sea on the island of Pulau Melaka at the edge of town. At high tide it looks like it is floating.
Highlights
- The mosque that seems to float on the water
- Sunset over the Strait of Malacca
- Calm, away from the crowds of Jonker Street
- A lovely bike ride from town
A beautiful way to end your day.
How to plan your days in Melaka
Two days is enough for Melaka. Go at the weekend and the night market comes free. Pick how many days you have.
The red heart. Start early on Dutch Square at the Stadthuys and Christ Church, climb to the ruins of St. Paul's and walk on to the Porta de Santiago. In the afternoon, the Baba & Nyonya Heritage Museum and a cendol against the heat.
Tonight: the night market on Jonker Street.
River and bike. Hire a bike and follow the river to Kampung Morten and its wooden houses. Then ride out to the Straits Mosque for sunset.
Tonight: a boat trip along the lit up river, or a trishaw through the old town.
Food and drink in Melaka
Melaka is the city of Peranakan cooking, also called nyonya cooking: Chinese techniques with Malay spices, coconut and tamarind. You taste it in the laksa, in the curries and in the sweet kueh you see stacked up everywhere.
Do not leave without trying chicken rice balls, Melaka’s take on chicken rice where the rice is rolled into little balls. And finish with cendol and gula melaka, the dark palm sugar named after the city.
What to eat in Melaka:
Getting there and onward
Melaka is two hours south of Kuala Lumpur. There is no train station in the city, so you arrive by bus at Melaka Sentral.
Getting there. Buses run all day from TBS in Kuala Lumpur to Melaka Sentral, two to two and a half hours for about €3. From Singapore it is four to five hours by bus.
Around town. From Melaka Sentral to the old town take a Grab, fifteen minutes for about €2, or the city bus. After that you do everything on foot or by bike.
Onward. Direct buses run to Ipoh in about five hours. Or head back to Kuala Lumpur and catch the ETS train north from there. Straight to the mountains? Go via KL on to the Cameron Highlands.
- BusKuala Lumpur 2 hrs · Ipoh about 5 hrs
- GrabMelaka Sentral to the old town, about €2
- BikeFrom about €2 a day, or free at your hostel
- River boatA 45 minute cruise through the city
Staying safe in Melaka
Melaka is a calm, safe city. The only things that really need watching are the traffic in the narrow lanes and the price of your trishaw.
- Agree the trishaw price up front, for the whole ride
- Bring water and a cap, the city has little shade
- Cover up in mosques and temples
- Lock your bike if you leave it for a minute
- Stop in the middle of Jonker Street on a weekday evening, when the traffic runs as normal
- Climb the hill in the afternoon heat, do it in the morning
- Ride your bike through the busy part of the night market
- Forget the museum is closed on Mondays
Rebels on the Road tip
Hire a bike early in the morning and follow the riverside path north to Kampung Morten. It is a Malay village right in the middle of the city: wooden houses on stilts, flowers by the door and neighbours who say hello. Fifteen minutes’ ride from the centre and you are in a completely different Melaka, with no trishaws, no souvenirs, and a coffee in a warung where everyone else is a local.
Frequently asked questions
How many days do you need in Melaka?
Two days is enough. That covers the old centre, the river and the night market, with time left for a bike ride.
When is the Jonker Street night market?
Friday to Sunday, from about six in the evening until late. Midweek the street is a lot quieter at night.
Where to stay in Melaka?
In the old town around Jonker Street and Dutch Square. The shophouse hostels are there, and so is everything you came to see.
Is Melaka expensive?
No. Think €22 a day: a shophouse dorm for €8, a hawker plate for about €2, and a bike for the day for another €2.
Can you do Melaka as a day trip from Kuala Lumpur?
You can, it is two hours by bus. But then you miss the evening, and that is when Melaka is at its best, with the night market and the lit up river. Stay at least one night if you can.
What are the best things to do in Melaka (Malacca)?
Dutch Square, St. Paul’s Hill, the Jonker Street night market, an evening by the river and sunset at the Straits Mosque.
Why is there a Dutch Square in Melaka?
The Dutch took Melaka from the Portuguese in 1641 and stayed for more than a century and a half. The red Stadthuys and Christ Church on Dutch Square date from that time.
How do you get from Melaka to Ipoh?
A direct bus of about five hours, or via Kuala Lumpur, where you switch to the ETS train to Ipoh.
Sources: hostel ratings from Hostelworld, tours and reviews from GetYourGuide, transport and travel times from 12Go, visa rules from the official immigration sites (see our visa page). The daily budget is our own estimate based on hostel, food and transport prices. How we work.
