Weekend Holiday in Malacca

Located about 2 hours from the capital city of KL, Malacca is a popular tourist haunt for local and foreigners alike.

It is a old historical city where one can view old and historical buildings and have a good time hanging around there (there are lots of places to have a good bite and drink).

The food variety is plentiful and cheap and majority of the interesting sites are easily accessible by road transport.

Quick Tips:

There are plenty of hotels , inns, and budget accommodations which one can get a place to stay from RM 50 to RM 250 a night depending on your budget.

For new comers to this place, you just need to get yourself a city map (about RM 10 for a good one) and you can basically see "what is interesting" in the city and how to get there.

Walking around in the city will require some sun block, light clothes , sandals , a hat and sunglasses. It can be quite sunny and humid during the day.

No worries about drinks and snacks though. It is easily available at all tourist spots.

Majority or almost all of the business transactions here are conducted in Malaysian Ringgit. Cash is a must because not everyone accepts credit cards.

Basically, good information about the city can be obtained from the net ... just browse around and you will basically get all the information you need.

Almost everyone conduction business will speak some English or Malay or Mandarin. So, if you do know one of the 3 languages mentioned above, no worries !!!

The Christ Church, A Famosa and Jonket Street are places that one must definitely see if in order to have visited Malacca.

For more info on Jonker Street, view my Jonker Point Journal.

Best Way To Get Around:

For people with their own cars, just remember to get a parking coupon. Parking coupons is a must and one can buy it from shops that display the sign "PARKING COUPONS AVAILABLE HERE". RM 0.60 for 1 hour. Cheap.

There are no trains/subways or anything like that in Malacca. However, there are trishaws available at the city center. The trishaw guys will bring you round the city for a fee. This is very popular among the foreigners.

Buses are not recommended unless you are totally familiar with the routes. It is best to take a cab but the cabs doesn't use a meter. Tell the cab driver your destination and he will tell you a price. Bargaining is a must.

Majority of the tourist attractions are concentrated in the city center and it makes walking the most popular choice in the mode of transportation to view the sites.

This hotel is a 2-star hotel located less than a 5-minute driving distance from the major attractions of Malacca e.g. A Famosa and Jonker Walk.

The price range start from RM 100 to RM 200 plus is the main reason why many local and foreign tourist (esp. Singaporeans) make this place their place to stay during their holidays here.

The rooms are decorated in a simple but nice way. It looks pleasing to the eye. The rooms have a TV, a bath tub with hot and cold water , coffee making facilities, and a nice comfortable bed. The room facilities are very nice based on such low prices. Hotel rates in Malacca are not that cheap and I go down there for holidays a few times a year and has done extensive price surveys.

Being a 2-star rated hotel, there are no other facilities like the swimming pool or tennis court or such. It has a dining restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch. It is closed for dinner. However, good food is easily available throughout Malacca (just ask the staff).

The staff are very polite and courteous. Very friendly people. If you need to get to anywhere in Malacca, just ask them.

Parking space is a bit of a problem here. It is quite limited to less than 30 cars. So, I usually park my car in the parking lot and walk to the Jonker Walk in the late evenings. My wife and I prefer that way because it only takes about 5 to 10 minutes.

If you are coming to Malacca and looking for a nice and cheap place to stay in, this is the place.

A night market which I would seriously recommend to anybody who is in Malacca for a holiday.

I don't exactly remember how big it is but it is pretty big and it seems to be getting bigger every time I get there. More stalls are getting set up. More types of food are being sold there. It gets better and better.

The best part of this place is the food. Basically, the food is one of the better ones that I have eaten throughout the city. A must try is the chicken rice and the "asam laksa". The "asam laksa" is a type of spicy and sour mee with all sorts of local spices in it.

To cool it off, there's always the "cendol"...an ice-shaved dessert in a bowl with some red beans, corn, "cendol" ( I just don't know how to describe it) and it is topped off with the Malacca "brown sugar" syrup. Very good...

The prices are not exactly cheap (about RM 4.00 a bowl of mee) but it is usually stated somewhere on the menu or on the stall. It is made in such a way that it is tourist friendly.

One thing funny though, a lot of the stalls sells exactly the same thing. One stall from another might have 60% in similarities of goods being sold. Bargaining is not the best idea here because all the stalls sell it at the same price!

Most of the stalls either sell food, drinks, souvenirs e.g. T-shirts and key chains, electronic toys...

There is a huge stage at one end of this Jonker Walk. Sometimes, there are performances, singing and even dancing. Dancing is a very popular activity among the old folks here.

There are lots of things to be seen and done here. For those who don't fancy much walking, feel free to drop by the roadside stalls and maybe one of the pubs and have a cold beer.

Happy hours are from 5pm to 8pm (usually) and it is usually packed after 9pm. The live band there is not bad.