Malacca 2 Days 1 Night Trip from Kuala Lumpur

This is an itinerary of Malacca 2-days-1-night trip from KL. We visited 11 destinations and tried 5 famous food in Malacca with a budget below RM500 for two persons.

What and Where is Malacca? Malacca (also known as Melaka) is a historical state in Malaysia, rich with heritage buildings, ancient landmarks and colonial structures.

First Day

Waking up at 5:30 am, packing up everything and started to depart from our house  (in Kuala Lumpur) at 6:30 am. The journey took us about two and a half hours by car, reaching Malacca city around 8:30 am.

We arrived at our first destination, which is the Tengkera Duck Noodles restaurant for breakfast. Unfortunately, the shop is closed for the day.

Low Yong Moh Restaurant

Rating: ★★ (2/5)

Quickly, we changed our plan and arrived at Low Yong Moh Dim Sum Restaurant around 9:00 am. It is a famous breakfast location for tourist, so we decided to try it out. The parking here is a bit troublesome, we just parked at the roadside which is narrow and illegal (Most of the cars were parked illegally too. Should the parking culture here overwrites the law?).

This is a dim sum restaurant. The waiters/waitress will bring a tray of different dim sums and serves right in front of you where you are sitting. So, you just need to find a seat and choose whatever dim sums that you want from the tray of choices.

I was really disappointed with the quality of the dim sums here. The prawn dumplings have thick skin and the prawn itself just keep dropping off of the skin. The glutinous rice “lor mei kei” is terrible, it tastes like plain glutinous rice without any taste at all.

We also ordered a cup of teh (tea in English) and kopi o (coffee in English). It was the worst teh I ever had! The drink is brewed from tea packet, not like normal Chinese coffee shop as expected. However, one thing I don’t understand, the restaurant is still packed with customers.

Each small dishes of dim sum costs around RM3.00. Our total damage at Low Yong Moh restaurant is RM18.50.

For more pictures, visit my Google Review on Loh Yong Moh Restaurant.

After breakfast around 10.00 am, we decided to visit the two famous tourist spots in Malacca, The Stadthuys and A Famosa. It is very difficult to find any empty legal parking lot by the roadside at this hour as tourists started to flood the city.

So, we found this car park which is quite close to where we want to go. The parking fees per entry is RM3.00, which is relatively cheap considering its location which is close to these famous tourist spots in Malacca.

Malacca River

There is another reason I choose this carpark. I love places with “water”, waterfall, beaches, ponds, you name it. The carpark is located by the Malacca river which flows all the way to the famous Malacca Strait. We explore the Malacca river while walking along the way. You can also take a river cruise ride on the river itself if you have the time or stay near to the area.

The Stadthuys

The Stadthuys in Malacca is definitely a good place to visit, especially for photos. The Stadhuys is known for its red exterior and nearby red clocktower. It was built by the Dutch in 1650 as the office of the Dutch Governor and Deputy Governor.

When Malacca was handed over to the British in the 19th century, the Malacca Free School was opened in the vicinity of the Stadthuys on 7 December 1826, by missionaries residing in the state, in response to a letter dated 19 April 1825, signed by a J. Humprey, J. W. Overee and A. W. Baumgarten, which called for an English institutional education to be built in Malacca. The school which the British provided free education to residents was eventually renamed Malacca High School in 1871 upon a takeover by the British government and moved out to its present site at Chan Koon Cheng Road in 1931. Source: Wikipedia

A Famosa

Of course, the next destination around the area would be A Famosa. We walked to A Famosa from The Stadthuys via Jalan Kota (thus we don’t have to find another parking location). It is about 600m and we reached the location within 8 to 10 minutes by walking. It is a very crowded place when we arrived, probably due to the Racing Event on the same day.

A Famosa (Malay: Kota A Famosa; “The Famous” in Portuguese) is a former Portuguese fortress located in Malacca, Malaysia. It is among the oldest surviving European architectural remains in Southeast Asia and the Far East. The Porta de Santiago, a small gatehouse, is the only part of the fortress which still remains today. Source: Wikipedia

Dutch Graveyard

The Dutch Graveyard is just located behind the A Famosa, at the foot of the St Paul’s Hill.

It was first used in the last quarter of the 17th century. Despite its name, only five of the graves in the cemetery contain remains of the Dutch officers, the other 33 belongs to the British administrators and their spouses. This cemetery was used in two stages – by the Dutch, between 1670-1682 and by the British, between 1818-1838.

When the British took over Malacca in 1795, they initially used St. Paul’s Hill as their burial ground. It is still visible until this very day nearby St. Paul’s Church. Only in 1818 did they began to switch and make use of this cemetery. The first British person to be buried at the Dutch Graveyard was Captain John Kidd, a captain of a ship while the last British person to be buried was the wife of a British army officer in 1838. Source: Amazingmelaka.com

Malacca Historical Vehicle Park

On our way back, along Jalan Kota, we found the Malacca Historical Vehicle Park. You can easily spot the Historical Vehicle Park by seeing the huge plane and train exhibition which is just located just in front of the many different museums along Jalan Kota.

The Lang Rajawali twin-engine airplane is believed to be the first aircraft purchased by Royal Malaysian Air Force (in service 1958 – 1970). Source: Backpacking Malaysia

Wait! Is that the MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association) logo on the plane? I am not sure about the history of the plane though.

We got the opportunity to ride on the displayed train (it’s free). So, what is actually in there? To my surprise, someone is actually selling souvenirs inside the displayed train. So, there is really nothing to see inside the train coaches. By the way, we are actually not allowed to take pictures inside the train (sorry for that).

Jalan Kota

Jalan Kota is full of historical museums, which include the Democratic Government Museum, Malaysia Architecture Museum, Melaka Islamic Museum, UMNO Museum, People’s Museum, Muzium Setem Melaka, and the Muzium Dunia Melayu Dunia Islam. I am not a fan of the museums, so I didn’t visit them and of course didn’t actually plan to visit them.

Besides the historical museums along Jalan Kota, there are several food trucks selling typical Malaysian food-truck foods (like Turmeric Fried Chicken with rice – Nasi Ayam Goreng Kunyit in Malay) along the road. Other than that, we also found a bloody Dinosaur statue located just in front of the People’s Museum (Muzium Rakyat in Malay).

Trishaw (Beca) Ride in Malacca

Trishaw services are available along Jalan Kota. The trishaw, also known as the Beca in Malay, is a light three-wheeled vehicle with pedals used in Asian countries for local transportation. In Malacca, these three-wheeled vehicles get a bit fancy, they are themed with famous Disney cartoons and accessorized with loud speakers. Here is an example.

Ee Ji Ban Chicken Rice Ball

Rating: ★★★ (3/5)

After spending about two and half hours around A Famosa and The Stadthuys, it’s 12:30 pm and it’s time for lunch. Chicken rice ball is one of the famous dishes in Malacca. Despite there are lots of chicken rice ball shop in Malacca, we decided to try the Ee Ji Ban Chicken Rice Ball restaurant.

Ee Ji Ban Chicken Rice Ball restaurant is located at Jalan Melaka Raya 3, which is about 6 minutes drive from our parking location. We parked at the designated parking lots along the road. We’ve asked the local, they said we won’t have to display any parking coupons during the weekends.

The chicken rice ball restaurant is crowded as usual when we arrived. We are super lucky to arrive there before the long queue. We ordered 5 chicken rice balls each (total 10 rice balls), a vegetable, roasted chicken and steamed chicken. The rice balls are still warm when they were served, which is good. The roasted and steamed chicken taste as usual.  They served the dishes within a reasonable time, however, we didn’t manage to get our drinks even after we’ve finished the food. Finally, the boss agreed to cancel the drink because it is too late.

The chicken rice ball costs RM0.40 each, the roasted and steamed chicken costs RM9.40, the dish of vegetable kailan costs RM7.50, and the total damage for the lunch is RM20.90 for two persons.

Klebang Orignal Coconut Shake

Rating: ★★★★ (4/5)

The day is hot in Malacca, so we decided to head towards Klebang Original Coconut Shake for a refreshing beverage after the lunch. It took us about 20 minutes drive from Ee Ji Ban restaurant, and we reached there around 2:00 pm.

The Klebang Original Coconut Shake is located inside a sub-junction from the main road of “Jalan Klebang Besar/Klebang Kecil”. There are people lining up near the junction as there is a store selling takeaway Coconut Shake (we believe). We drove all our way to the Klebang Original Coconut Shake which is about 50m away from the junction.

There is a parking area just outside the location, whereby there are plenty of non-covered parking lots available.

Total damage at Klebang Orignal Coconut Shake: RM5.50

• Coconut milk shake with ice-cream topping – RM2.70
• Keropok lekor (6 pieces of fish sausages) – RM2.00
• Goreng Pisang (fried banana) – RM0.80

Fomecs Boutique Hotel

Address: No. 129, Jalan Hang Jebat, Jonker, Malacca, Malaysia, 75200

Rating: ★★★★ (4/5)

It’s almost 3:00 pm and it’s really hot outside, so we decided to check-in our pre-booked hotel at the Fomecs Boutique Hotel.

I am super delighted with the location of the hotel because it is just located at the beginning of the famous Jonker Street, where I planned to visit at night (so I don’t have to drive at night).

It is one of the best-value hotel in the area, with boutique style design and modern room facilities.

You will be surprise that the photos from the booking website is actually very similar to real photos take from the hotel. See my photos below.

The hotel also provides free parking for all the tenants. The parking lot is located 100m away from the hotel and it is just about 1 minute walk. (Google map location)

Check out more positive reviews about the hotel and get the best deal on Agoda.com. I’ve compared other booking websites like booking.com, Expedia and Hotels.com, the cheapest rate is always Agoda.com. We booked the hotel 3 days in advance and it is RM184.50 per night for a Deluxe Queen room.

Capitol Satay Celup

Rating: ★★★★ (4/5)

Around 4:00 pm, we drove to the famous Capitol Satay Celup from the hotel. It is a 5 to 10 minutes drive to the location. We parked at this location, which is just 1 minute walk to the shop.

Capitol Satay Celup is the pioneer of the satay celup business in Malacca City. It is located in Lorong Bukit Cina and you will easily find it because people will be queuing up along the street for the satay. Satay celup, also known as the “steamboat satay” is a famous dish where raw or semi-cooked meat and vegetables on skewers are dipped into a hot pot of thick, spicy peanut sauce.

Total damage at Restaurant Capitol Satay Celup: RM24.30

• Regular stick – RM1.10*14 = RM15.40
• Sotong stick – RM2.00*2 = RM4.00
• Bread – RM1.10
• Herbal tea – RM1.90*2 = RM3.80

There is plan to visit the Hang Li Poh’s Well to learn the history behind the oldest water well in Malaysia. However, we did not make it because we are just too tired to do so. So, we just get back to the hotel, get a short nap, and be ready for the night market.

Jonker Street Night Market

Rating: ★★★★ (4/5)

Around 7:30 pm, we are fully charged and ready for the night market which is just located next to our hotel, on the Chinatown Street of Melaka (Jalan Hang Jebat).

The Jonker Street was renowned for its antique shops, however, over the years, more clothing and crafts outlets as well as restaurants start to take over the street.

Magic happens around 6:00 pm here at Jonker Street on every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The street will be blocked for traffic and turn into a lively night market with wide array of stalls selling arts, crafts, food and more. It is where the elderly hang out and party at night.

Here are some of my best shots from the Jonker Street night market:

Total damage at Jonker Street Night Market: RM32.00 (All spend on food)

We spent about 2.5 hours here walking from the end to end, queuing for foods and widow shopping for arts and crafts along the street. It’s almost 10:00 pm, we headed back to the hotel and called it a day.

Second Day

We woke up around 8:30 am and checked out from the hotel.

Jonker 88

Rating: ★★★★ (4/5)

From the hotel, we walked to Jonker 88, a heritage building along Jonker Street that serves very nice laksa and cendol. We reached Jonker 88 around 9:30 am and it is full of people.

We tried the Nyonya Asam laksa, Baba Laksa Kahwin Nyonya Asam laksa, Sagu Gula Melaka and Baba Durian Cendol. The laksa is delicious and the baba durian cendol is highly recommended.

Total damage at Jonker 88: RM30.00

• Nyonya Asam laksa – RM10.50
• Baba Laksa Kahwin Nyonya Asam laksa – RM10.50
• Sagu Gula Melaka – RM4.00
• Baba Durian Cendol – RM5.00

The Morning Jonker Street

Rating: ★★★★ (4/5)

The morning Jonker Street is different from the night Jonker Street with night market activity. On the map, the street is named “Jalan Hang Jebat”. Jonker Street is a 500m-long street in the Melaka Chinatown, which is home to a vast array of stores and local restaurants. Here you will find unique antique items, wood-carved statues, household products, clothing, accessories and souvenirs.

San Shu Gong

Rating: ★★★★ (4/5)

We walked around the street from 10:00 am to 11:00 am. We also visited and bought some snacks and souvenirs from the famous San Shu Gong souvenir shop. The San Shu Gong souvenir shop is located at the start/end of the Jonker Street, near to the Hard Rock Cafe.

You will find it enjoying buying snacks here in San Shu Gong because they always provide food samples for testing. Here, you can buy Gula Melaka, Durian or Gula Melaka dodol ( a sweet toffee-like sugar palm-based confection ), White coffee, dried fruits, jams & biscuits, and more…

Zoo Melaka

Rating: ★★★★ (4/5)

Around 11:00 am, we drove towards the North for the zoo. The Zoo Melaka is about 13km away from the Jonker Street and it took about 25 mins to reach by car. The zoo entrance fees is RM16.90 per person.

There are lots of animals in the zoo, including the rhinoceros, giraffe, horses, tigers, monkeys, birds, and more…

Total damage at Zoo Melaka: RM42.30

• Entrance fees – RM16.90*2 = RM33.80
• Ice-cream – RM5.00
• Corn Cup – RM3.50

Total Cost

Total cost for the 2 Days 1 Night Malacca trip is about RM430 for two persons. Here is a breakdown of the cost in different categories:

• Petrol and Tolls from Kuala Lumpur: RM71.40
• Hotel accommodation: RM184.50
• Food and Entertainment: RM173.50

Lessons Learnt

These are the lessons learnt from the 2 Days 1 Night Malacca trip:

• Wear comfortable shoes for long walk
• Make sure your car is lock at the parking lot
• Check out the shop’s opening time before visiting
• Always have back up plan
• Remember to set alarm for the next day
• Check out the restaurant’s famous dish before visiting
• Wear long pants to the zoo
• Girls, bring along your hair band
• Check out the best location to take photo on Google or Instagram so that you can take a great photo when you reach the place
• Not to trust google reviews 100% as everyone has a different taste
• Check out the parking lot and fees

Overall, it is considered as a budgeted 2 days 1 night trip (below RM500 for two person) since most of the famous tourist destinations are free to enter and visit.

What do you think? Are you going to Malacca next? Rate this article 5 stars if you like it and want more from us!