Melaka heritage site covers a small area. The whole site, our best estimation, is about 1 km x 2 km. There is no place within the site that we can't reach by foot. So, getting a place which is close to the heritage site to stay is important.
We have been to Melaka several times. We used to stay in Tang Kim Hock Hotel, which was cheap, with acceptable service. It has a good rating at
Tripadvisor. However, we found that the hotel is too far away from the heritage site, which means, it is far from the tourism spots.
Grand Continental Melaka shared the same fate with Tang Kim Hock Hotel. Service, ok, room rate, ok. But when we talk about the distance from tourist spots, that's where the big "NO" comes in. Imagine that you need to take taxi everyday to visit the heritage site. Or, you need to drive on your own, caught by the jam, pay parking fee (RM 5 per day)...if you are lucky enough to find a parking space.
We stayed in
Mahkota Hotel before. The room rate is a little bit high for us. To be fair, the hotel has a nicely landscaped pool, beachside view, family activity room, etc. However, enjoying nice sunshine at the poolside or playing ping pong in the aircond room were not our purpose in Melaka. However, if you are the type who doesn't mind to pay, say RM 250++ per night, the hotel is a good choice for its excellent location.
Getting somewhere nearby, somewhere that we can reach the site by foot, really means something to the visitors like us, in Melaka. The very first hotel to recommend,
Fenix Inn. The room rate was around RM 160++ during our visit 2 months ago, with good location at Merdeka Road, just opposite of Pahlawan Square. It is just a few steps away from that largest shopping complex in the heritage site. By foot, it is 5 minutes away from A' Famosa fort, 10 to Stadthuys, and 15 to Jonker Street. We were satisfied with the service and the condition of the room (shower heater, coffee making, drinking water, aircond, nice bed, flat screen were available, with free jockey parking). However, there were no breakfast and wifi provided. One thing that we want to highlight here, the room rate has really risen exponentially in Melaka, after the city secured a name in UNESCO list.
The outlook of Fenix Inn, Melaka.
The reception counter (upper left), lobby (upper right), and the room at Fenix Inn.
Next in our list, Sayang-Sayang Guest House. The guest house provides a
Facebook account as its online website. The guest house is simple- a small aircond room with bed and sofa. TV and bathrooms, shared among all other tenants. The rate is starting from RM 40, depending on the season and the day of the week. Located at the bank of Melaka River at Kampung Hulu Road, we can enjoy nice riverview by walking through its back door. The guest house is at the border of the heritage site. By foot, 3 minutes to Jonker Street, 10 minutes to Stadthuys, and 15 minutes to A' Famosa fort and Pahlawan Square. Btw, no towel, soap, tooth paste, shampoo provided. We can get the shampoo and soap with RM 1.50 from the receptionist, or buy them from the grocery shop nearby. Free wifi and internet services are provided. You can get more info about the
guest house here.
The "twin-layered" room- the upper layer is furnished with a mattress for two. The lower layer, a sofa and a side table (left). The corridor (upper right) and the washing area and bathrooms.
The night scenery at the backside of Sayang-Sayang Guest House. A water taxi was cruising in Melaka river.
Guest houses and average hotels are available all around Melaka heritage site. We listed some of them here as your reference (based on Chari-Chari Malaysia Magazine). We didn't stay in these hotels and guest houses before, so please go to Tripadvisor for the most up-to-date customer reviews on the hotel. In any case of discrepancies, the information on the hotel official website should serve as final.
- Baba House at the end of Tun Tan Cheng Lock Rd (Hereen Street). Tel: +606- 281 1217. Room rate: from RM104
- Puri Hotel at the end of Hereen Street. Tel:+606-2825588. Room rate: Single RM140++, Double RM160++
- Courtyard at Heeren at the middle of Hereen Street. Tel: +606-2824888. Room rate: RM200++
- Heeren Inn at Hereen Street (very good location). Tel: +606-288 3600. Room Rate: from RM100 (Pls. call to confirm).
- Heeren House at Heeren Street (very good location). Tel: +606-2814241. Room rate: from RM120.
- Hang Out at Jonker at Hang Jebat Rd (Jonker Street) (very good location). Tel: +60 6282 8318. Room rate: from RM150
- Jonker Boutique at the end of Tokong Rd (share a junction at the end of Jonker Street). Tel:+606- 2825151. Room rate: from RM200
- Chong Hoe Guest House at Tukang Emas Rd. (street next to Jonker). Tel: +606- 2817261 Room rate: RM27 (Pls. call to confirm).
- Da Som Inn at Tukang Emas Rd. Tel: +606-2866577. Room rate: Double RM108++, Family RM198++
- Harmony Lodge at Tukang Emas Rd. Tel: +606-2835218. Room rate: from RM88 for two. Unconfirmed info- same management with Puri Hotel.
- Cheng Ho Hotel at Tukang Emas Rd. Tel: +606-2826102. Room rate: RM50 (call to confirm).
- Jalan-Jalan Guest House at Tukang Emas Rd. Good review on Tripadvisor. But cannot access to the information about the telephone no and room rate...
- Voyage Guest House or Sama-sama Guesthouse at Hang Jebat Lane (very good location). Tel: +606-2815216. Room rate: from RM25.
- Aldy Hotel at Kota Road (very good location). Tel: +606-2833232. Room Rate: from RM130.
- Seri Costa Hotel at Plaza Mahkota (opposite of Taming Sari Tower). Tel:+606-2816666. Room rate: RM155++
- Sri Pelangi Hotel at Plaza Mahkota (opposite of Taming Sari Tower). Tel:+606-2868112. Room rate: RM100++
- Tower Hotel at Plaza Mahkota (opposite of Taming Sari Tower). Tel: +606-2812200. Room rate: from RM58.
- Yellow Mansion Hotel. It is a simple hotel with very basic service. RM 88++ for standard double with clean room, wifi, satellite tv, shower heater, and aircond. The location, Bukit Cina Lane, 5 minutes to A' Famosa, Stadthuys and Pahlawan Square. 10 minutes to Jonker Street.
Hang Out At Jonker and Heeren House are located on the same street (upper row). Cheng Ho Guest House and Harmony Lodge are two of the budget guest houses available around Jonker Street area (oldtown area).
Melaka is famous for its Hainan Chicken Rice, durian chendol (in Malay is cendol), and some Baba and Nyonya food. There are three major Hainan Chicken Rice shops- Chung Hua, Hoe Kee, and Famosa. All of them are located at Jonker Street. For us, the first choice goes to Chung Hua, and then Hoe Kee. A' Famosa, uh, personally, we don't like the taste of the food there (pls. don't argue, that's our personal opinion, different people might have different taste). We always judge the taste of the food served by an eatery observing the queue (although it's not 100% accurate).
Chung Hua Coffee Shop (upper left), Famosa Chicken Rice (upper right) and Hoe Kee (lower right) are the main shops serving traditional Hainan Chicken Rice. Photo on lower left shows the chicken rice served in Chung Hua. The price for the chicken rice is around RM10 per person.
Durian cendol is the ice dessert served with durian, red beans, sweet corn kernels, jelly, and coconut milk. We had tried durian cendol at several locations at Jonker Street and Pahlawan Square. All of them taste good. Anyway, you need to like the taste of durian in order to like the taste of durian cendol.
Durian cendol (upper left), bubur chacha (a porridge with mixture of fruits and vegetable) (upper right), pineapple tarts (lower right) and locally manufactured carbonated drinks are available at Jonker Street.
Nyonya curry and Nyonya laksa are the dishes that we would like to recommend. The additional sourness of Nyonya dishes makes them unique food in Melaka (hope we described is correctly :p). Besides the traditional food, we tried dim-sum at Jonker Street, Korean Steamboat at Merdeka Road, Japanese Food at Pahlawan Square, and of course, Oldtown Kopitiam, layered cakes and many more. Overall, all the food were quite nice. So, food should not be a problem in Melaka.
Traditional Nyonya food.
Korean steamboat restaurant at Merdeka Road, Melaka, just opposite of Fenix Inn.
Pahlawan Square houses many food outlets. We tried many of them, including Tang Shifu with traditional Chinese herbal food (upper left), Nadeje with layered cakes (lower left), Pinkberrys with very nice durian cendol (lower right), and the Japanese food. We would recommend Tang Shifu and Pinkberrys to all of you.
There is a small area in Pahlawan Square named Heritage Gallery (check the directory at the entrance), designated to hawkers selling local products. There are a huge variety of local products can be found there, the best thing, it is fully air conditioned (no heat, not sun, no sweat). We always get our favourite "lempok durian" (durian cake) there. Btw, the items there are sold with fair price.
For certain, we cannot cover every single food around Melaka, as we write based on our experience. We will be glad if our readers can leave comments about the food in Melaka, according to yours experience.
More sharing on our experience in Melaka are available at:
