Lady’s Itinerary for 2 Days in Malacca, Malaysia

Today I want to share my travel itinerary for 2 days in Malacca with you. This city in Malaysia is famous for the Strait of Malacca, but there’s a lot more to discover besides. I’ll show you the highlights.

2 Days in Malacca

Looking out over the Strait of Malacca, I feel I’m peering into history. Like most Westerners, the body of water is something I read about in books as a child but never expected to see in person.

But it’s here. Right in front of me. And spending 2 days in Malacca shows me that the strait’s fame as a historic trading passage still affects its namesake city today.

Where to Eat in Malacca

That fact is most evident in Malacca’s food. After spending 48 hours in Kuala Lumpur, I’ve traveled to Malacca to eat everything from street food to traditional cuisine.

The city’s history as a strategic point along the strait is revealed in its wide variety of dishes.

One of the most famous types of food in Malacca is Nyonya cooking, which developed when the Chinese and Malays intermarried and fused their culinary traditions.

Fittingly, the first place I go in Malacca a Nyonya restaurant near the famous Jonker Street. The building, like many others in the city, is long and narrow, with a small facade that belies its vast interior.

My Malaysia Airlines press trip group sits at a big round table with a lazy Susan. Round and round it goes, offering everything from spring rolls to grilled beef salad and fried squid.

Some dishes are better than others, but I can’t get enough of the Assam chicken with pineapple and the stir-fried water spinach.

After lunch our 2 days in Malacca continue as we explore more of the street, from antiques shops with rusting rickshaws to art galleries with lush hidden courtyards.

Malacca is mysterious, with most of its charms hidden inside the skinny interiors of its buildings.

In the evening I return to the heart of the city to find it turned inside out. The shops are shut, but the streets are overflowing with vendors selling everything from wooden sandals to fried squid.

My group passes brightly-colored trishaws, called “discos on the go” by locals, and makes its way through the market on Jonker Street.

Along the way, we buy small pancakes filled with corn and hard peanut candy chiseled from a pan before coming to an area filled with food stalls and plastic tables. We sit and eat our fill of fried oysters and cendol.

The latter is a miracle of food. It looks like a white ball of shaved ice, but contains everything from chocolate sauce to green noodles and—get this—kidney beans. It’s the kitchen sink of desserts, and, amazingly, it works.

What doesn’t work as well is my stomach’s capacity to absorb all the food I’ve been eating.

Before my street food foray this evening, I ate two breakfasts in Kuala Lumpur, lunch in Malacca, and afternoon tea and dinner at my hotel, a beautiful heritage property called The Majestic.

But that’s something I’m learning about Malaysia. There’s no such thing as too much food. And I don’t disagree. Everything tastes so good I can’t stop eating, even if my stomach feels like it’s about to burst.

The afternoon tea is a hybrid of traditional British sandwiches and scones along with Malaysian pastries.

These include onde-onde—glutinous rice flour balls filled with liquid palm sugar—kuih koci—steamed glutinous rice flour stuffed with brown sugar and grated coconut—and sago—palm starch—with grated coconut and palm sugar.

The dinner at The Majestic hotel during my 2 days in Malacca is equally good.

It features excellent dishes like Kuih Pie Tee—little crunchy shells filled with vegetables and shrimp—and Assam Pedas—a sour-spicy fish dish in a tamarind sauce. I can’t get enough.

Things to Do in 2 Days in Malacca

But neither can I eat non-stop, and during my 2 days in Malacca I go into the city center to explore. Sometimes by van, and sometimes by boat.

One evening I find myself on a night river cruise in Malacca, passing by amusement parks, cool riverfront cafes and bars, and colorful buildings.

Another afternoon I explore Chinese temples, historic wells, Dutch windmills, British churches, and remnants of old Portuguese forts. They all bear witness to the nearby strait’s strategic importance as an artery of global trade.

Restaurants in Malacca

And I can’t leave such an important place on an empty stomach. Naturally, this means I need at least 2 meals before noon during my 2 days in Malacca.

The first comes in the form of amazing classic nasi lemak—pandan-coconut rice with anchovy sambal—siew pau pork buns, coconut curry laksa with noodles, and traditional soft-boiled eggs with kaya coconut jam.

I eat these at a little hole-in-the-wall eatery called Mei Sin Cafe near The Majestic.

The second comes in the form of heaping bowls of chicken curry laksa, rojak fruit salad with sweet-and-sour sauce, and cendol with all the trimmings. I eat these at Jonker 88 on Jonker Street.

2 Days in Malacca

Thus sated, I’m at liberty to end my 2 days in Malacca and continue my Malaysia travel itinerary with a trip north to explore the food in Ipoh, the Cameron Highlands, and Penang. To be continued…

Want to see more? Watch my Malaysia travel video.

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