Singapore (SIN) – Malacca (MKZ)

Before the arrival of the first Sultan, Malacca was a simple fishing village inhabited by local Malays. Malacca was founded by Parameswara, also called Iskandar Shah or Sri Majara, the last Raja of Singapura (now known as Singapore) following a Majapahit attack in 1377. Parameswara found his way to Malacca in 1400 where he found a port, accessible in all seasons and on the strategically located narrowest point of the Malacca Strait.

Heritage area

• Baba and Nyonya Peranakan Museum. ☎+60 6 283 1233. Opening hours: 10AM-12:30PM, 2:30PM-4:30PM. Closed on Tuesdays – Step back in time with a visit to this museum which is an actual Peranakan heritage town house and is a great example of Peranakan culture. It is on Heeren Street (now known as Tun Cheng Lock Street). The entry fee is RM15 per person and everyone has to follow a guide-led group. Photography is forbidden.

• Cheng Hoon Teng Temple. [48] 25, Jalan Tokong. ☎+60 6 282 9343. Opening hours: Morning to 7PM – Oldest Chinese temple in Malaysia and has an inscription dating 1685 commemorating the deeds of by Kapitan China Li Wei King.

• Christ Church – this church was built between 1741 and 1753. It replaced a Portuguese church, which was shattered. Bricks were shipped from Zeeland in the Netherlands. On the floor of the church you will find Dutch tombstones. It is the oldest protestant church in Malaysia. On the altar you will see sacramental silverware, still bearing the Dutch coat of arms. 8:30AM-5PM Mon-Sat, free admission; photography is forbidden.

• Dutch Square – Beautiful square around Christ Church and the Stadhuys. On this square you will find the Tang Beng Swee Clock Tower, it looks Dutch, but it is not. It was built in 1886.

• Independence Museum – Located inside the Independence Memorial (which is a building, not just a memorial) right next to A Famosa. Walk through two floors covering Malaysian history, especially leading up to, and past independence. Good exhibits and lots of descriptions. Free.

• Jonker, Heeren and adjacent streets – This is the residential heart of Old Malacca just west of the Malacca River, with its narrow winding streets, beautifully decorated houses, tiny shops, temples and mosques. The whole area is undergoing a renaissance with new shops, restaurants and hotels catering to tourists mushrooming everywhere. However, the area still has a lot of atmosphere and is worth having a look around. One of the streets in this area is Harmony Street (officially Temple street or Jalan Tokong), so called because it contains the prayer houses of Malaysia’s three main faiths – the Cheng Hoon Teng Chinese temple, the Sri Poyatha Vinayagar Moorthi Hindu Temple, and the Kampung Kling Mosque.

• Malaysian Navy Museum, across the road from the Maritime Museum

• Malay and Islamic World Museum, Jalan Kota (beside the Porta de Santiago) – it also currently houses a Museum of Torture (European medieval period) for a limited duration on the ground floor. Entrance fee 15 RM for adult foreigners.

• Masjid Kampung Hulu Built in 1728, it’s one of the oldest functioning mosques in Melaka together with Masjid Kampung Kling and Masjid Tengkera (Tranquerah), Jln Tengkera see the mixed architecture of Chinese, Javanese and Arab on the minarets and the roofs.

• Muzium Budaya/Sultanate Palace – Below the hill you will find this museum (Melaka Cultural Museum). It is a reconstruction of the istana of the sultan Mansur Shah. It was built in 1985. It is open daily from 9AM to 6PM except on Tuesdays, and on Fridays from 12:15PM-2:45PM. Entrance fee RM 2.

• Porta de Santiago – You will find this remains of the old Portuguese fort A Famosa on Jalan Kota, around St Paul’s Hill. What you can see nowadays is a mostly Dutch reconstruction, bearing the VOC coat of arms.

• Saint Paul’s Church – take a path up the hill and it will lead you to this church. It was originally built in 1521, by the Portuguese. It became a fortress in 1567, until 1596. After the Dutch siege it became St Paul’s, before it was known as Nossa Senhora da Annunciada (Our Lady of Annunciation). It has been used as a burial ground for the Dutch. You can still see the tombstones, along the walls of ruins of the church.

• Stadthuys – completed in 1660. It is a reproduction of the former Stadhuis (town hall) of the Frisian town of Hoorn in the Netherlands which existed from 1420 until 1796. Nowadays, it houses the Museums of History and Ethnography. This is one of the oldest Dutch buildings in the east.

• Stamp Museum, Jalan Kota (sandwiched between the Muzium Rakyat and the Malay and Islamic World Museum)

• UMNO Museum, Jalan Kota (between the Islamic Museum and the Muzium Rakyat) – museum about the United Malays National Organisation.

• Youth Museum/Melaka Art Gallery, Jalan Laksamana, beside the Christ Church. The Youth Museum is on the ground floor, the Art Gallery on the second level. You can have a bird’s eye view of Dutch Square from a window on the second level. Open Wed to Sun 9AM-5.30PM; combined admission for adults – RM2