2.2/5
98 reviews
Photo by SR via Unsplash

Cost of Living in Malacca

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ringett

touristy

weather

2024

food

good

patches

Malacca presents a unique experience for digital nomads or long-term visitors, offering fast internet and extremely affordable living costs. Local food is cheap when avoiding tourist areas, and accommodation or even property can be found at significantly lower costs than in nearby cities. The weather is warm year-round, fluctuating between pleasant and uncomfortably humid. English is widely spoken, and locals are generally friendly and welcoming, especially in less tourist-centric spots.

However, the city may feel disjointed or underdeveloped to some. Many buildings appear abandoned, and public areas can feel empty and scattered, giving the city an eerie or sullen atmosphere. There is little in the way of nightlife or an active entrepreneurial scene, making it less ideal for those seeking vibrant communities and networking opportunities. While transportation via Grab is reliable, the layout of the city makes walking inconvenient.

Overall, Malacca may appeal to those looking for a quiet, low-cost base with cultural depth and decent infrastructure, but it may not suit those craving social activity and a highly walkable urban environment.

AI-generated summary of reviews
57 years ago

Having travelled and lived around Thailand and Malaysia, Malacca feels somewhat disjointed without any real centre apart from the touristy Jonker Street. Weather (January 2024) ranges between a balmy & breezy 28C to a slightly uncomfortable and sticky 33C. Local food is very reasonably priced (3.50 Ringett for sweet tea or kopi, 7 Ringett for a plate of noodles), if you avoid the most touristy places and stick to local side alleys and restaurants where the local people eat. People here are very friendly and interested to know where you come from, many speak good English. Big Chinese and Nyonya community here, which reflects in the food, along with Portuguese & Malay influences. Some of the longer-stay hotels are cheaper when rented through private landlords (find them on Booking website). Buying a traditional wooden house in the centre of Malacca near the canal costs from 12,000 Ringett (prices as of Jan 2024).

2 years ago

Arrived yesterday, at Dreambase coworking now. A fascinating city in the sense that is seems strange, eerie, and sullen. It feels like the city was abandoned for 30 years and what remains is the population that decided to stay. Many random empty, lonely buildings. Patches of busyness dispersed in between patches of nullness. Everything feels just a little bit too far to walk. Grab works fine here for getting around. Extremely affordable. But so far it definitely doesn't feel like the place to be if what you're looking for is night life, socializing, and entrepreneurial communities. Internet speed is great. Weather is good. Things are quiet.

6 years ago

✅ Very affordable

✅ Fast internet

✅ Warm all year

✅ Friendly people

✅ Affordable to live

✅ Pretty safe

✅ Warm now

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Very easy to make friends

✅ Very easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Democratic

✅ Safe for women

✅ Not many people smoke tobacco

✅ Not a lot of alcohol abuse

❌ Feels abandoned or disjointed

❌ Lacks nightlife and entrepreneurial communities

❌ Not walkable

❌ Freedom of speech is weak

❌ Not much to do

❌ Very sweaty and humid now

❌ Nomads.com members really didn't like going here

❌ Not many Nomads.com members go here

❌ Hospitals are bad

❌ Roads are very dangerous

❌ People don't speak English well

❌ Not family friendly

❌ Hostile towards LGBTQ+

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

32°C / 90°F hot

37°C / 99°F hot

39°C / 102°F hot

36°C / 97°F hot

35°C / 95°F hot

33°C / 91°F hot

35°C / 95°F hot

36°C / 97°F hot

Real (median)

28°C / 82°F
very warm

30°C / 86°F
very warm

29°C / 84°F
very warm

28°C / 82°F
very warm

29°C / 84°F
very warm

Humidity

sweaty
84%

sweaty
79%

sweaty
85%

sweaty
86%

sweaty
87%

sweaty
82%

sweaty
84%

sweaty
86%

sweaty
85%

sweaty
83%

sweaty
87%

sweaty
86%

Most common

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

Rain

rainy
79mm

dry
11mm

rainy
159mm

rainy
231mm

rainy
244mm

rainy
202mm

rainy
226mm

rainy
203mm

rainy
198mm

rainy
238mm

rainy
285mm

rainy
240mm

Cloud

cloudy
53%

pockets
40%

pockets
47%

cloudy
54%

cloudy
55%

pockets
49%

cloudy
54%

cloudy
51%

cloudy
54%

Air quality

clean
33 US AQI

clean
39 US AQI

clean
38 US AQI

clean
30 US AQI

clean
27 US AQI

clean
30 US AQI

clean
40 US AQI

okay
66 US AQI

okay
64 US AQI

okay
54 US AQI

okay
53 US AQI

clean
36 US AQI

Sun

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

Remote workers

343 people

257 people

333 people

371 people

267 people

250 people

320 people

280 people

267 people

300 people

314 people

350 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

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Kuala Lumpur

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⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety mediocre

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🌥 Feels 37° 99° 31° 89° 🥵 AQI 72 😷

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🌦 Feels 38° 100° 31° 89° 🥵 AQI 66 😷

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Malaysia

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

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🌧 Feels 31° 88° 28° 83°

✈️33min

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Phuket

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⭐️ OverallAll

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📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

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⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

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👮 Safety mediocre

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🌧 Feels 39° 102° 30° 86° 🥵 AQI 52 😷

✈️1h

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⭐️ OverallAll

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📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety good

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🌧 Feels 36° 97° 29° 85° 🥵 AQI 177 😷

✈️2h

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⭐️ OverallAll

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📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

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⭐️ OverallAll

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🌧 Feels 13° 55° 14° 58° AQI 30

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Members here right now

No members are here right now. If you are, add it as a trip and you'll show up here!

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	2.2/5 (Rank #723) 98 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍1 liked it 👎1 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Okay
👶 Family score	Bad
🎒 Community score	Okay
💵 Cost	😙 Affordable: $1,256 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 16 Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Okay
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥵 Too hot: 30°C87°F (feels 35°C95°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	🥵 Sweaty: 72%
❄️ % of buildings with AC	😊 High: 80%
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 39 US AQI
👌 Safety	Okay
👩 Safe for women	Okay
🌈 Safe for LGBTQ+	Bad
🤮 Food safety*	Good
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Good
🤝 Lack of racism*	Bad
🎓 Education level*	Mediocre
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Low: $792 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Okay
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Bad
✈️ Airline scores*	Good
🧳 Lost luggage*	Good
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Bad
📶 Free WiFi in city	Bad
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Okay
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Okay
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Okay
🎅 Startup Score	Bad

🌍 Continent	Asia
🚩 Country	Malaysia
🗓️ Average trip length	3 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	16 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌥 30°C 87°F + 🥵 Sweaty (72%) = feels 35°C 95°F
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 40 US AQI
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🚕 Best taxi app*	Grab
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 10 MYR in USD	USD 2.38
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	MYR 1,000 = USD 238
💸 Tipping	No
💳 Cashless	💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners)
☕️ Best coffee place	San Francisco Coffee
🏪 Best 24/7 coffee place	Utopia Workspaces
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
♻️ Return rate	6% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	870,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$9,508 / year
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 76% 👱‍♀️ 24%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Lazada
🏠 Apartment listings	Airbnb
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Air Asia
🏥 Best hospital	Mahkota Medical Centre

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$1,256 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$955 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$2,447 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$699 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$453 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$1,215 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$477 / month
🏠 Median home price	$83,572
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$21 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$40 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$173 / month
🍛 Dinner	$2
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$0
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$5
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$2
👩‍🏫 International school	$4,717 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$5 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$1 / trip