3.25/5
106 reviews
Photo by SR via Unsplash

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
2 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).

3 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.

7 years ago

✅ Very affordable

✅ Fast internet

✅ Warm all year

✅ Friendly people

✅ Affordable to live

✅ Warm now

✅ Good air quality usually

✅ Many Nomads.com members have been

✅ 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 very safe

❌ Not much to do

❌ Very sweaty and humid now

❌ 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)

3290°
hot

3799°
hot

38100°
hot

3595°
hot

3290°
hot

3595°
hot

Real (median)

2882°
very warm

3086°
very warm

2984°
very warm

2882°
very warm

2984°
very warm

Humidity

sweaty
84%

sweaty
81%

sweaty
83%

sweaty
84%

sweaty
82%

sweaty
83%

sweaty
84%

sweaty
83%

sweaty
82%

sweaty
85%

Most common

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

Rain

rainy
79mm

dry
11mm

rainy
160mm

rainy
231mm

rainy
244mm

rainy
202mm

rainy
226mm

rainy
203mm

rainy
198mm

rainy
238mm

rainy
286mm

rainy
240mm

Cloud

cloudy
85%

cloudy
72%

cloudy
77%

cloudy
85%

cloudy
79%

cloudy
84%

cloudy
87%

overcast
91%

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
7 UVI

Remote workers

1,000 people

733 people

943 people

1,114 people

771 people

750 people

960 people

800 people

900 people

943 people

1,050 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

Current weather data from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0)

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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.

🎒 Nomad Score™	3.25/5 (Rank #339) 106 reviews
👍 Quality of life score	Okay
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Okay
🤯 Overcrowding score	0% is nomad here
💵 Cost	😙 Affordable: $1,440 / mo
📡 Internet	🚀 Super fast: 57 Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Okay
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥵 Hot: 30°C86°F (feels 37°C99°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	🥵 Sweaty: 79%
❄️ % of buildings with AC	😊 High: 80%
💨 Air quality (now)	😐 Moderate: 94 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 39 US AQI
👌 Safety	Bad
👩 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
🌊 Resilience to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Poor: $1,094 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Okay
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Bad
✈️ Airline scores*	Great
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Bad
📶 Free WiFi in city	Bad
🖥 Places to work from	Bad
❄️ 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)	57 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌥 30°C 86°F + 🥵 Sweaty (79%) = feels 37°C 99°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👎😷 94 US AQI = 🚬 / day
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 40 US AQI
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🚕 Best taxi app*	Grab
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 10 MYR in USD	USD 2.45
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	MYR 1,000 = USD 245
💸 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
🦷 Fluoride added	💧 Yes, fluoridated
♻️ Return rate	5% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	580,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$13,125 / year
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 79% 👱‍♀️ 21%
🏞 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	$1,440 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$1,058 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$1,598 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$457 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$469 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$2,396 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$685 / month
🏠 Median home price	$85,719
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$22 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$79 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$90 / month
🍛 Dinner	$2
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$1
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$5
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$2
👩‍🏫 International school	$4,465 / year
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$3 / trip

Malacca

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