Explore Melaka: A Guided Historical Walking Tour

Its location on the Malacca Strait made the eponymous city of Melaka in Malaysia a pearl in the Malay Empire… and later a target of conquest by European powers.

Today, Melaka’s accumulation of centuries of history and culture makes its UNESCO-recognized old quarter an endlessly fascinating place to explore on foot. You’ll discover this in the walking tour we’ve constructed here, covering the Chinese-Malay hybrid culture of the Peranakans in the heart of Melaka’s Chinatown; the harmony of three faiths on Temple Street; the colonial experience in Dutch Square and the St. Paul historical complex; concluding at the Independence Memorial, where the Malaysian Prime Minister declared “Merdeka” from British rule.

1. Starting your Melaka Walking Tour

This walking tour takes between 3-4 hours, depending on how long you pause at each stop. Therefore, it is advisable to undertake this in the mid-afternoon to avoid the searing noontime heat. Dress in light cotton clothing, and bring water, comfortable shoes, and a hat to ward off the worst of the humid climate.

Start your journey at the Melaka Tourist Information Center (Google Maps) between Dutch Square and the Melaka River – here, you can get free maps of the area and other notable parts of the city.

From the Tourist Center, cross over into Chinatown via the Tan Kim Seng Bridge, over the river that was the historical lifeline of Melaka. In its heyday, Melaka was a bustling colonial trading port, filled with ships and other watercraft conducting business for several consecutive empires.

2. Baba Nyonya Heritage Centre: Throwback Tycoon Home

Instead of going straight up Jalan Hang Jebat, turn left immediately upon crossing the bridge, walk about 200 feet west down Lorong Hang Jebat, then turn right at Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock (Google Maps), the street formerly known as Heeren Street in the Dutch colonial era.

In colonial times, “Heeren” (as it was known then) was home to Melaka’s richest Chinese merchants. Today, its shophouses have been taken over by coffee shops and souvenir stores. One house highlights the prosperous culture established here once upon a time: the Baba Nyonya Heritage Center (website | Google Maps).

This museum presents Peranakan (assimilated Chinese) life during colonial times.

Like many rich merchant households of the time, the house is filled with items reflecting the affluence of the family living within: wooden furniture inlaid with mother-of-pearl, intricately carved lacquer screens, and chandeliers imported from Victorian England. A guided tour is available to help you appreciate the significance of the place and its intricate details.

3. Wah Aik Shoe Store: Tiny Shoes from a Thankfully Lost Tradition

As you walk down the old Heeren, you will discover a number of interesting curio and antique shops. Wah Aik Shoe Maker still sells shoes for bound feet – one of the last shoemakers in the world to produce these items.

In the 19th century and well into the 20th, a handful of Peranakan matrons still practiced the distressing Chinese tradition of foot binding. Bound feet were seen as symbols of femininity and privilege; only women who could expect to be waited on hand and foot could afford such crippling practices in the pursuit of fashion.

Wah Aik Shoemakers (website | Google Maps) was founded early in the 20th century to cater to Malacca’s dainty-footed ladies, still numbering in the thousands before World War II. While foot binding has long ceased in Malacca, Wah Aik Shoemakers continues to thrive, now targeting Malacca’s vibrant tourist trade.

The tiny silk shoes are available for purchase, as are the beaded shoes, or kasut manek, that Peranakan maidens would embroider for their future husbands. However, now the buyers mostly consist of tourists wanting to take a piece of Malacca’s history home.

4. Gan Boon Leong Statue: Memento to “Mr. Universe”

The stroll to Cheng Hoon Teng Temple takes you straight through Melaka’s Chinatown. Walk west down Jl Tun Tan Cheng Lock, turn right at Jl Hng Lekir, and continue until you reach Jl Hang Jebat, the famous Jonker Street.

Along the way, you’ll pass a somewhat quirky piece of local lore.

Jonker Street serves as the political home base for Melaka politician Gan Boon Leong, who was a professional bodybuilder in the 1950s. While Datuk Gan is primarily retired from politics, his influence remains in a pocket park at the street’s center. A muscle-bound statue of Datuk Gan in his prime (Google Maps) stands in the middle of the park, flexing its strength as it beams.

5. Street of Harmony: Three Faiths Sharing One Path

From Jonker Street, turn left onto Jl Hang Lekiu, then walk until you reach the intersection with Jl Tokong (Temple Street), notable for its numerous houses of worship, thus earning its nickname, the Street of Harmony.

At the intersection, you’ll first find Kampung Kling Mosque (Google Maps), whose minaret’s pagoda-like form is typical of the architectural syncretism cherished by Melakans. The mosque was designed for the South Indian Muslims (Kling) who once resided here.

Further down Temple Street, you’ll locate Sri Poyyatha Vinayagar Temple (Google Maps), an ancient Hindu temple (the oldest in Melaka) that caters to the city’s South Indian Hindus. The temple was first constructed in the late 1700s, in honor of the elephant-headed god Ganesh, or Vinayagar, revered as the remover of obstacles.

Finally, at the end of Jl Tokong, you’ll find Cheng Hoon Teng (website | Google Maps), one of the oldest and finest Chinese Buddhist temples in Malaysia. Founded in the mid-1600s by the kapitan, or headman, of the Chinese community of the time, the temple still welcomes locals who pray for good fortune, successful business, or risk-free childbirth.

6. Christ Church & Statdhuis: Seat of Empire

Cross the river again and step onto Dutch Square (Google Maps) to see what the colonizing Dutch left behind: specifically Christ Church and the Stadthuys (State House). The buildings in the square are all a rich maroon color, but this was not always the case.

Originally built with exposed brick, the walls of Dutch Square were later plastered and painted white. In the 1920s, the British changed the color to salmon red. Only recently were the buildings painted the maroon color they now exhibit.

The largest building in the Square is the Stadhuys, which acted as Malacca’s center of government from the Dutch era through post-independence 1979, when it transitioned from the State Governing Center into an Ethnography Museum.

To the left of the Stadthuys, you’ll find Christ Church, built in 1753, as the oldest Protestant Church in Malaysia. The bricks forming the church were sourced from Holland, and its pews date back around 200 years, remaining at the heart of its historical significance.

7. St. Paul’s Hill: Xavier’s Last Resting Place

St. Paul’s Hill (formerly Malacca Hill; Google Maps) behind the Stadthuys is home to one of the last remaining Portuguese structures in Melaka: St. Paul’s Church. This church, a mere ruin, was built in the 1520s as an act of gratitude by a merchant who survived an ocean storm.

The church changed ownership several times throughout the centuries – first to the Jesuits in 1548 (with St. Francis Xavier himself receiving the title deeds), then to the Dutch in 1641, and subsequently to the British in 1824. By the time the British took charge, St. Paul’s had been abandoned for long periods, and they repurposed the ruins to store their gunpowder.

Today, the Church’s walls house an open tomb, where St. Francis Xavier’s body was interred before being transferred to its current location in Goa, India. Additionally, the church exhibits cannons left over from the Dutch era.

In 1952, to honor the 400th anniversary of Xavier’s death, a memorial statue was erected in front of the church. It is said that the saint’s last miracle occurred here – upon disinterment for transportation to Goa, his body was found to be incorrupt.

8. Porta de Santiago: Last Remnants of a Mighty Fortress

Walk down the hill to Jl Kota, where the last remnants of the Portuguese occupation can be found.

The street of Jl Kota outlines where the walls of the Portuguese fort A Famosa once stood; what remains of the walls is a solitary gate, known as Porta de Santiago (Google Maps).

A Famosa was constructed by the Portuguese forces in 1512. They employed hundreds of slaves to build the fortress walls, using stones scavenged from nearby palaces, cemeteries, and mosques for material. Later, the fort was expanded to engulf nearby European settlements, transforming A Famosa into a fully-fledged European Christian city.

Upon the Dutch takeover, they added the date of their conquest (“Anno 1670”) along with the crest of the Dutch East India Company above the gate. The fortress was conferred to the British in the early 19th century to shield the city from threats posed by Napoleonic France.

The British decided to demolish the fort, denying its utility should it fall into enemy hands. At the last moment, Sir Stamford Raffles ordered a halt to the destruction, ultimately preserving only Porta Santiago.

Nowadays, Chinese couples often pose for wedding photos in front of Porta de Santiago, as it is believed to ensure that their marriages will last as long as the gate itself.

9. Malacca Sultanate Palace Museum: Malaysia’s Camelot

On your way from Porta de Santiago, you’ll pass a gravesite for Dutch colonists before arriving at the Istana Melaka, or the Malacca Sultanate Palace (Google Maps).

The Palace is a replica of the structure built by the now-extinct sultanate of Malacca, the rulers of the city before the Portuguese arrived in the 1500s. The designs were derived from the Malay Annals’ account of Sultan Mansur Shah’s palace, which housed the nobleman ruling Melaka from 1456 to 1477.

Today, the Palace houses the Muzium Kebudayaan (Cultural Museum), which celebrates the Malay side of Melaka’s history. The museum safeguards over 1,300 items from Melaka’s past, including photographs, drawings, weaponry, gifts from foreign emissaries, and musical instruments, organized within eight chambers and three galleries spread across three floors.

10. Proclamation of Independence Memorial: Birth of a Nation

Walk toward the Sultanate Palace’s gardens, and you’ll arrive at the final stop of the walking tour: the Proclamation of Independence Memorial (Google Maps).

Before independence, this building was known as the Melaka Club, a British structure constructed in 1912. Today, this building stands as a silent witness to Malaysia’s history. It commemorates the moment when, right across the road, Malaysia’s first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman proclaimed the country’s independence to thousands of cheering Malaysians at Warriors’ Field (Padang Pahlawan) in 1957.

The Independence Obelisk now marks the field, commemorating the location where the last British governor of Malacca handed over his offices to the new Malaysian Governor of Malacca on August 31, 1957.

Today, the building serves as a repository for freedom memorabilia from multiple eras of Malaysia’s history, the earliest artifacts dating back to the first sultanates in the area. Independence (or in Malay, “Merdeka”) is the overarching theme of the history exhibit, detailing the long struggle for independence against Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonizers.