Things to do
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A Famosa
One gateway survives of the Portuguese fortress raised in 1511 to hold the captured sultanate, spared when the British demolished the rest. Dutch coats of arms cut into the stone date from a later occupation. The arch stands at the base of St Paul's Hill, and it takes only a moment before the steps behind it.
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Baba & Nyonya Heritage Museum
Three terrace houses knocked together hold the furniture, porcelain, beadwork and kitchen of a wealthy Straits Chinese family, kept much as they were left. Entry is by guided tour, running roughly every half hour and lasting about that long. Photography is restricted inside, which keeps the rooms calm, and tickets can run out at weekends.
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Christ Church Melaka
Dutch settlers finished this church in 1753 from bricks shipped out of Zeeland and faced with local laterite, and its ox blood paint now colours the whole square around it. Inside are hand cut ceiling beams, Armenian tombstones and a glazed Last Supper panel. Services are still held in three languages, which limits visiting hours on Sunday mornings.
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Jonker Street
Antique dealers, Peranakan restaurants and shophouse cafes line the old Dutch quarter's main lane, which closes to cars for a night market from Friday evening to Sunday. Stalls sell durian puffs, quail eggs and cendol under awnings. Weekday mornings show the shopfronts and clan houses without the crush, and the museums nearby open by ten.
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Melaka River
Boats work a canal like stretch through the old town past murals, stilted houses and waterside bars, leaving from jetties near the square by day and after dark. The evening trip is the better one, when the banks are floodlit. A paved walkway follows the same route on foot, and the loop takes under an hour either way.
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St. Paul's Hill
A ruined shell of a chapel crowns the rise above the square, built by the Portuguese in 1521 and used by the Dutch as a burial ground once Christ Church opened. Saint Francis Xavier lay interred here briefly before his body went on to Goa. The climb is short, the view runs over the Straits, and there is no roof for shade.