How much is a trip to Malaysia?
How much does it cost eating, sleeping and travelling in Malaysia?
What can you do with a low budget in Malaysia?
Before we left for our full-time travel, we decided to travel on a low budget 10 euros a day in order to sleep, eat and travel around the countries we’ll visit.
So, at the end of our experience in Malaysia, it was time to have a look at the situation and find out if we actually managed to respect this low budget.
In this post we’ll tell you how it went for a Malaysia low cost and will do some calculations… Prepare the calculator (even if you just need the fingers of both hands!;-)
MALAYSIA LOW COST: EATING
When we travel, food is fundamental. Eating for us does not mean just feed us, but it is also a way of getting to know the culture of the place where we are.
But how can it be done with a low budget?
The solutions are two: Street Food and local restaurants.
Fortunately, in Malaysia we were able to find a huge variety of both options.
For Lunch, China town and little India, are the solution. There are very low-budget restaurants where you can enjoy delicious soups or even create your own combinations of rice and curry.
For those who are vegetarian, the choice is still very wide and the price even lower!!
For Dinner, the best places to eat are night markets. There you will find the real local cuisine, foods are prepared at the moment and have really cheap prices!
So, we spent an average of 3 euros each day (including lunch and dinner) in order to eat in Malaysia.
Even if Malaysia is a really modern country, we managed to eat well and with little even in the super tech Kuala Lumpur.
MALAYSIA LOW COST: SLEEPING
Sleeping is definitely the highest cost when travelling (after flying).
But we found a few small things that allowed us to save money even in Malaysia.
Let’s start by saying that we plan our journey day by day so we don’t make reservations in advance.
Usually the day before we have a look on websites like Booking.com or Agoda.com.
Then we look for the best offer and book it, always and only for 1 night.
We have noticed that if you want to stop more nights in the same place, it is better to extend your stay directly by asking the guesthouse when you arrive on the spot. The rate is certainly cheaper.
The other way to save is being happy with less.
With a low budget you can’t expect to have a bathroom in your room. In most tourist and therefore more expensive places, it will often be necessary to share the hostel room with others, but this is also part of the adventure!
In Malaysia, we spent an average of 4 euros per person per night.
All the places where we slept were safe and clean and generally the staff very nice and kind.
For now, we avoided “Bridge accommodation” (translated: sleeping under a bridge)! 😂
P.S.: Hotels in Malaysia apply a fee of 10 RM per room per night. The same does not apply to guesthouse and hostels!
MALAYSIA LOW COST: TRAVELLING
In terms of transport, Malaysia is really the most efficient among the countries we have been.
The Capital Kuala Lumpur is connected perfectly with trains, metro and buses. Ticket Prices vary depending on distances but are still very cheap. Also for and from the airport, next to the expensive express train (55 RM-11 euro) there is the cheap bus option at 10 RM (2 EUROS).
In terms of transport, Malaysia is really the most efficient among the countries we have been.
The Capital Kuala Lumpur is connected perfectly with trains, metro and buses. Ticket Prices vary depending on distances but are still very cheap. Also for and from the airport, next to the expensive express train (55 RM-11 euro) there is the cheap bus option at 10 RM (2 EUROS).
For journeys not covered by buses, in addition to the most expensive taxi option you can use UBER or its asian version: GRAB. Apps work perfectly and we saved a lot!
In Malaysia we spent about EUR 40 for the 26 days we stayed in the country: an average of EUR 1.50 per day.
So let’s calculate… this is how much we spent each day in Malaysia:
Eating: € 3.00
Sleeping: € 4.00
Transport: € 1.50
Other: € 0.50
Total: € 9.00