"Mix of Cultures rolled into one" a Melaka Travel Page by joeymello

I went to Melaka (Malacca) with my close friend, Joanne. We paid S$76.00 for the daytrip tour from our hotel in Singapore. The tour consisted of hotel transfer, coach ride to/from Melaka, lunch at Hotel Equatorial, and a very knowledgeable tour guide of Melaka.

We booked the tour two days before our departure at the hotel tour desk. We stayed at the Furama hotel in Chinatown section of Singapore.

At the hotel tour desk, there were two distinct Singapore tour companies. Both of them offer very similar tours. In fact, both offered a Melaka tour (one offered a stop at a pewter factory whereas the other didn't.) The prices were relatively the same; ours was S$76 per person. The two operators I saw were RMG and SH tours.

So YES -- it is possible to do a day-trip to Melaka from Singapore! The hotel tour desk just made sure we have our passports and that we still have our little form that the Singapore immigration desk gave us upon our arrival in Singapore (we're US passport holders.) For US citizens, a visa is not required to enter Malaysia.

I first learned of the possibility of a one day trip to Malacca from the visit-singapore.com website. http://www.visitsingapore.com/rtours/template/5b/1,1430,256%2029,00.html
The tour description is very accurate. For anyone who is staying in Singapore for only a few days (we stayed there 4 nights) and can only devote one day in Malaysia, then I'd highly recommend the Melaka tour.

8AM- hotel pickup from Furama hotel
8:30AM- Transferred to a different bus that will take us to Melaka (they said that particular bus is eligible to go to Malaysia.) There were 15 people in the tour group (and roughly 50 seats in the bus!) The aircon was great! The coach bus is just like any coach bus here in the United States; nice comfy seats and large windows.

9:15AM- Arrived at the border. Used main highway to go to Melaka; took us roughly 3 hours total to get there. On the way, we stopped at a pewter factory where we saw the building/making process. We were also given time/opportunity to buy some pewter products.

12:30PM- Arrived at Hotel Equatorial in Melaka. We ate at their coffeeshop for a lunch buffet. GREAT buffet! Hotel Equatorial is one of the very few 5 star hotels in the area. It's right in the center of Melaka nearby all the sights. The coffeeshop was superb.

1PM-4PM- Visited Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, Jonker Street, Stadthuys, Melaka Christchurch, Dutch Square, A Famosa, St. Paul's church (where St. Francis Xavier was buried.)

4PM- Started return journey

7:30PM- Arrived back in hotel.