Is Jonker Street Night Market, Melaka, worth visiting? We were in Melaka (AKA Malacca) recently, in 2026 as part of our Southeast Asia itinerary, and happened to be there on a weekend. Obviously, we went to the Jonker Street Night Market, on Jonker Walk, billed as possibly the #1 thing to do in Melaka. Is it worth going to? I’ll tell you after you’ve looked at the photos. This part of Melaka is old, filled with traditional Chinese shop houses and dotted with beautiful temples from multiple faiths, it’s not far from the Melaka River and Red Square Melaka.
Jonker Street Night Market Melaka, Photos
Here are a few photos from the Jonker St. Night Market, taken in 2026. It’s fun to wander the streets, and the carts are colourful. Most of the stalls sell junk food and snack, traditional and modern.
I could go on adding photos forever. Other foods we saw included satay, jelly drinks, butter beer and deep fried spiral cut potatoes. Kids would probably love a lot of what was on offer here, but we try to be a bit health-conscious, and it wasn’t for us. It was nice to wander the Old Town in the evening, of course, but there wasn’t much by way of shopping opportunities, which is what we would have enjoyed more.
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Restaurant Recommendations in Melaka, Near Jonker Street Market.
Here are a few restaurants that we like in Melaka.
- The Geographer Cafe, a favourite of ours for many years. They have red wine and this restaurant is a good place to sit and watch the world go by. We like their chicken satay pizza.
- Restoran Baba Kaya, on the Melaka River gave us Malaysian food that we enjoyed. That is very rare! The juxtaposition of sugar and anchovies in Malaysian foods just doesn’t work for us. We enjoyed the lacksa and blue noodles (roti jaya, a bit like string hoppers) with a colourful river view here.
- Indian food at Restoran Saravanna, Little India Melaka, is cheap and very moreish. We like going here for breakfast of masala dosa and curry, it’s very cheap. It may (only may) have been the source of a bout of D&V. My son got sick in Malaysia, which is very rare for us in Asia. It could equally have been caused by eating anywhere, or been viral, but he ate something here that I didn’t.
Just FYI, I don’t trust the filtered water or any water in Malaysia, it always gives me mild issues even after spending months there. There’s something I’m not immune to, or it may be chemical. We stick to bottled water in Malaysia, and I’d avoid cold drinks made with filtered water.
Is The Jonker Street Market Worth Visiting?
No, we didn’t think it was worth visiting. All that we saw were carts selling junk food, and most of it was very junky. We did try a few items.
We’d heard the BBQ quail eggs on sticks were good. We didn’t think they were.
We tasted ice creams, they were great, but mass-produced. My son bought a cake, it was terrible. There was just nothing there that we wanted to eat. There were no stalls that we could find selling crafts or souvenirs.
On one street, off to the side of the main Jonker Walk, tables were set up for street dining and there were stalls with sea food, this might be good, we didn’t try it.
My advice to you would be to go to the night markets if you happen to be in Melaka on a weekend, but don’t make a special trip to go there. Save yourself some money and visit mid-week, you’ll also skip the crowds.
Is Melaka Worth Visiting?
Yes, we loved Melaka. It was our first time going back in about 14 years, and it was good to be back. We found a few good restaurants, enjoyed walking The Melaka River, and The Prison Museum was an interesting new place. I’ll tell you about that shortly.
Melaka is making it to my list of favourite places in Malaysia, along with Ipoh, Kuching, and KL. You can go back in time and read about our first time in Melaka here. Not much has changed. We also have a post covering Malacca with kids, tha post will be heavily updated very soon.
Where Did We Stay in Melaka? (Recommended)
Because we were arriving in Melaka on a weekend, most hotels and guest houses in the Jonker Street area were fully booked. People come to Melaka on weekends for the night markets.
We stayed a little way out of the picturesque old town, just beyond Melaka’s Little India. It was an easy walk into Melaka and to the Melaka River. We used this apartment complex, it was clean with good facilities, had 2 bedrooms, perfect for a family. This apartment is also on Agoda, here, if you’d like to compare prices.
In our experience accommodation is much cheaper in Melaka than in KL.
We like Indian food a lot, and it’s what we eat in Malaysia, so being that close to Little India was a bonus.
Our building was next door to The Marriott Courtyard Hotel in Melaka, this hotel would also be a good choice if the Old Town is full.
This hotel, Casa Del Rio, has an amazing waterside location very close to Jonker Street, that’s one to look at too. It’s also on Agoda, here.
Getting To Melaka
We went straight to Melaka from the airport (KLIA) on this trip. It was an easy bus ride that cost us about $10 Au. We bought tickets at the bus terminal on the lower level of the airport terminal.
On return, we caught the bus to KL and transferred to KLCC by train. Taking a Grab car would probably have been easier and possibly cheaper for 2 people.
You should probably stay a couple of nights in Melaka, but if you don’t have time you can visit Melaka as a day trip.
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