
Rumors abound about the cost of backpacking through Malaysia. Â Everyone can agree that Laos and Cambodia, as well as Northern Thailand, are pretty cheap. Nearly everyone also agrees that the Thai islands are much more expensive, especially in high season. Â Malaysia, however, had me hearing all kinds of different reports.
After spending a solid month backpacking through Peninsular Malaysia (read: excluding Borneo – read about that here), I can now attest that a Malaysia travel budget does not have to break the bank. Â In fact, I ended up spending more in Thailand!
I averaged about $37/day. Â Here’s the breakdown:
Accommodation:
Time and time again I think fondly of the days when I spent $2-$4 on a dorm bed in Laos or Cambodia.  Those days are long gone, and simply not possible in Malaysia. I spent about $6 – $14 per night on an average dorm bed. Some places included a “breakfast” of bread and tea/coffee, which I skipped most of the time. Given the huge variety of affordable local breakfasts, I wouldn’t bother checking if breakfast is included.
While I could have gone for cheaper accommodation in places like Kuala Lumpur, for example, I loved the comfort, social atmosphere, and amazing customer service of places like Reggae Mansion (who really helped me out of a bind when I left my passport there on accident) too much to pass them up.  I tend to pay more when there’s the promise of a good social atmosphere, given that I’m a solo traveler.
Hostels in Kuala Lumpur: $5-$12 (book your hostel in Kuala Lumpur here)
Hostels in Georgetown: $5-$15 (book your hostel in Georgetown here)
Hostels in Cameron Highland: $6-$8 (book your hostel in Cameron Highland here)
Transportation:
Public transportation in Malaysia is affordable and generally reliable. In Kuala Lumpur, you can easily get around via trains and even free buses. Intercity buses and trains typically cost about $10-$15 for a one-way ride. Always check the domestic flights as they can get very cheap! Â Your best bet is to sign up for Air Asia flight alerts. Â They send out bi-weekly emails with various deals around Asia and Oceania, resulting in my flights costing well under $20 each time I wanted to fly somewhere instead of taking hours upon hours to bus it instead.
Download Grab, which is Southeast Asia’s version of Uber, and use it to get around town, especially if you are heading out at night. The regular taxis in Malaysia are known to not use a meter and charge exorbitant fees on tourists, so I’d avoid them at all cost.
*When flying Air Asia, try your very best not to have to check a bag. Â Uncheck the options for trip insurance, meals on board, and pre-picking your seats when booking online. Â All of these things will stack up the fees quickly.
Food and Drink:
Food is just as cheap in Malaysia as it is anywhere in Southeast Asia, and it’s delicious! Street food is plenty easy to find, and one can easily leave with a full belly at a cost of just a few dollars.
Drinks, however, will eat up one’s budget extremely quickly in Malaysia. Â Beer runs almost at the same cost as it does in a Western country due to high taxes in this Muslim country. Â With a few duty-free exceptions, such as Langkawi, one can expect to spend upwards of USD $4 per beer and even more for mixed drinks. Malaysia is not a party destination in the way that other countries in Southeast Asia are. Â That said, the social scene is still quite good, and there’s certainly more to a place than the availability of cheap booze.
Cheap vs. Expensive Places in Peninsular Malaysia:
Langkawi stood out as cheap for those looking to drink and be merry. Â Otherwise, there were no obvious cheap vs. expensive places. Â Kuala Lumpur would probably end up at the costly end of the spectrum were the higher costs for accommodation not offset by the cheapness of getting around on local transport.
Other Incidentals:
A local SIM card costs about $9 and comes with 6 gigs of data. Coverage is strong and stable.
Activities can really add up in Malaysia. Â While diving in Perhentian Island was actually pretty cheap at around $100 for 5 dives, other activities were quite expensive. Going to the top of the famous Petronas Towers, for example, ran about $20, so I skipped it. Â The Batu Caves just outside of KL, however, were free to visit.
Organized tours also ran pretty steep, but I always avoid those. Â In general, going your own route, as I did in Cameron Highlands, saves a lot of money.
All in all, Malaysia can be done cheaply, and is well worth a visit!
*I should also note that I saved a bit of money by attending events with locals who were quite amazing hosts. Â I attribute much of my amazing stay to them and their generosity. Â
Tom says
Great article! I envy you! I’m planning to travel through Asia in the future, hope my dream will come true.
Good luck to you!
OCDemon says
I once met a guy who spent something like $5000 in a single month in Thailand. He kept saying “oh, you can’t get cheap places like you used to. Nowadays it’s like $10 a night or something.” We kept pressing him to add up his day-to-day costs before he finally admitted he was spending like $100 a day on…substances of some sort or another. Excluding alcohol. Lesson learned: Never listen to people who say travel has to be super expensive.
Kristin says
Haha, yep that’ll do it!
Michelle | Lights Camera Travel says
Great advise Kristin! I am headed to Malaysia on my travels so will keep this in mind!
Kristin says
Enjoy it, Michelle! I absolutely adored Malaysia.
Jo (The Blond) says
This is helpful! I need to bookmark this page as I’m planning to visit Malaysia at the end of this year.
Kristin says
Let me know what you think of it. I had a blast there!
AmityJoy says
Labuan and Tiomen Island are two other of these tax free havens! Labuan off Kota Kinabalu and Brunei is significantly less touristy (not really a marketed ‘tropical island’) and the city quite developed so it is an amazing duty free shopping experience. Beers go for as little as 2.5 RM and bottles of spirits upwards of 15 RM.
Kristin says
I actually visited Labuan. Not a lot to do there but it’s true that drinks, and chocolate, are cheaper.
Kristin says
That’s true, they do not allow locals to stay there. This is also true in many places in Indonesia and elsewhere in Malaysia. I’m not really sure what to do about that as it’s often unknown to me until I’ve already stayed there. It’s often locals even discriminating against other locals.
CTW says
I understand your dilemma. I guess all that can be done is to stay at other establishments the next time you are in town. And perhaps not promoting the place in your blog? You don’t seem like the kind of person who would condone such practices.
Escape Hunter says
It was surprisingly cheap after Singapore. And I kept comparing the prices of my daily expenses in Kuala Lumpur with the prices I had to pay in Western Europe. It was tremendously cheaper, not at all less interesting to visit.
Malaysia is adorable and affordable.
Kristin says
Agreed I’m a big fan of Malaysia
Kathy says
Hi! Specifically which places did you visit? Also, in your opinion, would you recommend Peninsular Malaysia or Borneo? Thanks in advance!
Kristin says
I’d recommend both! Here’s a map with all of the places I went and corresponding blog posts: https://www.bemytravelmuse.com/malaysia-guide/
Marilyn says
I am a Malaysian, about the sim card you mention, you can get the cheaper card at a random telecommunication shop, it cost about RM20 but you need to pay for the internet separately, it have many option depend on how many gbs you need. FYI it is easy to connect to free wifi (in restaurant/cafe/hotel) all you have to do is to ask the waiter what is the wifi password.
Kristin says
Thanks for the suggestion! I’m glad to know there’s a cheaper option.
Melissa says
I don’t dive, but snorkel. I ended up basing myself in Semporna and did day trips out to snorke the different islands. Was way cheaper than doing a snorkel package.
Kristin says
Always is!
Mike says
The date line on this article and others on your site is 2018. Yet comments are from 2013.
Costs are rapidly changing in places like Vietnam and Thailand and these articles may be out of date. Can you ensure they keep the original publishing date so we can search out current information when need be?
Kristin says
Hi Mike, that’s an indication that this post has been update with new information. Thanks for checking!