Medan Portugis

Melaka City


Roughly 3km east of Dutch Square, this seaside square populated by seafood restaurants is the focal point of Melaka City’s Eurasian community. Many of the residents are descended from marriages between the colonial Portuguese and Malays some 400 years ago and many of them speak Kristang, a Creole language that mixes Malay with archaic Portuguese. The square, styled after a typical Portuguese mercado, wasn’t completed until the late 1980s.

The very easy-going kampung (village) is unexceptional and the square is often empty, except in the evenings when people come here to down a beer at the pub and scoff seafood. The sea breeze is lovely even if the views are being marred by construction of the new Harbour City development. Bus 17 from Dutch Sq will get you here.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Melaka City attractions

1. Prison Museum

0.43 MILES

Fixing an unflinching gaze on Malaysian prisons, past and present, this museum occupies – naturally enough – a former prison. There is interesting detail…

2. St Francis' Institution Melaka

1.08 MILES

Originally founded in 1880 and once named St Mary's School, this charming, red-roofed Roman Catholic school is worth a visit to explore its pleasant…

3. Poh San Teng Temple

1.16 MILES

If you're heading up to Bukit China to check out the old graves, it's hard to resist stepping inside this temple at the hill's base. 'Precious Hill Temple…

4. Proclamation of Independence Memorial

1.24 MILES

Centuries of Melaka's history are explained within this handsome 1912 mansion that used to house the Malacca Club, a one-time social hub of British…

5. Masjid Selat Melaka

1.27 MILES

Especially beautiful at morning or dusk, this gold-domed mosque overlooks the Strait of Melaka from its shoreside perch on an artificial island a short…

6. Porta de Santiago

1.29 MILES

Most visitors pause for a photo here before hiking to the ruined church on Bukit St Paul. Porta de Santiago was built as a Portuguese fortress in 1511;…

7. Sultanate Palace

1.29 MILES

This wooden replica of the palace of Sultan Mansur Shah, who ruled Melaka from 1456 to 1477, houses an open-air cultural museum and lovely gardens. The…

8. Bukit China

1.3 MILES

More than 12,500 graves, including about 20 Muslim tombs, cover the 25 grassy hectares of serene 'Chinese Hill'. In the middle of the 15th century, the…

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