Since Malaysia has become VISA FREE for us Indians till 31st December 2024 So I thought of making a budget and itinerary video on it incase you are planning to visit Malaysia, it gets easier for you. Hi, I am Khushboo and in this video we are going to discuss How would your budget look for a trip to Malaysia? We are going to discuss about everything flights, accommodation, food, transport, SIM. Incase, I miss something you can ask me in comments and I'd be happy to help. Also, we will discuss the documents required for VISA and I will also give out a 7 day itinerary Which you can mould later according to your time in hand and interests. And in case, you haven't subscribed to my channel till now then hit that SUBSCRIBE button and don't go without liking the video if you find it helpful even a little. Now, let's get started Let's start with flights first I took my flight from Thailand so I got a really good deal of INR 3500. But the cost included only cabin baggage so 7kgs so paid extra for the baggage which for INR 1000 for 20kgs. If you are two people then that cost can be divided. And now let's check current rates of flights 2 months ahead on skyscanner that how much will we get in? Since, it's February right now, I will check for April. And what I can see is that we can get tickets under 20,000 from TIER 1 cities. If you are going from Delhi it is 20,000 for a round trip and if you are taking it from South India then it is quite cheap you will get it around 15,000 from Bangalore and even lesser from Chennai. Let's check if it includes baggage So, in Indigo you are getting check-in baggage, you will even get it in Malaysian airline but you will never get it in AirAsia through skyscanner. According to my research, you will get a round trip flight under 25000 including luggage Now, let's talk about currency and cards So, the currency of Malaysia is Malaysian ringgits and 1 Malaysian ringgit is equal to 17.6 INR, for easier calculation we will keep it as 18 What I would recommend you is convert INR 10-20K into ringgits and take USD 100-200 for emergency purposes so that you can get it converted in Malaysia. And about cards I would recommend you taking zero mark up forex card with you because mostly everywhere card is accepted easily and there are no extra charges on it. And I said INR 10-20k because your major expense flights and accommodation will be already booked from India and apart from this you will be spending on food, transportation and the activities you'll be doing. So, yes that will be your expense actually so for this INR 10-20k would be good enough if you are doing a budget trip and if you take USD extra with you, you will get a good exchange rate there if you are doing a mid-budget trip. And why I said you take cash exchanged from here because from airport you will have to take a cab/bus/metro. Bus will cost you 13-17 ringgits and the rail/metro will cost 50 ringgits and for cab you can use GRAB app and you can put your card details in it and pay online. so for this option, you will not need cash and it will cost you 100-150 ringgits depending on where is your accommodation in Kuala Lumpur if you are landing in Kuala Lumpur only. So, for the GRAB app you will need a SIM which you can decide whether to buy it from the airport or the city. So, I did not buy it from the airport. I bought from the city from 7 Eleven and I got it for 10 ringgits in which I got 6 ringgits of talktime and 1GB data which was too less so I got another recharge for 12 ringgits to get the extra data. So, in total it costed me 22 ringgits for 7-8 days. Now, let's discuss documents required for VISA. Your passport should be valid for atleast next 6 months. You should have a return ticket or a ticket continuing your journey to next country. They just want to know that you're exiting their country within 30 days. And proof of accommodation for the whole trip, wherever you are staying you should be able to show confirmed bookings. And you have to carry a bank statement showing sufficient funds. They did not mention how much funds but should be enough to get through your Malaysian trip. I would recommend to keep at least INR 60k in the bank and if it's around 1 lakh then that would be great. And the last thing is that you have to fill out a form which is Malaysia Digital Entry/Arrival Card also known as MDAC. I will provide the link to the form in the description below so that you can go and fill in the form there. And this form you have to fill out within 3 days of your trip. So, for example, my trip is day after tomorrow so I have to fill out the form today or by tomorrow so that when I arrive in Malaysia I don't have any issues as I have to present the form at immigration. Next, let's talk about travel insurance. So travel insurance is not compulsory for Malaysia trip but I would still recommend you taking one because anything can happen on an international trip, so to save 500 rupees, you might end up paying 5 lakh rupees. You can go to PolicyBazaar and compare you will find a lot of travel insurance. Here I have selected from Saturday till next Sunday so it is 9 days. So, for 9 days it will cost you between 420 to 800 rupees which is a decent amount. And just 1 tip don't buy CareHealth insurance as I bought it and I personally did not like their customer service. Next, let's talk about FOOD. So, if you go to Little India you will find a lot of veg south Indian restaurants. And we were 2 people and we had a full meal for dinner. It costed us between 25-30 ringgits. So, you can say 14 ringgits on an average per meal. This is an upper limit on every meal if you are eating Indian only. If you're having European cuisines, it will get a little expensive. And if you're having Malaysian food, I think it will be a little lesser than Indian food. Yes, since it is a multicultural place you will find cuisines from almost everywhere easily. And the food will cost... let's take 14 RM only on an average per meal. For 7 days it will cost you something like this (on screen). But if you are a mid-budget traveller let's take your average per meal as 22-25RM and it will cost you something like this (on screen). Now let's talk about accommodation. In 1500-2000 INR you will get a decent stay but if you are a mid-budget traveller then you will get easily in the range 2500-4000 INR including breakfast. And if you are a solo traveller then you will get hostels in the range of 600-800 INR. And in Kuala Lumpur you will also get capsule type stay options which are actually hostels in a more private way because if you don't feel like socializing then you can close your capsule. And it will cost you around 800 INR. And these prices for hotels and hostels you will find similar prices throughout Malaysia. Now let's discuss the itinerary. Mostly likely you will land in Kuala Lumpur so let's start with Kuala Lumpur only. I would recommend spending 2 days there. First day you can explore the city, you can go to KL tower, Twin Tower, if you are interested in shopping you can visit Chinatown or Central Market. And I would recommend you exploring the food and multicultural side of Malaysia as well in Kuala Lumpur. And on Day 2 you can visit Batu Caves which will take 4-5 hours because it takes 40 minutes in commuting 1 side. And then after returning to city you can explore the gadgets or the electronics market of Kuala Lumpur because Malaysia is one of the cheapest countries in electronic market. So you can explore that. I would recommend you going to Pavilion mall. See every shop has different prices so you have to find the best prices. So, you have to checkout 2-3 shops if you want to buy something otherwise you can checkout for fun. After exploring Electronics market I would recommend you to explore the night life Bukit Bintang had a good and vibrant street life when I was exploring. I had fun. And all these things I have covered in my Kuala Lumpur vlog so if you are interested you can check it out I will leave the link in the description below. After Kuala Lumpur, if you are interested in history you can head to Malacca. Strait of Malacca plays a significant role in trade hub of Malaysia and there you will also get to know "why is Malaysia multicultural?" So, if you are interested in history you can add that to your itinerary. And you can take a day trip to Malacca from Kuala Lumpur. It will take 2-2.5 hours to get there and you can take a bus back at around 9 or 10 pm. So, you can spend the whole day in Malacca. You will get the bus from TBS station and you can get the ticket from the counter or you can use the "self help system" at the bus station to book your ticket. So, if you take it from the counter you will have to give your passport as they either take the number or click a picture, they do something with it, so you have to carry. But if you book it through "self help system" then you will have to put your passport number in it. So, that's more convinient. And if you want to check the timings or you want to book it online then you can go to RedBus.my or you can go to 12go.asia . Next, I would recommend you to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi. This is an island and is also duty free for chocolates and alcohol. Other than that it is a laidback place to relax, enjoy sunsets, waterfalls and the beach. And here you can also explore the underwater world as it is known to be extremely beautiful. And I would recommend you spending 2 days here. Next, you can go to Penang, there is no direct ferry from Langkawi. They stopped that mode of transport due to covid. So, next best mode of transport is to fly there or you can get to the land through ferry and take a bus till Penang, it will waste your whole day so I would not recommend it. If you book your domestic flights in advance you will get it around 2500 INR or less. You can leave your excess luggage at Kuala Lumpur and take only 7 kgs with you then you will get around 2500 one way. So, Penang is multicultural island of Malaysia so you can explore the diversity. There are streets in Georgetown area which you can explore. You can explore temples here of different cultures. Also, you can explore food here if you are a foodie and love eating/trying different types of meat and seafood. Then you can definitely go here and try food as it is a paradise for foodies. I would recommend spending 1 day here. Next you can go to Cameron Highlands where you will find tea gardens and it is a place to get near the nature and here you can spend 2 days if you want to travel slow or spend more time in nature otherwise 1 day is good enough. To reach here from Penang it will take you 4-5 hours and from Cameron Highlands to Kuala Lumpur it will take 5 hours. So, keep these things in mind and accordingly plan your itinerary and book your flights. So, this is your itinerary which almost everyone is doing as mostly we get West Malaysia VISA only. But now since it is VISA FREE, you can also explore EAST Malaysia which is ofcourse offbeat. And, yes Malaysia is divided into 2 parts - East Malaysia and West Malaysia. So, whatever we have discussed till now was West Malaysia and in East Malaysia you will find Borneo Islands which are actually covered by 3 countries - Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. And most of its part is under by Indonesia but 26% is owned by Malaysia under the states Sabah and Sarawak. So, you can explore Sabah which is 3 hours of flight away from Kuala Lumpur. And Sabah state is a little big and is offbeat and an island so commute can be a little challenging. So, you can do this thing that you spend 2 days in Kuala Lumpur (KL) and skip other places and fly to East Malaysia to explore for 4-5 days. And that would be a good experience actually. And the prices for accommodation are similar there as well. But you will have to spend a little extra on the experiences because you will find there a lot of national parks, hikes, there you will also find highest point of Malaysia - Mount Kinabalu and it is more than 50% covered under forests. Also, you will find wildlife and the reptiles or marine animals like sea snake or monitor lizard, you will find that also a lot. And you will find waterfalls and underwater world is beautiful. So, basically everything is related to nature and if you are Offbeat type person then you should definitely go and explore. And for this experience, I would really consider going back so I thought I should let you know also about this place. Few points I forgot to mention earlier. First - If you rent scooty in Langkawi or Penang it will cost you 20-30 ringgits. Second - If you want to use public transport in Kuala Lumpur you can download MOOVIT app and see what are the options to reach your destination by inserting from and to locations. The app will tell you whether to take the bus/MRT/LRT or walk. So, they have different types of rail and it might get a little confusing but the app will be able to help. Third - the petrol in Malaysia is quite cheap like I got my tank filled in Langkawi and it costed 37 INR for 1 litre so it is that cheap. So, the taxis/cabs you will book from GRAB app it won't be that expensive, it is just that demand/supply would increase the price of the cab in that location. So, you will get it cheap outside Kuala Lumpur, in some places you will find it at decent rates in Kuala Lumpur too. So yes, if you can't rent scooty, consider taking cabs it won't be that expensive. Or you can take public transport in KL which is convinient. Other places don't have public transport except Penang, you will find buses there. But Langkawi did not have it, Malacca had buses but you have to wait a lot so take a taxi, that would be better. You will save your time. Fourth - In KL, to use public transport you have to get a card, you can't work with cash. You have to get that card recharged, it is similar to a metro card in India. So, this card will work in the bus as well as all the rails. So, you have to get that from metro station and just tap and go. But the card will not work outside Kuala Lumpur and it is not refundable also so get the minimum recharge possible. Fifth - We booked a hostel on the spot because we missed the bus to the destination where our stay was booked and we booked on the spot and we were out of cash I think so we told him to swipe the card but he said they don't accept card/ machine is not working You pay via GRAB app and we were not aware about that feature on the whole trip and we got to know on the last day that we can pay through GRAB app. So yes, that's about it from the video. I hope it was helpful, if it was then hit that LIKE button for the algorithm. And subscribe to my channel if you haven't already because it takes a lot of hard work to create helpful videos. And if you have any doubts, you can ask me in the comments and I'd be happy to help. And I will see you in the next one. BYE!
