Melaka Sentral Bus Station

Melaka Sentral is the main bus station for the popular tourist town of Melaka, also known as Malacca, which is located to the south of Kuala Lumpur in West Malaysia. Melaka is not connected to Malaysia’s railway network which makes Melaka Sentral the main land transport hub for the city. 

Melaka Sentral is an out of town bus station constructed in 2004 to relieve congestion in Melaka city centre whose roads are often busy with local commuters and private tour bus services.

About Melaka Sentral Bus Station

Melaka Sentral is a large bus station occupying a 46.6 hectare site. The main terminal building is large with high steep roofs resembling the sail of a ship in reference to the city’s past as important trading post. The bus terminal building houses a local and an inter city bus station, with a shopping mall inbetween the two. The intention was to integrate local and inter city transport networks, although the low frequency of local bus services, particularly into the city centre, means that in practice many traveller schoose to take a taxi for their onward journey into Melaka rather than endure a long wait for a bus and then a painfully slow journey to their final destination. Long distance bus service operating in and out of Melaka Sentral are efficiently run, local bus services are not.

Melaka Sentral has great facilities and is well designed. It is easy find the departure gate for a bus service as the bus station has large electronic display boards.

Location of Melaka Sentral Bus Station

Melaka Sentral Bus Station is located 4.1 km by road from Dutch Square in Melaka city centre.

Facilities at Melaka Sentral Bus Station

Melaka Sentral Bus Station has lots of shops and restaurants in the area between the local and inter city bus stations. You can find convenience stores, fast food restaurants, chemists, opticians and money changers in this area.

For toilets and left luggage services you need to go into the inter city bus station area. There are very few facilities on the other side of the building in the local bus station.

Local Transport at Melaka Sentral Bus Station

Bus number 17 is scheduled to depart approximately every 30 minutes from the local bus station at Melaka Sentral and to take around 30 minutes to travel into the historic town centre of Melaka. When we visited we waited an hour and no Bus number 17, or any other local bus, showed up so we gave up.

If you walk out of Melaka Sentral towards the main road there are lots of taxis waiting for passengers. You need to agree the price in advance. We paid 15 MYR in February 2020 for a taxi from Melaka Sentral into the city centre which took about 10 minutes.

Buying Tickets at the Bus Station

There is a large ticket hall in the front part of the inter city bus station at Melaka Sentral. The easiest option is to use one of the electronic ticket machines which accept bank notes. You type in your destination and a list of the next available bus services with vacant seats to your destination appears on a screen for you to select from. After purchase the ticket machine will give you a printed ticket which you will need to scan in order to get through the barriers into boarding areas and to show to the driver as you board your bus.

Passengers who have purchased their tickets in advance online need to go another set of counters to show their electronic booking confirmation and receive a printed ticket before boarding the bus. A printed ticket is required to get through the gates into the boarding area.

Buy Tickets online

Use the Search Box below to buy travel tickets to and from Melaka Sentral Bus Station.

For other journeys from Melaka Sentral Bus Station change the destination of travel in the Search Box above.

Bus Services to Kuala Lumpur

There are lots of different bus companies which services to Kuala Lumpur, two of whose services are currently available to book online.

• Billion Stars Express services to Kuala Lumpur:
  • Departure Times: 09:00 and 22:00.
  • Ticket Price: 10 MYR
• Mayang Sari services to Kuala Lumpur:
  • Departure Times: 06:30, 08:00, 10:00, 12:00, 13:30, 15:30 and 17:30.
  • Ticket Price: 11 MYR
• Journey Time: The journey from Melaka to Kuala Lumpur is scheduled to take 2 hours 19 minutes.
• Tickets: Buy tickets for bus services from Melaka to Kuala Lumpur.

Bus Services to Butterworth (Penang)

Butterworth is where you need to go to board the cheap commuter ferry to George Town on Penang Island.

• Billion Stars Express services to Butterworth (Penang):
  • Departure Times: 09:00 and 22:00.
  • Ticket Price: 47 MYR
• Mayang Sari services to Butterworth (Penang):
  • Departure Times: 22:45
  • Ticket Price: 58 MYR
• Journey Time: The journey from Melaka to Butterworth (Penang) is scheduled to take 7 hours 01 minutes.
• Tickets: Buy tickets for bus services from Melaka to Butterworth (Penang).

Bus Services to Johor Bahru

Johor Bahru is at the southern tip of the Malay peninsula and the main crossing point for travel from Malaysia to Singapore.

• SS International Express services to Johor Bahru:
  • Departure Times: 08:45
  • Ticket Price: 27 MYR
• Mayang Sari services to Johor Bahru:
  • Departure Times: 09:00 and 14:30.
  • Ticket Price: 20 MYR
• StarMart Express services to Johor Bahru:
  • Departure Times: 13:00, 16:00, 18:15, 20:15 and 23:00.
  • Ticket Price: 24 MYR
• Journey Time: The journey from Melaka to Johor Bahru is scheduled to take 3 hours 14 minutes.
• Tickets: Buy tickets for bus services from Melaka to Johor Bahru.