Malaysia was the first stop on my current Asia backpacking trip/ writing retreat. It was the cheapest place to fly in Asia and I meant to stay there for only a few days before moving on to other countries.
That didn’t happen, because I found out I accidentally landed in an amazingly inspiring country.
Rich, lush forests coated much of the land, diverse culture oozed from every corner of every city and I found paradise in the hilly jungles.
Malaysia was the last country I expected to fall in love with or find great writing spots, yet here we are.
Although I didn’t have much time to write because I was roaming the country trying to see everything I could, I did find some inspiring places that were perfect to write in.
This article will share them with you.
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This was my first introduction to Malaysia. Although I’m not usually a fan of big cities, to my surprise I loved Kuala Lumpur. There are so many cultures you can encounter in just that one city, and you can get inspiration from both its modern architecture in buildings like the Petronas Towers and from its historical buildings in areas like the colonial walk and Chinatown.
For a more in-depth guide to writing in Kuala Lumpur, I created a travel guide solely for that city. You can find it here if you’re interested in a writing retreat to the capital of Malaysia.
Here you’ll find both a great bird’s eye view of the city in the Sky Deck and a great place to write in the Sky Café.
I don’t know about you, but getting to the top of a city and seeing the streets I’ve wandered from a new perspective is very inspiring.
Kuala Lumpur had a lot of influence from Western colonizers, and you can find that to still be very evident in the old colonial part of the city.
Located near Chinatown and Little India, you can explore the buildings that still exist from the colonial era. It’s the perfect place to wander if you want to see cultural diversity and history in action.
Most people will try to deter you from coming out here. It’s not that easy to get to, and it’s very run down. But that’s a reason why you should go.
Touristy places are often a terrible damper on the inspiration travel offers, and seeing places that were once beautiful but fell to waste should give you great inspiration.
The gardens had a post-apocalyptic feel to them, with shabby structures found throughout the near empty gardens and with abandoned buildings and ticket booths. You can tell it was one a place crowded with people and luxury, but now feels deserted.
They’re not deserted; workers can still be found watering and caring for the plants. But other than the plants, the rest of the Botanic Gardens aren’t well maintained and there weren’t many visitors.
Ever wonder what once busy, crowded places feel like after the people abandon them? Visit the Botanic Gardens.
For a more in-depth guide to writing in Kuala Lumpur, I created a travel guide solely for that city. You can find it here if you’re interested in a writing retreat to the capital of Malaysia.
Sure, you can get a luxury hotel for very cheap compared to Western prices, but why pay more if you don’t have to? I chose some of the cheapest options for accommodation. Both were absolutely perfect spots to write, and also with very private capsule bunks.
Perfect if you want a rather spacious capsule-style bunk and an inviting, comfy common area where you can write. The outdoor terrace has a few of the Petronas Towers in the distance, lots of comfy seating to choose from, modern décor and unlimited free tea to fuel you.
If you’re writing a Sci-Fi book like I was, this is the place for you. You sleep in a space pod that is very futuristic looking, and there’s a table you can fold out to use as a desk as you write. I wish I scheduled more time to spend a whole day writing in that capsule.
Similarly, Melaka has diverse populations residing in it as well. And since it’s a smaller city, that diversity is even more evident.
Melaka is an extremely historically significant city. It was once a major colonial port city for the maritime Silk Road, and you can see evidence of the Portuguese, Dutch, British and Chinese influence on this city.
From the European architecture next to Chinese temples and Hindu temples next to mosques, you can experience various places throughout the world in one city!
So Melaka is actually known for its cafés. I only spent a day in Melaka, so it was extremely difficult trying to decide which cafés to stop at. I had only so much time!
Chances are you won’t have unlimited time to explore all of Melaka’s cafés, so here are the ones I encountered that I thought would be amazing as a place to write.
(9, Jalan Hang Lekiu)
To be among fellow artists, grab a cup of coffee and a seat to write at this café.
If a particular piece of art in this café feels especially inspiring to you, you can actually buy it and bring it home with you!
(15, Jalan Tukang Emas)
I passed by this café and immediately thought it would be the perfect spot to write.
(Although admittedly, I thought this about every café in Melaka.)
It has an antique theme, and again, if any of the items inspire you can buy an antique to bring home with you!
(17, Jalan Hang Kasturi)
So Melaka has a lot of art cafés, because this is yet another one! It’s the most cheerful one I came by, so it’s great if you can use some color and happiness- helpful if you’re in a writing rut.
It also serves coffee drinks from all 13 states in Malaysia, so you can try coffee from the whole country in just one place! If you’re a coffee-fueled kind of writer, this just may be your paradise.
Located just off the Melaka River, you’re centrally located to the best part of town. You’ll be in walking distance of all the city’s most inspiring locations and amazing street art.
You can also sit right outside the hotel and write there. There’s also a lot of cafés nearby where you can move to and write.
If I had to recommend one place for writers to go for writing inspiration in Malaysia, it would be the Cameron Highlands.
My days there, adding up to a week, were spent hiking the jungle covered hills, visiting tea plantations for refreshing cups of the tea, practicing yoga and then the rest of the day writing. And out of all the other places I visited in Malaysia, I got the most writing done in the Cameron Highlands.
It was hard not to write with the cool, mountain air filling my lungs to clear my mind of the rest of the country’s mugginess and with the lush greenery begging to be channeled for inspiration.
It doesn’t hurt that tea has long been my fuel during writing sessions, and I was drinking fresh cups of it while viewing the unbelievably gorgeous hilly fields of tea trees that produced it.
If this sounds like the best place for a writing retreat to you too, book your flight to Kuala Lumpur, buy a bus ticket to the Cameron Highlands and bring this guide along to visit the following places.
The hikes in the Cameron Highlands were gorgeous. Some were a bit tough, but they were definitely doable. My recommendation would be to get the Maps.me app and download the map for Malaysia, which will show you the trails in Cameron Highlands.
I think that the best hike is to take trail 10, which will give you nice views at the top, and spill down to trail 8, which ends in Tea House 1. It is a bit strenuous, but so worth it.
Finding information about hiking in Cameron Highlands is hard to find, but no worries! I’ve written a guide on the best hikes in the Cameron Highlands.
The best part of the Cameron Highlands, in my opinion, are the gorgeous, lush plantations of tea trees.
The best plantation tea house is probably Boh plantation. To get there you can either take a local bus and then walk an hour through the plantation, or you can take a taxi. I, the budget backpacker, chose the former option, but lucked out with getting a ride back to the bus stop from a nice Malaysian family.
An easier option is Tea House 1, which is owned by the Cameron Tea Valley plantation. The tea house isn’t as nice, but the view certainly is. And I highly recommend the cheesecake.
Whichever you choose, you can bring your laptop or notebook along and spend the day writing with some of the most gorgeous views in Malaysia. In fact, those tea tree fields were definitely among the most beautiful places I have traveled to.
While hostels are typically for the starving artist, this youthful hostel was a great place to write for me. There are three floors of common rooms for you to pick from to set up base to write. I like the trendy café-style of the first floor and the bean bags on the third floor.
They also organize hikes and had yoga while I was there, so this place was absolute perfection for me.
But if you aren’t a hostel person or are a best-selling writer with cash to spend, this resort looks like an awesome place for a writing retreat.
Step back into time at the 1930’s style cottage and enjoy the modern amenities it offers. The highlight is definitely the gorgeous lush views that will keep you company as you write in your room or on the terrace.
Like in Kuala Lumpur and Melaka, the island of Penang has seen a diverse history. Its main city, Georgetown, was a popular port city for European colonizers and Chinese traders. As such, the streets of Georgetown have many influences from both European and Chinese architecture.
It’s a culturally rich place but also holds that laid-back vibe most islands around the world seem to share.
There’s more to Penang than just Georgetown, though, because the island is also host to a national park boasting beautiful nature hikes that lead to beaches.
So if the inspiration you’re looking for can come from both a historical port town where diverse cultures mingle together and from jungle terrain with sandy beach borders, then Penang is the place for you.
The jetties are houses built on stilts in the water, for which reason the residents don’t need to pay taxes since they’re not technically on Georgetown land. Although quite touristy with shops selling souvenirs and food, its still a cool place to experience.
I first went on a weekend, and it was incredibly crowded. But when I returned on a Tuesday (when most shops and restaurants in Georgetown- and other Malaysian cities- are closed), I found this to be a completely different place. It was very calm and I wrote for a while in my journal sitting at the edge of the jetties on a deck that met the open water.
An abandoned bus station turned into a trendy community space, the Hin Bus Depot is one of my favorite places in Georgetown.
You’ll find lots of cool art here, and on Sundays they have a market I never wanted to leave (but my wallet forced me to). I had the most delicious chicken teriyaki I’ve ever had and a delicious tea drink I’m now craving as I write about it.
A dessert shop, Creameal, is located at the Hin Bus Depot, and I had Earl Grey Lavender ice cream there. I am obsessed with both Earl Grey and lavender, so that ice cream was heaven for me. This place isn’t open only on Sundays, so you can stop by any day for some sweet tooth satisfaction and for a trendy place to write in.
If you prefer nature areas to write, the National Park is big enough for you to find the perfect spot. There were some picnic tables and benches not far from the entrance of the park that would have been perfect for a writing session.
You can also make the hike to one of the beaches and write there, or you can even take a boat ride to the beaches if you aren’t feeling exercise.
I chose to write at a gazebo at the entrance of a bridge crossing over the sea’s tide. The combination of the sounds of the sea and the jungle worked wonders on my creativity.
This mansion is award-winning for its preservation, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. Named for the indigo blue paint that colors it, the mansion also has supposedly achieved Feng Shui perfection. Its architecture is influenced by both the East and West. Although a traditional Chinese house, its tile floors and stained-glass windows were imported from England.
I took a tour of this place, and afterward the tour I sat down at a table in the main courtyard while it rained. And I wrote as hard as the rain falling into the courtyard, filling it up quickly with water.
(Which, by the way, was intentional; according to Chinese tradition, rain brings wealth and prosperity, so the open courtyards in wealthy houses were built to welcome the rain in.)
You’ll find a lot of amazing street art in Georgetown. Your challenge is to pick one (or several) and write a story based on them.
Perfect for the budget traveler, this hotel is the most minimalistic and urban as it could get. It’s a chain of hotels offering rooms located in containers.
I chose the cheaper option of a capsule, which was long enough to lay in and tall enough to sit up in. It also has a fold out table big enough for me to prop up my laptop on to write.
I love snuggling up in small spaces, but if you get claustrophobic, you should probably steer clear of this one.
If it were in my budget, The Blue Mansion would have been my choice for accommodation during my time in Georgetown. I already told you why it was a great place to write. So imagine how amazing it would be to sleep there too!
They also have a restaurant serving breakfast downstairs, another one serving lunch and dinner upstairs and a bar downstairs. You really have no reason to leave the mansion if you book a stay there, maximizing the time you can spend writing!
This has probably been the most beautiful hotel I found in Malaysia to stay at for a writing retreat.
As a writer, it’s crucial to read other’s writing to improve your own. And what better way to learn more about Malaysia’s culture and history before going than by reading a book set there?
Who knows, maybe one of these will even inspire writing your own book set in Malaysia. At the very least, these books will definitely convince you to visit the country if my guide hasn’t already.
As I mentioned in this guide, Malaysia is a melting pot of different cultures. Although to the visitor’s eyes these cultures coexist well today, this was not always the case.
Learn more about the cultural tensions in the country during the mid-twentieth century in this award winning novel.
If you write mystery, try out this murder mystery set in Malaysia. It’s the first book of a series, so you can explore other places in SE Asia if you read the other books!
These four places are where I traveled to in Malaysia and found inspiring for writing. But I know this beautiful country has so much else to offer!
Comment below if you have any other suggestions for the best places in Malaysia to get writing done.
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