Today, Melaka is a modern and vibrant old city that believes in its wealth of history. Visiting Melaka is a unique experience; its rich historical background earned it a World Heritage Site designation in July 2008.

Melaka is accessible from the North South Expressway. When coming from the south, drive along E2 and exit the expressway at the Ayer Keroh exit. Alternatively, one can exit the highway at the Simpang Empat exit and proceed through the coastal road to Melaka. This route will bring you through the town of Alor Gajah. With the new highway (ring road) completed, the trip from Simpang Empat to Melaka will take approximately 20-30 minutes by car.

Melaka city is on the Coastal Trunk Road (Federal Route 5), and can be accessed from the Main Trunk Road (Federal Route 1) by turning off at Simpang Kendong or Tampin, Negeri Sembilan. Malacca is 150 km (93 mi) from Kuala Lumpur, 216 km (134 mi) from Johor Bahru, and 90 km (56 mi) from Port Dickson.

The older part of the city proper has, in addition to the old palace and the large buildings left by the Europeans, many private houses and shops from nearly a century or more ago, put up by Chinese traders. Many of these have beautiful details such as moulded porcelain tiles and painted plaster reliefs on the front. Unfortunately, they are not well preserved and the state government decided to repaint all the buildings in the historical district with a bright brick red some years ago.