The Cost of Being a Digital Nomad in Malaysia

The second stop on our digital nomad journey was the beautiful and underrated Malaysia. Be to honest, we chose Malaysia for two main reasons: they have a long tourist visa (90 days) that was free on arrival for our New Zealand passports and we needed some dental work done. The long visa was such a blessing as we didn’t have to worry about extensions, paying fees or doing a border run. The dentists in Kuala Lumpur are highly trained, speak excellent English and are reasonably priced when compared back to home. If you need any medical procedures, KL is definitely the place to do it. After spending 90 days exploring what Malaysia has to offer, we will definitely return soon.

We spent the full 90 days in peninsular Malaysia, two months in Kuala Lumpur and one month in George Town on the island of Penang further up the coast, almost at the Thai border. We also had a weekend getaway in Melaka which was the perfect way to break up two months in the big city. Malaysia is a wonderful melting pot of cultures, being home to major trading ports throughout history. This has created a sense of tolerance and inclusion, with a broad range of cultures living side-by-side, especially in the bigger centres.

Below is a breakdown of the average monthly living costs for the two of us. Hopefully, this helps if you’re wondering how much it costs to live as a digital nomad. We definitely couldn’t live the lifestyle we did in Malaysia back in New Zealand on this kind of budget.

Rent

We spent a month each in three different apartment buildings, two in Kuala Lumpur and one in George Town, Penang.

First, we stayed at D’Majestic in Pudu, KL. It stands amongst the shorter, local apartment buildings meaning you step outside into a neighbourhood that’s buzzing with people, day and night. There is a 7/11 and MiX on the ground floor, perfect for any snack craving. The building is a little old and the rooms are starting to show it. There was a musty smell in our room that we couldn’t get rid of. On the roof, there is a restaurant, pool and gym. We never tried the restaurant but we did use the pool regularly. There is a security guard there who polices who enters the pool and what they’re wearing. Not the most comfortable situation.

We then moved to the Continew Residensi, also in Pudu. This building is much newer, the pool is much nicer and the gym is much better equipped. You’re still in Pudu, so near the ICC Food Court, the wet market and also close to a couple of newer malls. We did face the mosque so could hear the call to prayer each morning, but this is part of the Malaysian experience. You learn to love it. The building is further away from the train station but there are still plenty of public transport connections nearby.

We then left KL to head to Penang. We stayed at Straits Garden Suites, just outside of town in Jelutong. Penang has a gorgeous old town and to be honest, I wished we’d stayed in the centre of town rather than on the outskirts. That being said, there’s a weekly night market nearby and the public buses into the city are frequent and cheap. The building had a nice pool and a well-equipped gym too.

Dining Out and Groceries

As you can see, we spent a lot more on Dining Out than on Groceries. We generally ate breakfast and lunch at home, then ventured out to either a local restaurant or into the city for dinner. As with any tourist destination, there is a broad range of food prices, but generally found the food slightly cheaper than in Thailand. We stuck somewhere in the mid-range of restaurants or headed to one of the many markets. If you are in KL you should head to the ICC food market in Pudu, it was one of our favourite locations for cheap street food of the highest quality.

There were two great buffet restaurants near us in Pudu, Restaurant 68 Mixed Rice and Teratai Vegetarian House. We ate at both a lot and all our meals there were under 20 Malaysian Ringgit ($5 USD) for two with Chinese tea or water. If you like vegetarian food you are in for a treat at Teratai. This wonderful food stall and charismatic owner fed us many times and would add more to my plate if she felt I was looking a bit too slim that day. She was our Mum away from home, and you can’t put a price on that.

Our buffet lunch from Teratai

The woman behind Teratai

At the other end of the scale, one of the favourite restaurants we went to was Tarma, an Iraqi restaurant in the central city. A meal here would set us back about 90 Malaysian Ringgit ($20 USD), without drinks.

If we were looking for cheap breakfast options, we would head to a nearby Indian restaurant and get two roti canai (fried egg in a roti) and two sweet, milky coffees all for 10 Malaysian Ringgit ($2.50 USD). If you want an espresso coffee, you’re looking at around 10 Ringgit each.

Personal Spending Money

Before we became digital nomads, we each had a monthly spending budget, so we’ve kept this going. This includes things we bought for ourselves like souvenirs or clothing as well as fancy meals out and alcohol.

We could buy beers from a local 7/11 or shop for 10 Malaysian Ringgit ($2.30 USD). At a Western-style pub, you’re looking at 25 Malaysian Ringgit ($5.70 USD).

Travel Medical Insurance

A must-have on any trip, travel medical insurance gives you peace of mind. If something gets stolen or you have an accident, you want to know that you have a travel partner that will be there and look out for you. We use SafetyWing who have always been really helpful and responsive when we’ve needed information. We haven’t ever had to make a claim from them, so I can’t comment on that process.

Transport

We had a really mixed bag when it came to transport. During our first month in KL, public transport was free! In the second month, we continued using trains and buses to get around the city because it was so cheap. We did also get a few Grab rides as it was far more convenient to get to our medical appointments. Then in George Town, we used the buses and also took a few Grab rides here too. Taxi costs were around 1km 2.50RM. A one-way trip on the bus is around 3RM.

Travel Hack: If there are two of you, it can be cheaper to get a Grab from the airport to the city rather than the train. Double-check the prices when you land.

Utilities

Only D’Majestic charged us for Utilities and this was $50 for the month. Everywhere else it was included in the rent. Each place included cleaning, either weekly or fortnightly.

Visas

As mentioned above, we didn’t need to get visas for our 90-day stay in Malaysia which was a cost-saving for us compared to other countries we’ve visited.

Subscriptions

We have an Apple+ subscription for storage and TV as well as a Netflix sub.

Mobile Phone

We got SIM cards from a store near our first apartment. We realised that they oversold us a large data package that we didn’t need. Once this expired, we could purchase smaller packages that made the cost much more reasonable. When purchasing your SIM card, always try to talk them down from the large data plans unless you plan on working from remote locations and hot-spotting the whole time.

Bank Fees

Although we have a credit card that doesn’t charge us to withdraw cash, the Malaysian ATMs do charge a fee each time. So we switched to using our Wise account and saved a lot of money with a better rate on each transaction. As we used cash a lot, we made sure we were taking out large amounts each time.

Did We Stick To Our Budget?

As always it’s really important to us that we stay within our budget of $2,000 USD per month. Malaysia passed with flying colours coming in at roughly $200 below this. We stayed at really nice apartments that had fantastic views, gyms and swimming pools. We ate delicious food that included good vegetarian options.

With the 90-day visa, it allowed us to book several Airbnb monthly stays which meant we got monthly discounts. A lot of the countries in South East Asia have much shorter visas, so this was definitely a big plus for Malaysia.

Conclusion

We loved Malaysia, in our view a massively underrated digital nomad spot.

There are loads of apartment buildings in both Kuala Lumpur and Penang, keeping the prices reasonable.
There are plenty of food options, which means we could eat out for all our dinners and about half of our lunches.
It provided great value for money which meant we kept our cooking to a minimum. A great bonus when your working full-time.
The public transport is great, which helped keep down our transport costs.
With New Zealand passports, we could get a 90-day visa on arrival so we didn’t have to worry about visa costs (unlike Thailand and Vietnam).
When getting a SIM card, always ask for cheaper plans as they will upsell to more than you need.
Take out large amounts of cash at a time so you don’t have to pay as many ATM fees.