Our family’s two-week Singapore and Malaysia itinerary came about after spontaneously booking return sale flights from Melbourne to Singapore. We found Legoland Malaysia was not far from Singapore. As we would be away over our eldest son’s birthday, we thought it would be a fun add-on. From there we planned out a road trip to visit other places in Malaysia before returning to Singapore for our flight home. We ended up with a fun family trip to Malaysia and Singapore.
Originally we planned a two-night stay in Cameron Highlands. We had an Airbnb booked but after staying in Johor and driving to KL we decided it might be too much. It is a long drive that winds up into the mountains and we realised our plans and expectations from the kids may have been unrealistic. So, we cancelled the Cameron Highlands and added an extra night each to KL and Ipoh. This meant we weren’t moving around as much and gave the kids some downtime.
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Two-week itinerary for Singapore and Malaysia
Day 0: Arriving in Singapore
Arriving at Changi Airport we took out cash from an ATM and lined up at a taxi rank. We were able to skip the line as we had cash. The taxi drove us to Novotel Clarke Quay where we stayed for one night.
Day 1: a day in Singapore
After Breakfast at the hotel, we walked along the Singapore River to Clarke Quay Subway station. From there we went to Little India and explored the area. We then returned to the Clarke Quay area and had lunch before going back to the hotel to collect our luggage and meet our driver to take us over to Malaysia.
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Getting from Singapore to Malaysia
To get to Johor, Malaysia from Singapore we booked a private car through SG JB Taxi. I booked online and communicated via email. The total cost for this trip (door-to-door) in a Toyota Innova was 90 SGD. We received information the night before with car rego and driver name. Our driver arrived early, loaded our luggage, and confirmed our destination address. We passed through the checkpoints, handing over our passports to be stamped at the Malaysia side. At our Airbnb accommodation in Johor, I had trouble communicating with security guards and our driver was very patient. He talked to them and waited while I went to collect the key from the room.
Our Airbnb was in the 1Medini residences, just under a 1km walk from Legoland Malaysia. There was nothing in the direct area, there was a lot of construction happening. We walked to Medini Mall for dinner, getting there a little wet, just as a massive storm started.
Day 2: Legoland Malaysia
This day was spent at Legoland Malaysia. Read: Legoland Malaysia with young kids
Day 3: Driving to Kuala Lumpur
Using Grab: After having breakfast and packing up, we had to get to Senai International Airport to pick up our rental car. I downloaded the Grab app and used it to book a cab, It said I would get confirmation when the driver was 30 minutes away. I received a notification on my phone, didn’t read it but clicked on it and it opened into the app. It wasn’t showing any booking and having never used Grab before I didn’t know whether it meant a cab was coming or not.
We went down to wait and after becoming panicked we would be late, I had a security guard call us a local taxi. Our Grab arrived 15 minutes late and he was quite rude. The security guard told us he would apologise to the local taxi for us, which pulled up as we left.
Driving to KL: We picked up our rental car and drove to our Airbnb in Kuala Lumpur.
We checked into our Airbnb apartment. Read: Driving in Malaysia as a tourist.
Day 4-6: Kuala Lumpur
We had three full days in Kuala Lumpur. Our Airbnb was in the Regalia Suites and was a nice big space for the kids to play in when we weren’t out sightseeing. Read: 3-day KL itinerary with kids.
Day 7: Driving to Ipoh
Our check-out time was 11:30 am. We were up early and went to the pool, then packed up and spent time in the mall and bought lunch from a bakery to take in the car. After check out we drove to our hotel in Ipoh. We walked into Ipoh Old town and had dinner.
Day 8 & 9: Ipoh cave temples
After changing our plans we had two full days in Ipoh. We walked some of the heritage trail and drove out to three different cave temples. Our oldest son turned six so we went to a large cake store and let him choose a cake, that we ate in the hotel. Read: Ipoh family trip
Day 10: Driving to Melaka
We checked out and were meant to drive to Melaka. We had a punctured tyre and got away later than planned. Arriving in Melaka we checked into the Ibis hotel then walked to have dinner and strolled through the night market.
Day 11: a day in Melaka
We had one full day in Melaka and walked around the city sightseeing. It is a great place for families with lots of different things to see. Melaka also has a wonderful food scene and we enjoyed great meals whilst there.
Read: Melaka family trip
Day 12: Driving
We had to return our rental car to Johor. In the morning, we checked out and discovered the tyre we had fixed was completely flat. Tim put the spare on with help from the security guard. We had to stop along the way to reload the card for the tollway.
Getting from Malaysia to Singapore
After returning the rental car we met another driver from SGJB Taxi at the Airport. We probably weren’t clear enough about where to meet. I sent a text message to the driver’s number, telling them where we were. They soon pulled up and we were on our way back to Singapore. As we had booked them at the same time, our first driver had given us Singapore arrival cards for the return journey. I handed over our filled-in cards and passports to the driver and we passed through the checkpoints smoothly. This trip cost us 100 SGD.
Our Hotel was Santa Grand East Coast and our poor driver had accidentally entered into his GPS Santa Grand Hotel West Coast. Not knowing Singapore we didn’t realise until he pulled up in front and I saw the name. After arriving at the correct hotel, we strolled around the area, seeing the Peranakan houses.
Day 13: Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay
We spent this day at Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay. Read: Singapore family trip on a budget
Day 14: a day in Singapore
We got a taxi to Singapore’s Chinatown and viewed two different temples. After having lunch, we returned to the hotel, Tim got his phone back and we got a taxi to Changi Airport for our flight home.
Itinerary for Singapore and Malaysia with kids: our thoughts
Overall, we were all happy with how our 2 weeks in Singapore and Malaysia turned out. Obviously, losing money on our Cameron Highlands accommodation wasn’t ideal and I was a little disappointed to miss the beautiful views but it was definitely a wise decision to drop it from our itinerary. It would have been a lot more time in the car and the change meant we had more time in both KL and Ipoh, allowing the kids more downtime.
We experienced incredible places in both Singapore and Malaysia and found this to be a fantastic family-friendly two-week holiday.
