Malacca

The red is not the original colour. Built by the Dutch in 1650 it was white plaster; the repaint is put down to the British. The tower and fountain stay blocked by people photographing, so framing the whole building means backing across the bridge.

The night market runs Friday to Sunday evenings only. On other days antique shops and cafés open and the walking is easier; on market nights the far end alone takes half an hour. The shophouses run narrow and deep and come out on the river.

One gate is all that survives of the fort the Portuguese raised in 1511. The British were demolishing it when Raffles intervened, which is why the gate stands, cannon scars still in the stone. It stands where the hill begins, on the way up to St Paul's.

A roofless ruin. Francis Xavier lay here for nine months before the body went to Goa, and the empty grave is still in the floor. Dutch tombstones against the walls are cut deep enough to read. On the hilltop a breeze makes midday bearable.

Book the evening slot first. Lit up at night it becomes another trip, which is why that hour sells out. It runs forty-five minutes up the river and back past murals on both banks, with the last boat at eleven. Parts of the water are murky.

The oldest Chinese temple in Malaysia, founded in 1646 and still in use. Timber and tiles came by ship from southern China, and the frame is joined without nails. Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian halls sit under one roof, each courtyard with its own censer.

In place of a dome there is a three-tiered tiled roof, and the minaret looks like a Chinese pagoda. Sumatran, Chinese and Indian forms meet in one building, and no other Malaysian mosque looks like it. A Hindu and a Chinese temple share the street.

At high water the piles disappear and the mosque appears to float. It stands on a man-made island twenty minutes out of town by car, and most people time their visit for sunset. Stained glass in the windows sets it apart from mosques in the Middle East.

Three shophouses knocked together made one home. You go round with a guide and photography is not allowed. Look at the carving on the parlour chairs and the stair rail and you see a European order and a Chinese craftsman meeting in one place.

Trishaws buried in plastic flowers and dolls, speakers bolted on, line up at the square. The fare goes by time and is settled before you get in, and they will turn the music off if you ask. It works as a loop to the riverside by day when walking has palled.

A rebuild of Sultan Mansur Shah's 15th-century timber palace from old accounts, pegged together without nails. Inside are royal costumes and a life-size wedding scene. Remove shoes before climbing the stairs; it sits at the foot of St Paul's Hill.

A life-size copy of the Flor de la Mar, the Portuguese ship that sank in 1511 laden with treasure taken from Malacca. You walk through the hull past the story of the port's trade. The river cruise jetty is next door, so drop in before boarding.

A seaside quarter of Portuguese descendants where Kristang, an old Portuguese creole, is still spoken. At dusk the square's seafood stalls grill fish with sambal. For the feast of St Peter in late June, boats are decked out and dances held.

Put up in 1710, it ranks by most accounts as the country's oldest Catholic church still holding Mass. Its European front mixes in Asian ornament. On Good Friday night a candlelit procession fills the street outside.

A whole hill of old Chinese graves, said to be the largest Chinese cemetery outside China. Locals jog the paths between tombs at dawn and dusk. At its foot is a well said to have been dug for Hang Li Po, a Ming princess.

A Malay village tucked into a bend of the Malacca River, with wooden houses lined up on stilts. One family opens its home as a small museum of household things. River cruise boats pass right by, and at night every house is lit up.

Dating from 1781, it is Malaysia's longest-serving Hindu temple by most accounts. It is dedicated to the elephant-headed Ganesha. It shares a street with Kampung Kling Mosque, a few steps from its door.