There’s more to the answer than “when AirAsia has a good sale”.
But, of course, AirAsia having a good sale definitely makes flights to Malaysia a whole lot cheaper. Based in the capital Kuala Lumpur, the award-winning budget airline is known for its rock-bottom fares. But even it has peaks and troughs.
TL;DR
The absolute cheapest time: February. (Read more to see why)
The best-value time: Also February! (Read more to see why)
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When is the cheapest time to fly to Malaysia?
February is the cheapest time to fly to Malaysia, with tickets for 2024 starting at less than $300 return.
For this example, we looked at prices of flights from Perth to Kuala Lumpur. (As of writing, Kuala Lumpur is the only city in Malaysia you can fly direct to from Australia.) AirAsia is the only budget airline flying the route, but a few full-service carriers do, too.
Looking at AirAsia’s calendar, there’s plenty of availability on the route starting at less than $200 each way.
And it’s not just AirAsia. We looked at Skyscanner, too, which compares flights from hundreds of airlines worldwide and dozens of online travel agencies. These travel agencies often undercut the airlines’ direct prices, which is where we’re seeing the sub-$300 pricing on this route.
We looked at fares for each month of the year to see which ones were the cheapest. Although just one month apart, flights in January were almost double the price of flights in January.
February pricing
January pricing
October pricing
July pricing
How much will it cost to travel to Malaysia at this time?
If you’re flying from Western Australia, you’ll likely be able to find flights for $250-$350 return. For this price, you’ll need to fly on a budget airline like AirAsia or Scoot.
If you want a full-service flight, it will be almost double.
Not in Perth? Expect to add on an extra $150-$250 to fly from cities further east like Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.
When is the worst time to go to Malaysia though?
Luckily, the cheapest time doesn’t correspond with the worst time to visit Malaysia, weather-wise.
February is the cheapest time to go, but March and April and then October to December are the wettest months in Kuala Lumpur. Up in Penang and Langkawi on the northwest coast, April to November are the wettest months.
Keen to head to Borneo? June to November will be the wettest there.
And when is the best-value time to travel to Malaysia?
What’s great about Malaysia is that the cheapest time (February) actually corresponds with the best-value time.
February is outside of any major holiday in Australia that may increase the price of flights. It’s also relatively dry right across the county. It’s not the driest time of the year, but certainly not peak rainy season.
(How do we define best-value? We look at low prices, best weather, and lower-demand that can boost up not only airfares, but also accommodation prices.)
