What retiring in Kuching is really like

Before a move to Kuching, four things need answers: what a month costs, which visa, which hospital, and how wet it gets.

Here they are, from government, university and airline sources. Where no reliable figure exists, we say so.

What a month costs

The best local figure we found comes from Belanjawanku, a household budget guide from Universiti Malaya's Social Wellbeing Research Centre and the Employees Provident Fund. Its 2024/2025 edition prices the minimum needed for a reasonable standard of living in Kuching, with separate budgets for people aged 60 and over.

RM2,300

One person. Food RM610, housing RM460, transport RM500, utilities RM140, healthcare RM70, and RM520 for personal care, one-off costs, social life and spending money.

RM2,940

A couple. Food RM920, housing RM460, transport RM500, utilities RM280, healthcare RM120, and RM660 for the rest.

Those totals rest on assumptions worth checking against your own plans.

• Housing: RM460 is the repayment on a home bought 20 to 30 years ago, not a market rent.
• Transport: you run one car.
• Utilities: water, electricity, phone and internet.
• Healthcare: four GP visits and one dental visit a year, for someone in good health. Medical insurance sits in the spending-money line.

Sarawak MM2H: the rules in 2026

Sarawak runs its own long-stay programme, Sarawak Malaysia My Second Home (SMM2H), through the state Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts. It is separate from the federal MM2H programme, which has its own rules. Sarawak's current requirements took effect on 1 January 2025.

Who can apply

Citizens of any country with diplomatic relations with Malaysia, except Israel and North Korea.

Age

30 or over.

Fixed deposit

RM500,000 for the main applicant, placed with an SMM2H panel bank in Sarawak. At least RM250,000 must stay in the account. After a year you can apply to withdraw up to half, for reasons the application guide sets out.

Income or savings

As well as the deposit, one of these: a pension or offshore income of RM10,000 a month (RM15,000 with a dependant), or savings of RM100,000 (RM200,000 with a dependant).

The pass

An SMM2H Social Visit Pass for 5 + 5 years. The second five need a new medical report. After ten years you apply again.

Time in Sarawak

At least 30 days every year.

Sponsor and fee

Every applicant needs a sponsor: an immediate family member from Sarawak who lives there, or a licensed SMM2H agent. The processing fee is RM5,000, paid once and not refunded.

Health

A medical report from a hospital in Sarawak, endorsed by a government health clinic. Applicants under 60 need local medical insurance for the length of the pass.

Work

No full-time work. Part-time work in approved professional sectors is allowed, up to 20 hours a week.

Buying a home

Optional. The minimum price is RM600,000 in Kuching Division and RM500,000 elsewhere in Sarawak.

Hospitals and doctors

Sarawak General Hospital, a Ministry of Health hospital, is in Kuching. A Sarawak government news report from October 2025 describes it as the only hospital in the state offering such a full range of tertiary care, across 80 medical specialities, 55 of them sub-specialities. The same report quotes the state's public health minister: half of Kuching's population relies on it.

For private care, the Sarawak government's SMM2H guide and Kuching South City Council both list the same four private hospitals in Kuching:

• Borneo Medical Centre, Jalan Tun Jugah
• KPJ Kuching Specialist Hospital, Tabuan Stutong
• Normah Medical Specialist Centre, Petra Jaya
• Timberland Medical Centre, Rock Road

The SMM2H guide also names the government health clinics in Kuching that endorse applicants' medical reports: Jalan Masjid, Batu Kawa, Tanah Puteh and Petra Jaya.

• Which of these hospitals your insurer pays directly, and which it reimburses later.
• A copy of your medical records and current prescriptions for a new doctor.
• Whether your regular medicines are sold here, and under which brand names.

The weather

Kuching is warm and humid all year. The Malaysian Meteorological Department describes the country's climate as uniform temperature, high humidity and copious rainfall, with nights usually between 21°C and 24°C.

Rain is what to plan around. In western Sarawak, the northeast monsoon from December to March brings more than half of the year's rain. January is the wettest month, and June or July the driest. Kuching averages about five hours of sunshine a day, and only 3.7 in January.

Flights and getting around

Kuching International Airport has non-stop flights from Kuala Lumpur, about 1 hour 45 minutes, and from Singapore, about 1 hour 25 minutes. AirAsia flies both routes every day, and Scoot announced ten flights a week from Singapore from February 2026. Schedules change by season, so check current routes with the airlines.

Around town, the Belanjawanku transport budget assumes you run a car. Sarawak Metro is still building Kuching's hydrogen-powered rapid transit system, so do not plan around it yet.

Daily life

Start with the food. UNESCO made Kuching, a city of about 620,000 people, a Creative City of Gastronomy in 2021, describing a place where Malaysia's mix of communities meets Borneo's biodiversity. Its profile points to the street food centres and markets, and to the food bazaars that come with the Rainforest World Music Festival, the Kuching Jazz Festival and the Sarawak Regatta.

The rainforest is close. Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, 24 km from Kuching, is home to semi-wild orangutans, some of them born in the wild to rehabilitated mothers.

The harder part of any move is company. Before choosing where to live, work out where your week will come from: who you will eat with, what you will join, and who will notice if you are unwell.

Where to live

Most people moving here choose between renting a home of their own and a residence where meals, housekeeping and care come with the room. What decides it is how much help you expect to need, and how soon.

Renting a condo or house

Your own kitchen and your own routine. You arrange everything else: the tenancy, utilities, cleaning, transport, doctors, and any help at home if needs change.

Retirement living

A private room or suite with meals, housekeeping and laundry handled, neighbours close by, and in some places nursing support in the building. Compare the fee against rent plus everything it replaces.

• How far is the nearest hospital, and how would you get there at night?
• What happens if you need more help in two years, or five?
• What does the monthly figure include, and what is billed on top?
• Can you visit on an ordinary day before you commit?

If you are arranging this for a parent who already needs daily help, our two-part guide covers that decision: the care options in Kuching compared, and how to choose a care home.

Care Collective's Retirement Suites

Care Collective, which publishes this guide, runs Retirement Suites in Wisma Elica, the building it shares with voco Kuching, five minutes from the airport and ten from Sarawak General Hospital. Residents have a private suite. Three meals a day come from the halal kitchen; housekeeping, laundry and utilities are included; a nursing team is on call, with daily health checks; physio is on site; and transport with a chaperone is there when needed. The Gourmand, a grocer and cafe, is at the front door. Assisted Living and Memory Care are in the same building, so more support later does not mean another move.

We have not put rates on this page. See the Retirement Suites, or come and look round.