Borneo Holidays

Explore Boneo from on and underneath the water with a fun SUP and snorkelling adventure. The seas are typically calm in the morning, so you’ll have a gentle paddle around sand bars, coral bars or floating pontoons, depending on the tide. Then it’s time to dip under the waves with your snorkel and mask. The area is known for its clownfish colony, so you’ll spot brightly coloured fish darting through the waters. Your guide will also capture the best moments on a GoPro.

• Duration: 3 hours
• Time: 8am to 11am
• Daily departures
• Operates year round
• Private experience

Good to know
You’ll need a good level of fitness. Children must be at least 6 years old to take part. Children aged 6-12 must be accompanied by a guardian.

Watch the sun sink into the ocean from your peaceful perch out on the water. Stand-up paddle boarding is a memorable experience at any time of day, but it’s particularly beautiful at sunset. You’ll paddle around sand bars, coral bars or floating pontoons, depending on the tide, and pause to appreciate the changing colours as the sky is reflected in the water. Your guide will also capture the best moments on a GoPro.

• Duration: 3 hours
• Time: 4.30pm to 7.30pm
• Daily departures
• Operates year round
• Private experience

Good to know
You’ll need a good level of fitness. Children must be at least 6 years old to take part. Children age 6-12 must be accompanied by a guardian.

Cooking classes are a wonderful way to delve deeper into the local culture while learning new skills at the same time. Your host begins the experience with a stroll through the local market. Finding the freshest local ingredients and chatting with the stallholders, you’ll learn which spices to use and buy the groceries needed to whip up a Malaysian feast back in the kitchen. At your cooking station, you’ll learn how to prepare traditional home-cooked dishes and understand how food is such a big part of Malaysian heritage. After an insightful morning, you’ll get to tuck into your creations.

• Duration: half day
• Time: 9am to 1.30pm
• Departing daily from Kota Kinabalu
• Operates year round
• Group experience

Leave the buzz of the city behind and take a journey into the past to see, hear, taste and feel the identity of Sabah. Meeting some of the people of the remote Mari Mari Cultural Village, you’ll get to understand what traditional daily life is like in this rural region. We’ll be welcomed into the homes of various indigenous people, who’ll chat to us about how their houses were built by tribal descendants and what the different architectural styles represent. As we explore the village, we’ll also stop at demonstration huts to see traditional activities such as blow piping, fire lighting and tattooing.

• Duration: half day
• Timings: 10am, 2pm or 5pm to 2pm or 6pm to 9pm
• Daily departures
• Operates year round
• Private experience

The journey is part of the adventure on this full-day experience. A scenic two-hour drive will whisk us away from city life, as we pass villages and paddy fields and wind our way up the mountainous roads of the Crocker Range. A short stop at lively Nabalu Market will showcase local fruits, vegetables and handicraft souvenirs before reaching the main attraction: Kinabalu Park. The park has around 4,500 species of plant, including a whopping 1,500 species of orchid – 77 of which are endemic to Kinabalu. It also supports more than 280 species of birds and 290 different types of butterflies. You’ll notice the change in air temperature and enjoy the cool air as you set off on a walk along the botanical garden nature trails. On a clear day, you might spot majestic Mount Kinabalu in the distance. After lunch at a local restaurant, we’ll continue to the Poring Hot Spring for a canopy walk. Climb up to 41 metres above ground level and walk across the suspension bridges hanging in the tropical jungle treetops.

• Duration: full day
• Time: 7.30am to 5.30pm
• Departing daily from Kota Kinabalu
• Operates year round
• Private experience

Good to know
There’s a small charge of MYR5 to use a camera and MYR3 to use a video camera at the canopy walkway (payable locally).

A delicious melting pot of heritage and culture, Kota Kinabalu has a top street food scene. The markets come alive after dark, so put on your walking shoes and taste your way around the various influences. Your expert guide will take you around the best spots in the night market and tell you about all the foods on offer. You’ll have time to chat with the stallholders and get to know the subtle differences in food between Sabah’s tribes before tucking into authentic dishes such as noodle soup, hinava (a raw fish dish similar to ceviche) and pinasakan (braised fish with turmeric and fruit).

• Duration: 2 hours
• Time: 5.30pm to 7.30pm
• Daily departures
• Operates year round
• Private experience

A scenic day awaits on this blissful back-to-nature escape. On a two-hour drive through the Klias Forest Reserve, we’ll pass coastal views and picturesque villages on the way to the Klias River Village Jetty. Tea, coffee and cakes will be waiting to refresh you ahead of your river cruise through the mangrove forests of the Klias River. Keep your eyes peeled for proboscis monkeys, abundant bird species, monitor lizards, crocodiles and other wildlife. We’ll return to the jetty for a traditional Malay buffet dinner. Then, as dusk sets, we’ll hop back on the boat for the best vantage point to watch flickering fireflies light up the riverbanks.
• Time: 2pm to 9pm
• Daily departures
• Operates year round
• Private experience

Your wildlife adventure begins with a flight from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan Airport, where you’ll be picked up and whisked off to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. In this remarkable rehabilitation centre, which was set up in 1964 to help orphaned orangutans, you’ll be able to get up close with the orangutans and watch them being fed. Take a walk in Borneo’s lowland dipterocarp forest and visit the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre, which improves animal welfare and rehabilitates rescued sun bears. After lunch, the final stop is the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary, where you can see hundreds of cheeky proboscis monkeys.

• Duration: full day
• Time: 6.25am to 7.25pm
• Departing daily from Kota Kinabalu, including return flights
• Operates year round
• Group experience

Join a private guide for a tour of Kota Kinabalu tailored precisely to your specification. Decide how long you want the time to last and where you want to go, and the driver will take you from place to place and offer expert commentary.

• Daily departures
• Operates year-round
• Private experience

Half day or full day