Kota Kinabalu travel review & recommendations by dare

Kota Kinabalu is the stepping stone to Sabah, Land Below the Wind.

The downtown area has a number of interesting sites including the waterfront, evening market and sunday market where you will find anything from the perfect souvenier, fresh fruits and veggies, piles of used clothing and shoes, to tanks of tropical fish. Both markets cater to both locals and tourists.

Also good to do in town is go to the movies at Centerpoint. For just 5 ringgit not just the movie is entertaining, but the Malaysians, who love to heckle the baddies and cheer the goodies and who leave once the action is over dispite there still being 10 minutes left to wrap up the love story! Everything else you could want in a shopping mall can also be found at Centerpoint.

The thing we found most perplexing upon arrival in KK (as it is known to everybody) is that you usually need to book just about every tour you plan to do in Sabah.

If you want to climb Mt Kinabalu (and who wouldn't?) accomodation at the half way point at Laban Rata is required as the climb is at minimum a 1 night event. You can book a night at the base as well if you want. When we arrived we found there was a 1 month waiting list for Laban Rata. However, if you are a single or if you have a few days to play with you can turn up at the mountain and try your luck for a spot as places may become available through cancellations. Another trick we heard of is to canvas the tour operators in the morning and hope to pick up one of their cancelled places. Otherwise you can book at the park office or a travel agent in town.

The other thing to consider booking in KK is scuba diving on Pulau Sipidan, which usually has at least a 1 month waiting list year round. Bear in mind the diving here is superb! You can travel to Semporna and stay in town to do day dives but if you want to guarantee a day on Sipidan or stay at a resort such as the ones on Pulau Mabul you need to book ahead and KK is a good place to do this.

Lastly another thing that KK is great for is learning to dive. Its one of the cheapest places in the world to do it and Pulau Sapi (off the coast of KK) is a lovely island to do your training on. Watch out for the damsel fish. They bite!

Plugs for KK:

The team at Sabah Divers were excellant. We did our Open Water diving qualification with them and Jason Oh is an excellant instructor. Peggy is a great travel advisor who booked us on Sipidan for a diving experience we'll never forget. Cudos!

We stayed at Step-In and the staff there are really friendly and helpful. We really appreciated their advice. Breakfast was included when we stayed and was always very yummy (request the roti canai, my fav!)