Sabah is one of the three Malaysian states on the island of Borneo, which Malaysia shares with Indonesia and Brunei. Of the more distant destinations, air travel is of course the easiest, with buses or boats available for travel between destinations in Borneo.
By air
The main airport in Sabah is the airport Kota Kinabalu BKI on the west coast. Many international and domestic flights fly into this airport, making it a great base for air travel in Sabah.
In addition to Kota Kinabalu, there are direct flights from mainland Malaysia and other Asian destinations to Sandakan SDK and Tawau TWU.
You can compare airfares of different airlines on skyscanner.com. Head directly to the airlines rather than other resellers via this website.
From other parts of Malaysia
Most travellers to Sabah come from other parts of Malaysia, mostly from the state of Sarawak in southern Borneo or mainland Malaysia.
The airport in Kota Kinabalu BKI can be reached by direct flights from Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, Kota Bharu and Penang in mainland Malaysia and from Kuching, Sibu, Miri, Gunung Mulu National Park and Labuan in Malaysian Borneo.
Advance tickets between Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu are available from 165 myr per direction.
- Cheapest flights from Kuala Lumpur or Kuching - airasia.com
From other Asian countries
For travel to Sabah, you can also take advantage of a number of direct flights from many destinations in Southeast Asia. Notable connections include Denpasar in Bali, Jakarta, Singapore, Manila and Ho Chi Minh City.
There are also direct flights from many Chinese cities.
The price of international flights to Sabah varies considerably depending on the origin destination. For example, a one-way flight from Singapore to Kota Kinabalu can be found from 280 myr.
Compare flight prices to Sabah!
From Europe, America and other destinations
There are no direct flights to Sabah outside Asia. If you want to get directly to Sabah, you need to take a connecting flight.
In this case, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore is the best connecting point, and connecting flights in China (especially Guangzhou Airport) can also be cost-effective.
Many major airlines offer flights to Kota Kinabalu in one booking, which is ideal if you don't plan to stop outside Sabah.
Find flights to Kota Kinabalu!
By boat
Although Borneo is an island, there are no ferries from mainland Malaysia. In practice, tourists only use boat transport to travel to the Malaysian state of Labuan in Borneo.
Boats can also be taken from Sandakan to Zamboanga in the Philippines and from Tawau to the Indonesian part of Borneo.
From Labuan
A regular ferry service runs from Kota Kinabalu to Labuan once a day. The ferry departs from the Jesselton Point terminal, tickets can be booked at the official website jesseltonpoint.com.my/labuan-ferry.
The ferry departs from Kota Kinabalu every day at 8:00am. The journey takes 2 h 30 min, international travellers pay 43 myr.
From Indonesia
To move from the Malaysian part of Borneo to the Indonesian one can use the direct ferry from Tawau to Tarakan.
The ferry is operated by the Indonesian company Indomaya, departs once a day and you pay 130 myr.
By bus
The bus is a good alternative to air travel if you need to get to some places outside Sabah within Borneo.
From Brunei
Sipitang Express operates a daily direct bus service between Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei and Kota Kinabalu.
The bus departs every other day at 7:30am from Kota Kinabalu and the next day at 8:00am from Brunei. The journey takes over 7 hours and costs approximately 135 myr.
From Sarawak
When travelling from Sarawak in Malaysia, you must always travel via Brunei with a change of trains in the capital.
