Borneo Holidays from the UK

What are Borneo holidays from the UK really like?

Your alarm goes off before it's light. Down at the jetty the boatman is already waiting, the river is flat and brown and steaming gently, and somewhere in the trees a gibbon starts to call. A little way upstream your guide cuts the engine and points: a family of proboscis monkeys is waking up in a fig tree, the big-nosed male keeping an eye on you. You'll be back in time for breakfast, sweaty, happy and already talking about the evening cruise.

That's the heart of most Borneo holidays sold in the UK. Borneo is the world's third largest island, shared by Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, and nearly every holiday from Britain heads for Sabah, the state across the top of Malaysian Borneo. It has the classic wildlife trail through the rainforest, decent hotels and short flights between its towns, which is why holidays in Borneo so often start in its capital, Kota Kinabalu.

It's hot, it's humid and it's wonderful.

Expect early starts, a little mud on your shoes and some of the best wildlife watching in Asia, in some of the most biodiverse rainforest on earth, with a comfortable bed and a cold drink at the end of the day. Many trips finish with a few lazy days at a beach resort or island hotel on the South China Sea before the long flight home.

The classic route across northern Borneo

Most Borneo wildlife tours follow the same line, from the west coast to the east and back again. The route strip above shows the stops; here's what each one feels like.

Kota Kinabalu

The capital is where you land and get over the flight. On Travelsphere's holiday you're welcomed with a Malaysian dinner and a show by local dancers, then spend a day out in the Kiulu Valley, crossing a hanging bridge into a village, calling at a Dusun house and learning how rubber is tapped. On a clear morning Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in Malaysia, floats above the city. If your holiday leaves a free afternoon here, the islands of Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, Gaya Island among them, are a short hop from the waterfront for a swim or a snorkel, and the street food stalls near the harbour are good for an evening excursion.

Sepilok

A short flight across Borneo takes you to Sandakan and the forest at Sepilok. At the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre rescued and orphaned orangutans, an endangered ape found only on Borneo and Sumatra, learn to live in the rainforest again, and the ones that choose to come in for fruit at the feeding platform give most visitors their first proper look at an orangutan. Right next door, the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre looks after the world's smallest bear!

The Kinabatangan River

This is where the holiday changes gear. Sabah's longest river winds through jungle and oxbow lakes, and the places you stay sit at the edge of the water, many with no road in. You'll spend your days on cruises with a guide who knows where the monkeys sleep, and your evenings listening to the frogs. Our guide to the Kinabatangan River has more on the villages, places to stay and wildlife.

A beach to finish

Plenty of holidays end on the beach at Shangri-La Rasa Ria, a resort near Kota Kinabalu set in its own patch of rainforest beside the sea, with a pool, a spa and walking trails. Others fly you home straight from your city hotel; ask the operator if you'd like a few beach or island nights added.

Why we put The Best of Borneo first

Travelsphere's The Best of Borneo: Orangutans and Rainforests spends more of its time on the river than most. After Sepilok and the sun bears, the group heads out across the Sulu Sea and up through the mangroves to Abai Jungle Lodge, which is built on stilts and has no road at all. There's a sunset cruise that carries on after dark for the fireflies, an early run to Pitas Oxbow Lake where pygmy elephants sometimes come down to bathe, and a boardwalk into the jungle where wild orangutans are now and then spotted.

Then it's further upriver to Kinabatangan Riverside Lodge at Sukau, which has worked with and employed local people since it opened, for more cruises and a rainforest trail out the back.

A Travelsphere Holiday Director stays with you from start to finish. Return flights from your chosen UK airport, the internal flights, transfers, porterage and many meals are included, and Travelsphere grades the pace as Active, which it describes as moderate walking and longer days. Accommodation runs from city hotels in Kota Kinabalu to the jungle lodges, and a resort stay at Rasa Ria rounds it off. Our page on Travelsphere's Best of Borneo has the full detail.

Which kind of Borneo holiday suits you?

Not everyone wants the same trip, and the UK operators split into clear camps. The facts below come from each operator's own page, checked in October 2026; the cards and table above give prices and dates.

One honest note on comfort: jungle accommodation is simple wherever you go. Titan calls its place at Sukau basic, and Travelsphere says some of its hotels are basic and remote because they're picked for the wildlife, not the thread count.

What will you see, and what's down to luck?

The Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre is the closest thing to a sure bet on any Borneo holiday package. The orangutans there are semi-wild and free to wander off, so even at feeding time nobody can promise one will turn up, though most visitors do see them. The Orangutan Appeal UK, which supports the centre, explains how the rehabilitation works.

Out on the Kinabatangan, proboscis monkeys, long-tailed macaques, crocodiles, kingfishers and hornbills turn up on most cruises. Wild orangutans and the Bornean pygmy elephant are what everyone hopes for, and neither is ever guaranteed: the elephants roam a long stretch of the valley, and orangutans follow the fruiting trees. Your chances rise with more cruises, early and late in the day, and with a sharp-eyed boatman. Where to see orangutans goes through the odds place by place.

Watch them the right way, too.

• Keep your distance and let the animals come and go.
• Stay quiet on the water, and don't ask the boatman to push in closer.
• No flash on night walks or at the feeding platform.
• Never touch, feed or pose for a selfie with an animal. Rehabilitation centres aren't zoos, and the apes there are being taught to live without people.

Is a Borneo holiday right for you?

A first long-haul wildlife trip is a fine reason to go, and you don't need to be an athlete, but you do need to be steady on your feet. Expect to step down into small boats from wooden jetties, walk boardwalks and forest paths that can be slippery after rain, and get up early most days. Travelsphere says its tour isn't suitable for anyone with limited mobility, and asks for sturdy shoes.

The heat is the bigger surprise for many. Borneo is hot all year, with high humidity and little change in temperature from month to month, and you'll sweat on even a gentle walk, so light long sleeves, a hat and plenty of water make a real difference. Leeches live on some forest trails after rain; they're harmless, and leech socks or tucked-in trousers keep most of them off. Main cases stay behind when you head upriver, so you'll pack a small overnight bag for the jungle nights.

Going alone? Just You's Wild Borneo is for solo travellers only, with a room of your own, and Saga runs a solo departure of its Wild Borneo route. On any escorted tour there's always someone to share a table with at dinner.

When should you go?

You can go at any time of year, as Borneo never really cools down. The drier months are usually the easiest for river cruises and rainforest walks, while the west coast around Kota Kinabalu gets its heaviest rain towards the end of the year. Rain often arrives in short, heavy afternoon bursts rather than all-day drizzle. Our guide to the best time to visit Borneo goes month by month.

Safety, health and getting in

The Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to the islands and dive sites off Sabah's east coast between Sandakan and Tawau, because of the risk of kidnapping. That advice does not cover the mainland of Sabah, where Kota Kinabalu, Sepilok, the Kinabatangan and Rasa Ria are. Read the GOV.UK travel advice for Malaysia and check it again before you travel, as it can change.

For jabs and malaria advice, see a practice nurse or travel clinic well before you go, and read TravelHealthPro's Malaysia page from the UK's National Travel Health Network and Centre. It flags dengue, spread by mosquitoes that bite in the daytime, so pack a good repellent.

A package holiday with flights from a UK operator should be ATOL protected; look for the ATOL number on the booking page. Before you book, tick these off:

Booking your Borneo holiday

If it's your first trip to Borneo, start with an escorted holiday that includes Sepilok, at least a couple of nights on the Kinabatangan and flights from the UK, connecting through Kuala Lumpur or another hub; it takes the hard parts off your hands and leaves you free to watch the trees. Our Borneo tours from the UK page compares each one in detail, and Borneo tour operators compared looks at the companies behind them. When you're ready, the holidays above link straight through to each operator's own page.

Questions people ask