Kota Kinabalu city

Kota Kinabalu city

Kota Kinabalu is a busy city with a small town atmosphere. Affectionately known as simply KK, the longer you spend here the more the place grows on you.

Overlooking the South China Sea and the beautiful tropical islands and virgin rainforest of the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, the Crocker Range and Mount Kinabalu as its backdrop, one could not wish for more superior visual variety.

Previously named Jesselton, it was razed to the ground in WWII by the Allied Forces abandoning it during the invasion of the Japanese.

In 1963, the rebuilt city was renamed Kota Kinabalu.

Kota Kinabalu is a very safe city, but the usual travel streetsmart applies.

Food is excellent and very affordable as you will discover on our Eating Out in KK page where we recommend our favourite restaurants.

KK is compact, easy to orientate  and you can walk to pretty much everywhere.

Taxis though are relatively cheap and form 1 January 2011 will start using meters again after years of fixed rates.

Getting in to Kota Kinabalu
The International airport is conveniently located just 7km south west of the city centre.

A taxi ride to the city costs RM35 with a prepaid taxi coupon purchased from the taxi counter outside the arrival hall.

Between midnight and 6am there is a 50% surcharge.

Buses run frequently between the city and airport, although at Terminal 1 the buses only service the main road and do not turn into the airport property.



Shopping
With the exception of Licorice Allsorts and Tetley tea bags you can buy or find everything you need here.

All the usual fake wares are available if you’re looking, although nowadays less so, but genuine named brands can be purchased at very affordable prices.

Browse around the 4th floor of Centerpoint Shopping Centre, the adjacent Warisan Square or, if you fancy a little drive, the 1Borneo Shopping Centre.

Diesel, QuickSilver, Roxy, Esprit, BUM Equipment, NIKE, MNG and other genuine name brands all have outlets in these malls.

For the girls KK is shoe and jewellery heaven!

Sapi island

Sapi island

LOCATION:Pulau Sapi is located off the coast of downtown Kota Kinabalu. From Hyatt Regency Kinabalu, a 2-minute drive or a 10-minute walk will bring you to the jetty at Jesselton Point ferry terminal (formerly known as Sabah Port Authority jetty).

There are a number of tour operators here that will bring you to Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (which consists of the islands of Pulau Gaya, Pulau Sapi, Pulau Manukan,Pulau Sulug and Pulau Mamutik). The rental is charged per boat, which can range anywhere between RM100 and RM200. One boat can fit 4-6 people. A short 20-minute breezy boat ride away brings you to the sun-kissed beach of Pulau Sapi.




DESCRIPTION:
The water is extremely crystal clear. During the day, the beach is buzzing with a hive ofbeach activities. To me, the beach is probably one of the region's most beautiful beach, apart from the one I visited in Pulau Mabul. The water is quite shallow and ample of shades are available.

In term of snorkeling, one still can do it here although I found there was not so muchmarine life compared to the nearby island of Pulau Manukan. Otherwise, you can laze down by the beautiful beach and worship the sun.

In short, activities galore on this beautiful beach. Just get your sun-tan lotions and sun-shade, then head here.

Updated on November 2006: I got the chance to re-visit the beach during my dive excursion to Sulug West and Hanging Garden. I made an hour rest stop here before continuing with my dive. Nothing much changed in terms of beach quality - the water remains as clear as it was a few years ago. There are now a number of new tourist facilities on the beach, namely a small café, a snack cum gift shop, beach pavilions, appointed life guards on a small watch tower, etc. In recent days, a new theme of day-trip excursion has been introduced to the tourists, namely the beach BBQ picnic package where visitors will be able to enjoy a few hours on the beach (sunbathing, snorkeling, etc) while having a rather sumptuous BBQ lunch. I have no idea about the package prices but it seemed to be very popular among Eastern Asian tourists during my visit.

Overall, Pulau Sapi is simply a must-visit for beach lovers.