We spent 25 days in Malaysian Borneo and loved it so much! If you’re a nature lover, I couldn’t recommend Borneo more. In Malaysian Borneo, you can see wild orangutans, gibbons, proboscis monkeys in their natural environment, immerse yourself in some of the best tropical jungles in the world, or scuba dive some world class dive sites.
In this blog post I’m going to talk about our Borneo budget, how much we spent per day, as well as break it down into categories. I’ll talk about Borneo must dos, and things you can skip if you’re on a budget. I also have some tips on how to save money on your Borneo trip, as well as 2 week budget Borneo itinerary.
Table of Contents
How Much Does it Cost to Travel in Borneo?
Since Borneo isn’t as touristy as Thailand or Vietnam, traveling here will be more expensive than the typical backpacker route through mainland Southeast Asia. Some of the jungle adventure experiences in Borneo are remote and therefore pricey, and activities like scuba diving are inherently expensive. We did many of the jungle adventure tours, as well as scuba diving in the Semporna Archipelago, and I’ll discuss our budget with and without scuba diving, as it might not be your thing. Later on in the article I’ll also discuss which activities you can skip if you’re on a budget but don’t want to miss out on an amazing Borneo experience.
Borneo Budget: Two People, 25 Days
This budget breakdown includes 19 days of backpacking + 6 days of scuba diving. The scuba diving budget includes all dive gear, boats, dive masters, accommodations, and food.
| Malaysian Ringgit | USD | |
|---|---|---|
| Tours/ Attractions | 5580.10 | $1286.48 |
| Accomm/ laundry | 1157.40 | $266.84 |
| Food/ snacks/ water | 930.6 | $214.55 |
| Transportation | 667 | $153.78 |
| Souvenirs | 235 | $54.18 |
| Scuba Diving 6 days | 8869.20 | $2044.77 |
| Total | 17,439.30 | $4020.59 |
| Total/ person/ day | 348.79 | $80.41 |
| Total – Scuba | 8570.1 | $1975.82 |
| (Total – Scuba)/ person | 4285.05 | $987.91 |
| (Total – Scuba)/ person/ day | 225.53 | $52.00 |
As you can see from the table above, without scuba diving we spent $52 USD per person per day in Borneo, including all the tourist attractions, accommodation, laundry, food, snacks, bottled water, transportation and souvenirs. We spent an extra $2044.77 on scuba diving for two people for 6 days, including all meals, accommodation, gear, dive masters, and boats.
Skipping scuba diving would have cut our budget in half! If scuba diving isn’t your thing, or not in your budget, skip it to save a bunch of money.
Borneo Budget Tips
In hindsight, there are some things we would have done differently to save money in Borneo. There are other things that we did that were expensive, but I wouldn’t have missed them for the world. There is a third category that although I’m personally glad I did them, I would recommend skipping them if you’re on a budget (or short on time). So here are some tips on traveling Borneo on a budget, in no particular order.
Stick to Sabah
Borneo consists on two states: Sarawak and Sabah. Although we explored and loved both, Sabah has more tourism, and has a denser distribution of attractions. Most of my Borneo highlights were in Sabah (with a notable exception of Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak, which is incredible! However, it’s easy to fly in and out of the park from Sabah).
Both Sabah and Sarawak have an orangutan rehabilitation centre, but Sabah has more accessible rainforest animal spotting tours, a mountain to climb if that’s your thing, and some world class scuba diving.
Check Out Internal Flights
Borneo has really cheap internal flights, often at comparable prices to long distance buses or shuttles! I highly recommend flying within Borneo to save time and your body from days-long bus journeys. Our flight from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan was even cheaper than taking the bus would have been!
Download Grab
Grab is Southeast Asia’s version of Uber, and we consistently found rides cheaper that a taxi would have been. Grab makes finding a ride to the airport or a bus terminal so much less stressful.
Skip Climbing Mt Kinabalu
This is possibly controversial because many people come to Borneo specifically to climb Mt Kinabalu. Many people love it, and I’m not saying it’s not a great experience. But I am saying that it’s expensive.
There’s only one place you can stay the night on your way to the top, and that means they charge quite a lot for the privilege. It’ll probably cost you around ~$450 a person for a 2 day 1 night trip.
Full disclosure, we ended up skipping it, so keep that in mind when assessing my opinion on this.
What to do instead? For another classic Borneo jungle trekking adventure that, in my opinion, was better than climbing Mt Kinabalu, check out The Pinnacles at Gunung Mulu National Park.
It’s a grueling climb up a fascinating jungle, grabbing lianas, roots, ladders, and ropes to hoist yourself to the top. The destination is a viewpoint to The Pinnacles: fascinating limestone formations deep in the Borneo jungle. Much cheaper than climbing Mt Kinabalu, way less touristy, and also my favorite Borneo experience.
We spent ~$300 each for a 6 day 5 night trip that included other activities in the national park, as well as the flights to get there! (Detailed guide of Gunung Mulu, with a detailed budget breakdown, here).
Skip Brunei
I know this is a post about Malaysian Borneo, but it’s so tempting to hit up Brunei on the way. It’s right there! It’ll be another country for the list! It’s tempting, but I don’t recommend it. I’m sure there are many who would disagree with me, and we were only there for 3 days, but Brunei was… meh. It just wasn’t my favorite place to visit, and in hindsight I’d spend more time in Malaysian Borneo.
Skip the Seafood
Seafood in Borneo is expensive!! This is one that I would probably not cut out because I looove seafood and was willing to spend the cash for a couple of meals, but I’d say a seafood dinner was at least 3 times as expensive as a non-seafood dinner.
Skip Scuba Diving?
If budget is a concern, skipping scuba diving is the most impactful thing you can do to cut your costs. If diving doesn’t interest you, that’s easy! If you’re curious, however, and think you can swing it, I absolutely recommend it!
Diving around Mabul and Sipadan has been the best diving of my life so far, and it’s a fantastic place to learn. The conditions are perfect and the diving instructors are really good. We dove with Scuba Junkie, and I highly recommend them.
This is a weird section, am I saying skip it or not? I’m basically saying that although it’s an absolutely incredible experience I wouldn’t give up for the world, I can’t pretend that it also wasn’t super expensive. I’m trying to provide you with as much information as I can so that you can make the right decision for you!
Carefully Choose the Best Borneo Wildlife Experiences for You
There are so many wildlife experiences in Borneo, from orangutan rehabilitation centers, to pristine wildlife trekking, to scuba diving reefs and oceans islands.
Carefully consider your priorities, your budget, your time, the kind of trip you want, and what kinds of wildlife flora and fauna you want to see. In this blog post, I compare and contrast 5 wildlife experiences in Borneo, and rank them in a bunch of different categories so that you can choose the right one for you.
I highly recommend reading that article, but if budget is your primary concern, the best bangs for your buck are visiting Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, and going on a wildlife spotting cruise on the Kinabatangan River. You’d be pretty much guaranteed to see orangutans and proboscis monkeys, and have a high chance to see a bunch of other jungle animals. (The animal density on the Kinabatangan River was the highest of all the Borneo wildlife experiences.)
I’d recommend skipping Danum Valley: even though it was awesome, it was one of the pricier experiences. I’d also skip Semenggoh Nature Reserve: you can have a similar experience at Sepilok, which is more conveniently located.
Budget Borneo Two Week Itinerary
With budget in mind, but without sacrificing experiences, I’ve created a two week budget Borneo itinerary. It’s based on what we saw and did in Borneo, but adjusted in hindsight to what we learned and experienced. This is just a sample itinerary, so please adjust it to fit your needs.
Day 1: Fly into Kota Kinabalu (KK)
Day 2: Explore the city, try some Borneo favorites like Laksa and gorge yourself on tropical fruits like mangosteen, rambutan, and durian.
Days 3-8: Six day trip to Gunung Mulu National Park. Six day Gunung Mulu sample itinerary here. Alternatively, here is where you would climb Mt Kinabalu if you wish. That would also give you few extra days to play with.
Day 9: Fly to Sandakan, explore this slightly off the beaten track port city.
Day 10: Day trip to Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. Take the day to really get to know these incredible creatures. Take a there and back shuttle from Sandakan. (Staying the night around Sepilok is also an option, but we found cheaper accommodation in Sandakan, even including the cost of the shuttle).
Days 11-13: Kinabatangan River Cruise, spot wildlife on the banks of the river. Incredible animal sightings! We took a bus from Sandakan, but you can also arrange transportation with your tour.
Day 14: Fly into KK, and on towards your next destination!
If you have three weeks and the budget for it, I’d highly recommend taking a bus from the Kinabatangan River to Semporna for scuba diving. Your Kinabatangan tour company should be able to help you catch a bus. Book your flights onward from Tawau Airport (TWU).
In Conclusion: Is it Possible to Travel to Malaysian Borneo on a Budget?
This of course depends on your definition of a budget. Without scuba diving, we spent about $50 per person per day in Malaysian Borneo. You can definitely reduce that price by only going to Sabah, skipping some of the more expensive wildlife experiences like Danum Valley, not buying any souvenirs, and not eating seafood.
Hopefully I’ve provided the information you need to make up your own mind, and be able to tailor an amazing Malaysian Borneo experience to your budget and tastes!
