Kota Kinabalu – Borneo’s lively coastal city

Kota Kinabalu is a coastal city on the north coast of Malaysian Borneo in the state of Sabah. I have always loved the name of this resort. It conjured up a sleepy colonial city like Georgetown in Penang but when I arrived there I was wrong.

Yes, there are some traditional stilt houses above the water, but the centre of Kinabalu is a thriving modern town with flyovers, air conditioned shopping malls and condominiums. It’s rapidly expanding with lots of building going on, but that just seems to add to the excitement of the place.

There are flights every 30 minutes from Hong Kong, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok. While for most travellers it simply forms the gateway to some of Borneo’s best destinations, it is well worth tarrying for a while.

The approach to the city centre, with its tall condominiums, reminds me of the Paseo Maritime in Palma. As well as sophisticated shops there is an impressive boardwalk with a range of bars, eateries and ice cream parlours. While some of the names even take you back to old Magalluf – the Cock and Bull English tavern and several Irish bars - the food remains a mixture of Malay, Indian, international and Chinese, a far cry from the all-day English breakfast of some Mediterranean resorts.

We stayed at the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru, just minutes from the city centre, and ventured into town at night. The hotel is right on the beach overlooking some small islands and is an oasis of calm so you can thoroughly relax after time in the city. The hotel and city also make a good base for a trip to climb Mount Kinabalu – an energetic trip for the more adventurous. The closest I got was when we flew onwards from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan. The plane flies across the mountains and to your left you can see the Kinabalu itself – it seemed so close that you could wave at the climbers.

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