City Tour Package or Rent a Car

We are going for a weekend trip to Brunei. As this is our first trip there, we are hoping to have a good overview and some insights of the country. We would like to visit the places around the city - kampung air, the mosques, the palace, the museum ,Jerudung park and have high tea or dinner at Empire Hotel. Can this be acheived in a day? Shall we take a city tour or rent a car?

City Tour Package or Rent a Car

Hi (I initially posted 1-8 for another query but added some more places of interest particular to your query here)

There are a few places that you can visit around Bandar Seri Begawan within a day.

1) Royal Regalia building (which houses the royal equipments used in many of the Brunei royal functions as well as history on the Sultans of Brunei)

2) Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque (you can visit during non-praying times %26amp; make sure sure to cover up when visiting and remove shoes/sandals if planning to enter - applies to any mosques)

3) The Brunei Museum (http://www.museums.gov.bn/) and nearby tomb of Sultan Bolkiah (5th Sultan of Brunei)

4) The Arts and Handicrafts centre

5) If you%26#39;re not interested in going round Kampung Ayer (water village) in a boatride, have lunch at the RMS Portview Restaurant (serving Western/Italian dishes) by the riverside opposite the Yayasan (shopping complex) opposite Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque. You can observe the daily happenings around Kampung Ayer there.

6) If you like nature, take a walk to the Tasek Lama recreational park (which I think is only minutes%26#39; walk from the Sheraton Hotel in the capital city). There is a nice trail and a waterfall there (don%26#39;t need hiking shoes, it%26#39;s fairly easy walk and the area is obviously lined up with trees so it%26#39;s pretty shady in most parts).

7) If you want to go shopping, Kiulap/Gadong areas are the places you can go to (~ 10-15mins%26#39; drive away from capital city Bandar Seri Begawan). The Jame Asr Mosque is another beautiful place to visit at the Kiulap/Gadong area.

8) In the late afternoon, if you want to sample local food - go to the Gadong market area where you might possibly catch the Pasar Malam (literally translates to night market) where foodstalls are set up and you have got plenty to choose from.

9) Istana Nurul Iman (Sultan%26#39;s palace). You can only view it from outside. The only time you can come around inside it and actually shake hands with the royalty is during Hari Raya festivities when it would be open to public from 2nd to 4th days of Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

10) Jerudong Park - a lot of the bigger rides are no longer open but it is worth it to visit for a short while (I especially like it in the early evening/night time and you can imagine the splendour it would have had during its better days).

11) The Empire Hotel is definitely worth a visit as well if you are not staying there (especially during sunset). High tea is generally on Sat/Sun at the Lobby area. Nice English Hi-tea but also worth to go to their Restaurants, especially the Pantai restaurant (by the poolside serving seafood bbq). Go to their website for more info (http://www.theempirehotel.com/).

I%26#39;m not so sure about City tours but renting a car can also be troublesome if you are not familiar with the roads in Brunei. Some roads are not that straightforward and I%26#39;m not so sure as well if there is a reliable updated roadmap for Brunei (if I%26#39;m wrong, someone please correct me). Definitely, quite a number of my expat friends found themselves lost first-time driving in Brunei! So best thing is probably to arrange with your hotel to see if they can provide a reliable driver who can bring you around.

Hope this helps and hope you get to enjoy Brunei.