side trip to brunei from kota kinabalu

were planning on a 5-day trip to kota kinablau in april 2009 for a family of 4, we would like to take a side trip to brunei for one day, please advise us on our options on how to get there by land or sea and best place to see and activities (pls. include costs) while in brunei. is it possible to rent a car to brunei from kota kinabalu or is it cheaper to take the bus or ferry?

shall greatly appreciate any advice.

gom08

side trip to brunei from kota kinabalu

If you look in the Lonely Planet guidebook for Malaysia, Singapore %26amp; Brunei it gives full details on how to travel between KK and BSB and also what to do in BSB.

I%26#39;d recommend hiring a boat taxi and getting him to take you to the water village. They can drop you off at one end and pick you up at the other. I found it fascinating to walk around there and the people were very friendly - as they are in BSB in general.

side trip to brunei from kota kinabalu

It should be easy and cheap to do KK to Brunei as a day trip, but unfortunately it is not! The Brunei protection of Royal Brunei Air means that they continue to prevent Air Asia offering flights on this route at an affordable price. Likewise, MASwings cannot fly it as they do to most other parts of Sabah - and Malaysian Airlines only have a couple of flights a week.

That means you have to fly RBA which only still has a couple of flights a day each way (so you can do it in a day). But it%26#39;s not cheap (check website) and we have often been delayed on this route with late departures. This is frustrating as it is only a 20-minute flight. Other options are to fly to Labuan and catch ferry to Brunei, but it%26#39;s then a hassle to get into town from the terminal (half an hour and poor public transport).

I%26#39;d recommend you check the Malaysian Airlines flight times as they are reliable and perhaps go one way with them and one with RBA if times suits. Brunei is interesting for a one-day trip. As soon as the Brunei government wakes up and tries to make it easier for tourists from KK, the better it will be for all parties.