September 7, 2022

15 best islands in Sabah

These are 15 best islands in Sabah with crystal blue sea, stunning beaches and colorful corals that make these beaches wonderful places for short getaway.

Table of Content for best islands in Sabah

Lankayan Island
Pom Pom Island
Kapalai Island
Mabul Island
Sipadan Island
Mataking Island
Bohey Dulang Island
Timba Timba Island
Pulau Tiga
Layang Layang
Mantanani Island
Sapi Island
Gaya Island
Dinawan Island
Manukan Island

Lankayan Island

Lankayan is a tiny jewel-shaped island where you need to fly to Sandakan Airport and take a 75 minute boat ride to reach there. The only accommodation in Lankayan island is Lankayan Island Dive Resort, with beautiful bungalows that are connected to the beach. It is famous for whale shark sightings.

This is a 100% diving and snorkeling island. Besides, you can also visit Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation center.

If you are a turtle lover, you can have an excursion to Turtle Island to see the turtle laying eggs.

Moreover, you can also take a boat ride to Kinabatangan river to observe the wild fauna.

Pom Pom Island

Pom Pom Island is also another diving heaven.

You have to fly to Tawau airport and take a bus to Semporna. Once you reach Semporna, you need to hop on a speedboat and take around 35 min to an hour trip and you will reach Pom Pom island. There is also one resort in Pom Pom Island which is Pom Pom island resort that offers traditional wooden villas and a private beach.

Besides diving, it is best for honeymoon for newly wed. Else, you can also choose to kayak, play beach football or volleyball. Since the island is quite small, you can explore the island entirely by foot.

Kapalai Island

If you want to experience staying in a water bungalow, Kapalai island is the right place. It was a beautiful island 200 years ago and now it only remains as a sandbar.

You have to fly to Tawau airport and then take a bus to Semporna jetty. Then, you will take a speedboat to Kapalai.

There is only one resort on the deserted island. You can dive as much as you want. Else, you can relax, snorkel and do some sea kayaking here. Even though there is no beach here, you can still take excursions to Mabul Island to enjoy some fine beaches.

Although there is no swimming pool, you can still swim nearby the wooden deck.

Mabul Island

Mabul island is awesome for muck diving. Although you will not see big fishes while diving, you will be amazed by a whole new world of small and weird creatures.There are some famous muck diving sites in Mabul Island.

You need to fly to Tawau airport then take a bus to Semporna harbour. Next, you take a 45 minutes speed boat to Mabul Island.

Seaventure where it is an old oil rig platform that is turned into a hotel and dive center. You can discover many nudibranchs, frogfishes, crocodile fish, stonefishes and murray eels.

Froggy Laire where you can discover many ornate ghost pipefish and frogfishes of many different colour and shapes.

Eel Garden where you can see many garden eels coming out from the seabeds.

Lobster Wall where you can see many lobsters love hiding in the cracks of the wall

Sipadan Island

Located in the Celebes sea off the east coast of Sabah, Sipadan island was formed by living corals on top of an extinct volcanic cone.

Diving here will help you realise your dream to explore underworld life. It is common to see turtles and reef sharks here. You can also try your luck to see whether you can bump into grey sharks, hammerhead sharks and manta rays.

Many divers love the pristine coral here, they are shallow and colourful. Since Sipadan only allows 120 divers per day, thus you need to get the diving permit. The maximum diving depth you can go is 40m.

You will fly to Tawau airport and take a bus to Semporna jetty, then take a boat to Sipadan Island.

Some of the diving sites you should go:

Barracuda Point

Known as one of the top 5 dive sites in the world, you can see thousands of barracuda making a tornado and darkening the sun. The view is just magnificent.

Coral garden

It is a very shallow spot with superb reefs on a nice beach. Snorkelers love this place.

Hanging Garden

A beautiful wall with colourful coral, clownfish, lobsters and turtles

Turtle Cavern

You can find the turtle tomb here with lots of turtle skeletons. This dive site is only for experienced divers with special equipment.

Mataking island

You will first need to fly to Tawau airport then take a taxi or bus to Semporna Jetty then take a 45 min speedboat to Mataking Island.

Mataking island is made up of two islands which are Mataking Besar and Mataking Kecil. There is only one resort, Reef Dive Resort in Mataking which is situated in Mataking Besar. The fee is at the high side staying in Mataking which costs around RM1,300 per night.

Some diving sites are:

Sweet Lips Rock

Stingray city

Shipwreck post

Bohey Dulang Island

It is one of the eight islands that form the Tun Sankaran park. You can snorkel in Bohey Dulang Island. Else, you can also hike in Bohey Dulang Island. It has a 353m hiking trail to the peak and takes 45 min to go up. Along the way, you can see a lot of flora and fauna. There are some rare species such as flowers and monkeys on the volcanic rocks.

You can fly to Tawau airport, then take a bus to Semporna Jetty. You can take a 35min speedboat to Bohey Dulang Island.

Bird lovers also love coming to Bohey Dulang Island as it is a bird paradise where you can explore pie hornbills, owls, fruit doves and other rare bird species.

Timba Timba Island

It has become one of the latest island hopping destinations. It is famous for fine beaches and photogenic landscapes.

Imagine laying on the hammock or gazebo, enjoying the sunbathing and hearing the sea breeze.

This island is also famous for its turtle conservation. You can come here to see the turtle hatchery center and if you are lucky, you can see the staff here releasing the turtle back to the sea.

Pulau Tiga

Pulau Tiga is the most unique marine park in Sabah. You can make your way to Kuala Penyu and take a 35min boat ride to the island. There is also one resort in Pulau Tiga island. It became famous after “Survivor island” was filmed here. You can enjoy the white beaches or soak yourself in the mud pool or partying.

Besides, many visitors also love coming here for snorkeling, swimming and diving because of its colourful coral reefs and diverse marine life.

Layang layang

Known as swallow reef, it is a small island located nearby South China Sea, 300km northwest of Kota Kinabalu.

Layang Layang Island is a 1 hour flight from Kota Kinabalu Airport. The best time to go layang layang island is from March to August every year.

Layang layang island is a perfect spot for diving. Some good diving sites are stated in this map.

With only a resort on the island, Layang layang island resort offers one island one resort experience for its guests.

They also provide equipment for rental for diving.

Mantanani

Mantanani island forms three other small islands nearby which are Mantanani Besar, Mantanani kecil and Lungisan.

You need to go to Kampung Kuala Abai in Kota Belut and take a 45 min speed boat to arrive at the Mantanani Besar.

Mantanani Besar is famous for its crystal clear marine water where Mantanani Kecil and Lungisan are famous for muck diving. You get to sea horses, imperial shrimps, blue-ringed octopus, pink eyed gobbles etc.

Besides diving, you can go snorkeling where you can discover sea cows.

You can also go sea kayaking on a calm and clear sea.

Else, you can also opt for a sunset tour on a big yacht and enjoy it comfortably.

Sapi Island

In order to get to Sapi Island, you need to go to the Jesselton Point Waterfront in Kota Kinabalu and take a speedboat to Sapi Island. The journey might be a bit bumpy.

While you are here, give the coral flyer zipline a try and discover other surrounding islands. It is common to find monitor lizards here.

You must go to the secret cliff which is 800m from the ground. The view from the cliff is worth the journey.

Gaya Island

Gaya Island is just 10minuted off from Kota Kinabalu. You will fly to Kota Kinabalu Airport then you take a 25 min ferry to Gaya Island. There are many awesome activities to do in Gaya Island.

The most favourite activities are snorkeling and diving.

There are 25 diving spots here and is the home to many marine life and corals.

Besides, you can go for a fishing excursion, guided by the native Bajau experts.

Else, you can go for a guided nature walk in Tunku Abdul Rahman marine park. The natural park only limits a certain number of visitors so please register earlier.

You can also visit Gaya Island Marine Center. There are three themes in this marine center which are turtle conservation, coral reefs restoration and conservation via education.