Jungle treks, turtle rehabilitation and some very cheeky monkeys on Gaya Island
With exceptional biodiversity, lush jungle, stunning scenery, eye-catching orchids, white-sand beaches and exotic ocean life, Borneo tops the bill for the ultimate adventure-filled tropical holiday. But planning how to get the most out of the third largest island in the world within a limited time frame can be intimidating. Fear not – we’ve curated the perfect itinerary for a ten-day family trip that you will never forget.
To avoid too much in-island travel, we’ve stuck to Sabah in the northern, Malaysian, part of Borneo rather than venturing into the Indonesian section of the island to the south or crowbarring in a trip to the oil-rich city state of Brunei. Time pressure means we’ve been forced to miss out a couple of big hitters - climbing Malaysia’s highest peak, Mount Kinabalu, makes many people’s bucketlists, but is beyond most younger children – but that gives us all the perfect excuse to come back. Instead, we’ve tried to strike the perfect balance between beachy chillouts and wildlife spotting in the wilderness, with enough downtime so it feels like a holiday but enough wild thrills that there’s no doubt that you’ve spent the best part of a fortnight somewhere very special indeed.
