Our favorite Borneo tours and excursions

From multi-day rainforest treks to tribal longhouse stays, Borneo offers some of the most unforgettable travel experiences on the planet.

You don’t come to Borneo to do things by halves. You want the very best guides, in the very best locations, with the very best range of activities, or nothing. In the world’s greatest wildlife destination, why settle for anything less?

By its very wild and untamed nature, much of Borneo impossible to explore without a guide – and we’re only interested in working with the very best. You can always spot them: they’re the ones who’ve never stopped being enthused about the sheer magnitude of the forest, and the ones who are as excited by a big cat’s pawprint as by the tiniest rare spider, even after years of guiding. Those are the people we want to show you Borneo.

Borneo isn’t just an untouched rainforest paradise. It’s a living, breathing island full of culture and contradictions, with street-food markets to explore, mountains to climb, coral reefs to marvel at, conservation challenges to face, and scores of different indigenous groups with whom to share an evening and a little tuak rice wine. These are the experiences that’ll get you beneath the surface.

Mount Kinabalu climb

Watching sunrise from the top of the highest mountain in Southeast Asia is an unforgettable experience.

It’s an 8.8 km steep trail to the summit, taking you from lush and humid lowlands to misty forests of tea and eucalyptus trees thick with moss, where you’ll stop at a shelter for the night. Rising at 2am the next day, you’ll continue for the final stretch through cooler granite boulder forest and treeless subalpine scrub to Low’s Peak, to be rewarded with views as far as the Philippines in the distance. Be warned: the ascent is steep, the summit is cold, and altitude sickness can strike anyone – but the rewards really are spectacular.

Wildlife safari on the Kinabatangan River

A riverboat safari on the Kinabatangan River just might be the best wildlife experience in the world. One of the most ecologically diverse regions on the planet, this “corridor of life” is a cornucopia of species – so much so that it can feel like playing animal bingo.

Orangutans, pygmy elephants, gibbons, crocodiles, hornbills, pythons – you name it, the Kinabatangan’s probably got it. Head out at dawn and you’ll see a whole different show from in the afternoon, and after dark it’s a new cast again. For animal sightings, we’ve never been anywhere to match it.

Rural Sabah by bike

Leave the urban sprawl of Kota Kinabalu behind and journey through fruit orchards and paddy fields on a guided cycle trip into rural Sabah.

Whether a half-day ride or a multi-day exploration, you’ll pedal through fields of pineapple and ginger, learn to “tap” latex at a rubber plantation, cross wood-plank suspension bridges over rushing rivers, and stop at minority villages to chat to the locals and try some traditional snacks. It may not be as dramatic as the rainforest, but exploring the subtler charms of the Sabahan countryside is wonderful in its own way – and it’s the best way to connect with the people who call this island home.

Hiking Bako National Park

Don’t be fooled by its petite dimensions: at just 27 square kilometers, Bako may be one of Borneo’s smallest national parks, but with seven different ecosystems it packs a massive punch when it comes to diversity.

In fact, this is the only park where you’re (almost) guaranteed a mammal sighting, whether it’s a famous, big-nosed proboscis monkey, silvered langur, or long-tailed macaque. What’s more, with well-marked hiking trails of various lengths and strenuousness, leading through the forest to beaches dotted with wave-carved pinnacles, we’ll tailor the day’s exploration to your fitness and energy levels.

Canopy walkway in Danum Valley - Claire Allison

Exploring Danum Valley

Exploring the Danum Valley is an experience we’ll never forget. Miles upon miles from anywhere, surrounded by rainforest that’s never been logged, settled, or interfered with in any way, this is one of the richest natural wonderlands on Earth.

Wander through the treetops on a canopy walk 25 meters above the ground. Tube downriver looking out for gibbons and orangutans. Work up a sweat as you trek between towering tropical trees to catacomb-like caves, then head out at dusk to meet the forest inhabitants who only emerge under cover of darkness. Getting here may not be fast, cheap or easy, but what else would you expect from one of the world’s last true wildernesses?

Trekking in Borneo's 'Lost World'

So remote and isolated that half of it has never been explored, the Maliau Basin is a tantalizing prospect for anyone with a remotely adventurous bent. Where else in the world can you trek through some of the world’s oldest rainforest, on trails that only a handful of humans have ever trodden?

On this two-day trek, you’ll hike up mountainsides beneath fat-trunked Agathis trees, sleep in forest encampments surrounded by the hoots of gibbons, and trek to the seven-tiered Maliau Falls, which earned this region its indigenous name: “Land of the Giant Staircase”. There really aren’t many trekking destinations in the world to compete with this.