Mount Kinabalu, or Gunung Kinabalu (in the national language of Malay) is on the island of Borneo, in the state of Sabah, Malaysia. Located in Kinabalu National park, which is a World Heritage Site, it stands as the highest mountain in the Malay Archipelago.

Sitting high above the clouds, a satellite scan of the area, as well plenty of travellers later, revealed that the Peak of the mountain (Low’s Peak) sits at 4,095 metres (13,435 ft) above sea level.

Getting To Kota Kinabalu

As a traveller, your first task will be to get to the general vicinity of the mountain.

For overseas travellers, this is typically a flight into Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and a connecting flight via one of the local air carriers (Air Asia or Malaysia Airlines) to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah.

Malaysia Airlines flights take off directly from KLIA itself, but if you choose to use Malaysia’s low-cost carrier, Air Asia, you will need to take a connecting transport from KLIA to the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) and take your flight from there.

The flight to Kota Kinabalu will take approximately 2.5 hours regardless of which airport you take off from.

Alternatively, there are select International airports that fly direct to Kota Kinabalu, such as from Brunei, Shenzhen, Tokyo, Manilla, Hong Kong, Seoul and Singapore. To find all routes to Kota Kinabalu, you can use the search tool below:

Upon Landing In Kota Kinabalu Airport

Upon landing at the main airport, depending on your time of arrival, you’ll probably need to rest in the city before making your way to Kinabalu Park, as the travel time from the city is still around 3 hours.

Take a taxi by going to the Airport Taxi Services counter (and not from some random taxi driver outside) and purchase a ticket to the city. It will cost you around RM10 – RM20 for a one way trip.

There are a selection of hotels to choose from and you may search through them using the below search tool. You can filter by cost, location, star rating and other details:

Getting From Kota Kinabalu To Kinabalu Park Headquarters

You can take a bus from the city centre to the Kinabalu National Park, a trip of roughly 3 hours. The bus should be heading to Ranau, but it would be good to double check just in case. The bus should cost you less than RM20 one way.

Alternatively you can hire a taxi to get there, which would be a good idea if you’re travelling in a group. Taxis typically take a maximum of 4 passengers and cost anywhere from RM80 to RM100, negotiate the price if you can.

You can also negotiate a ‘pick up’ price, where the taxi driver will pick you up when you get back to the bottom of Mount Kinabalu and take you back to Kota Kinabalu for your return flight.

The taxi will still take more than 2 hours to get to the park, with the journey being quite winding (warning to those with motion sickness!).

If you’re feeling brave, you could always hire a car as well. There are multiple car rental agencies at the airport itself and a few in the centre of Kota Kinabalu. Have a look around and make sure you ask for a map!