Borneo is the third largest island in the world. It is divided among three countries: Malaysia, Indonesia and the oil state of Brunei. In October 2022, we spent 4 weeks in Malaysian Borneo. Mainly in the northern province of Sabah. Here we did a lot of tours. In fact, the activities must be booked with a tour. There is little you can do on your own. This makes Borneo very expensive. If you want to see the original rainforest like in Deramakot Forest Reserve or make the beautiful and strenuous hike to Mount Kinabalu, this amount is well worth it.
Content of this blog:
Borneo currency
In the Malaysian part of Borneo, the currency is the ringgit. For 1 euro, you get about 4.5 ringgit. Below we take you through the expenses we incurred during our 4 weeks in Borneo. Costs are broken down into activities, accommodation, transportation, food and beverages and other and based on two people.
The exchange rate in Malaysian Borneo is usually between 4.5 and 4.8 ringgit for €1. This table uses an exchange rate of €1 = 4.6 ringgit.
| 1 ringgit | €0,22 |
| 5 ringgit | €1,09 |
| 10 ringgit | €2,17 |
| 50 ringgit | €10,87 |
| 100 ringgit | €21,74 |
Costs for activities in Borneo
As mentioned, the cost of activities and tours in Borneo is extremely high. In 4 weeks, we spent a total of €2800 (just the two of us) on the various tours. The biggest expenses (based on 2 people) were: Deramakot Forest Reserve (€1250), Mount Kinabalu Hike (€960) and the Kinabatangan River (€330). For this money, we got back experiences we won’t have in any other country. Therefore, we still stand by our choice and would definitely recommend visiting Borneo and doing these insane activities.
These amounts include everything: all meals, lodging and guides. As a result, the other cost items will be relatively less.
Cost of accommodations
The cost of accommodations is average in Borneo. You can have a double room from €10 per night, if you want a private bathroom you should count on €15 per night. The more you spend, the more you get in return. Because we only had to arrange our own accommodation for 15 nights (the rest of the accommodations were included with the tours and activities), we spent €295 on this. This amounts to an average of nearly €20 per night. This could certainly be cheaper, but our average went up a bit because of our (wonderful) stay at the Luma hotel in Kota Kinabalu.
Cost of eating and drinking in Borneo
You can eat cheaper in Borneo than on the mainland in Malaysia. There are many street food stalls and small restaurants where you can eat delicious local food for €2. Nasi and mee goreng are the local specialties. If you are in the mood for Western food, you should count on €5 – 8 per dish. Alcohol is also reasonably priced. For a beer in a restaurant, you easily pay €3 – 4.
Cost of transportation
Transportation in Borneo is very cheap. A bus runs between the major towns several times a day. For example, between Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan. A ticket for this 8-hour bus ride costs 46 RM (€10). 12Go.Asia makes it easy to buy tickets in advance so you can be sure to have a seat on the bus. For the smaller bits in town or to your hotel, you can easily use Grab. On average, you will spend 5 – 20 RM (€1 – 4) for a Grab ride.
Other costs
In addition to the above costs, we did some laundry, bought toiletries, tipped the guides and bought SIM cards. A sim card with 20GB at Kota Kinabalu airport costs 50 RM (€10).
Average daily budget for Borneo
In almost 4 weeks, the two of us spent €4,487 (not including airfare from Singapore). This amounts to a daily budget of €96 per person. This is a lot of money for Asia and is entirely due to expensive activities. If you don’t plan to do activities to save money you don’t really need to go to Borneo either. Indeed, Borneo is so special because of its high mountains and ancient rainforest. With a good tour, you will get the most out of your trip in Borneo!
