Main towns & cities in Borneo

Sibu Central Market has over 1,000 stalls of meat, fish and fruit and vegetables. It’s a taste of the tropical: hairy rambutan and spiky durian fruit; wiggling live sago grubs and other produce from Borneo’s amazing jungles; food stalls serving kampua (noodles) and kongpia (bread stuffed with mincemeat). There are also live chickens and ducks, wrapped in newspaper secured with bands of twine. If you want a snapshot of Borneo’s tribal communities, urban living, and jungle-y geography all at once, look here.

Site of Malaysia’s largest indoor market, Sibu is a town in Sarawak that sits where the Rajang and Igan rivers meet, around 400km from Kuching by road. For tourists, it’s the gateway to visiting the Iban communities on the Rajang River. Its market is distinctly not for tourists – but a look-in gives you a great insight into the lives of the many people in Borneo who now live in towns and cities. In Sarawak the number of urban dwellers climbed from 16 percent in 1970 to 48 percent by 2000 – and has grown significantly from there.

Many travelers come to Borneo for the wildlife, but seeing the culture, and the people who live it, is a huge part of the experience, too. One of the best things about coming to Malaysian Borneo is meeting the people who live here.

The towns and cities can be very diverse. Some, like Sandakan and Sibu, are known for significant Chinese migrant populations. Others are associated with a particular Indigenous group, like Semporna, in Sabah, home of many Bajau people, or Mukah, Sarawak, home to the Melanau people. Meeting people is easier than you think. “One thing that’s really easy for travelers is that people all speak English as well as it’s a dual language country that uses English and Malay. For first time travelers to Asia, it’s great,” says Aimee Fogarty, Borneo specialist at our partner Odyssey World.

Malaysian Borneo’s cities are small are small and manageable: Kota Kinabalu has a population of 400,000; Kuching 600,000 – tiny compared to Kuala Lumpur’s nearly nine million residents. They are also considered to be very safe.

“Kota Kinabalu is a very charming little city, on the waterfront, with a backdrop of mountain, with islands off the mainland. It’s very pretty, but it is very small,” says Aimee. It means that the city can feel very local and social: “Last time I visited Seri Selera Kampung Air at Sedco Square. It’s Kota Kinabalu's must-visit seafood food court with rows and rows of tanks with every type of fish and crustacean you can imagine. They sometimes have local have dance groups perform in the central square and there is also a night market. Last time I was there, there was a dancing competition to watch.”

The geography of the region means that many communities remain quite small: think clusters of wooden houses, often on stilts to improve ventilation and protect from wild animals and floods – many people in Malaysian Borneo live closer to nature than to a main road. “You don’t get towns in between big cities because of the landscape – it’s often very small villages.” says Aimee. These villages, called kampungs, hold fewer than 10,000 people and are often far smaller.

Because of their size and remote locations, these villages offer ideal settings for rural and community-based tourism experiences. Visitors can immerse themselves in local culture, participate in traditional crafts or farming, and enjoy guided nature activities like jungle trekking, river cruising, or bird watching. Staying in homestays or eco-lodges within these communities allows for a deeper connection with the people and their environment, providing an authentic and meaningful travel experience.