Hi Tracy

I've requested the Magellan be added to the reviews section. Looks lovely!

We have reviews for the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Resort HERE.

Pippy

thanks pippy!
that's great
tracy

We found that when we stayed at the Tanjung Aru that going out in the evening meant catching a taxi into Kota Kinabalu...about five minutes. We found a nice Thai restaurant we used to frequent.

Had a meal at the Magellen one evening. Its situated on a self contained complex in between the Tanjung Aru and Kota Kinabalu. The complex had entertainment facilities like cinema, bowling, golf, course, marina. The resort had a good pool area but when we visited the place seemed a bit deserted. We quite liked the complex as it gave us a choice of food away from the Shangri-La.

The Pacific Sutera hotel is located closeby though this had more of a business hotel feel to it but had a great pool. Again its a short taxi ride to KK for shopping and what few restaurants we could find. We used to wander around KK in the evenings but found the place pretty quiet to be honest.

There is a night market area near the Shangri-La which was great for authentic Malay food and cheap as well.

If anyone would like to post a review for the Magellan Sutera, please do so HERE.

Thanks.

Pippy

sunbear!
can you please tell me,how far the hotel is,from the beach?
it doesn't give an indication,in the brochure.
is 2 weeks too long,to spend in borneo? trying to get a feel of the place.
my husband,is not one to lie,on a sun-bed for 2 weeks,he likes to be out & about.
when we went to penang,we flew to bali for 3 nights,so this could be an option,we could look at.we would probably, fly over to bangkok,for a few nights.
we have had a quote of £3000,for 3 of us,2 adults,1 child.is this about right? it's alot more than penang!
are there a few different places,to visit at night?
hope you can help
tracy

Plenty of trips available. Go and see the Orang Utans at Sepilok, just a flight away and you get a good view of the top of Mount Kinabalu which you can climb on another day if you have the energy. There are plenty of places to eat in the town but it does seem to get very quiet after 10.00 pm.
There is a large street market which I believe is on a Sunday (sorry I can't remember for sure) which sells absolutely everything and the Philippino market is open almost daily and is next to the fruit/veg market on the seafront.
Malaysian Borneo is large, I don't think you'll need to head off elsewhere. You probably will find as I did that 2 weeks is not long enough.

With regard to the Tanjung Aru it has its own man made beach. It also has its own jetty for trips out to the Marine National Park literally only five minutes away. These have very good beaches...we used to go to Palau Manukan and would literally have the beach to ourselves all day. There's good snorkelling off the islands.

I don't recall there being a beach at the Magellan, again its only a few minutes by speedboat to the islands for beaching. However these beaches are not owned by the hotels so they don't have any hotel standard facilities on them...Palau Manukan has a restaurant.

As Chris says there are plenty of trips to do in Sabah, especially if you are interested in the natural world. Sepilok near Sandakan for the Orang Utan (they sometimes have Sun Bears there as well). You can also go on trips to see probiscus monkeys, climb Mt. Kinabalu, visit the Kinabalu park area trips out to farther flung islands for turtle watching etc. KK has a museum worth visiting. You can do the railway trip.

thanks to both chris & sunbear,for your replies.
hubby loves the natural world,so he will be in his element.
just need to decide which,hotel now.
one last question,would you say oct/nov or feb/march,would be the best time to visit,as the brochures,give conflicting rainfall levels.
thanks again
tracy

We went Feb/March which according to my guide book is the driest period in KK. We saw quite a bit of rain (i.e whole days when it was raining, and people were losing there lives due to landslides etc). We also saw sunshine and got a tan. Its an equatorial climate on an island famed for rain forest so I guess you've got to expect to see some rain.

I was there in January and only saw rain once. A storm appeared from nowhere on an otherwise beautiful day and had to sit out an hour or two on an island while it passed - which it did! (Thought I was going to get stranded overnight without my ciggies!)

thanks once again,to you both!
definately gonna book it.got hubby away,from kenya,thank goodness
tracy