Sandakan destination guide
Sandakan, on Sabah's east coast, is what the Sabah Tourism Board calls its second-largest town, "the nature city" and the gateway to the Lower Kinabatangan. It was once called Elopura.
The Sepilok orangutan centre and the Rainforest Discovery Centre are about a 40-minute drive from the town, and Turtle Islands Park, where turtles come ashore at night to lay eggs, is 40 km to the north. Closer in, the Sandakan Memorial Park stands on the site of the prisoner-of-war camp where about 2,400 Australian and British prisoners died in 1945.
What to see in Sandakan town
Sandakan Heritage Trail
The Sandakan Heritage Trail is a walk through the old town, marked on the ground by white concrete tiles bearing a red footprint and the words "Heritage Trail".
The Sabah Tourism Board's trail pages start the walk at Masjid Jamik, a mosque more than 100 years old, and take it past MPS Square, the monument to William B. Pryer, the settlement's founder, the Stairs with a Hundred Steps, Agnes Keith House, the Clock Tower roundabout, the remains of the pre-war Chinese Government Consulate and St Michael's and All Angels' Church. The route ends at the Sandakan Heritage Museum in Wisma Warisan.
Two Chinese temples on the trail date from the 1880s: the Goddess of Mercy Temple, from the late 1880s, and Sam Sing Kung (Three Saints) Temple, built between 1885 and 1887.
Agnes Keith House
Agnes Keith House stands on a hilltop on Jalan Istana, about 1 km from the town centre, and is owned and run by the Department of Sabah Museum. It was rebuilt in 1946/47, and the museum describes it as "the first government permanent timber dwelling to be built after the 2nd World War". It was the home of Harry Keith, a forestry official, his wife, the American author Agnes Newton Keith, and their son George; her 1939 book Land Below the Wind first brought her recognition.
Restoration began in 2001 as a joint project of the Sabah Museum and the federal Department of Museums and Antiquities, and the house opened to the public in April 2004. It holds reproduction period furniture alongside genuine antiques, and a first-floor gallery covers Agnes Keith's life, her writing and her family, with a timeline running from 1873 to 2004 and wartime artefacts.
Sandakan Memorial Park
Sandakan Memorial Park is on the site of the former Sandakan prisoner-of-war camp, in the suburb of Taman Rimba, about 11 km outside the town. The Japanese brought about 2,700 Australian and British prisoners of war to Sandakan in 1942 and 1943, most of them captured at the surrender of Singapore in February 1942, and forced them to build an airstrip. Between January and August 1945, about 2,400 of the prisoners held at the camp died.
After Allied bombing of the airstrip in late 1944, prisoners were marched towards Ranau in forced marches between January and June 1945, and about 500 died on the marches themselves. Only six survived the whole ordeal, all of them Australian: two escaped during the June march and four more fled Ranau in July, all with help from local civilians.
The park has an interpretive pavilion, a path past wartime relics left in their original positions (among them an excavator, a generator and a boiler) with numbered information posts, a black granite obelisk, and a stained-glass window by the artist Robin Seville showing Australia's waratah, Britain's English rose and Malaysia's hibiscus. Australia's Department of Veterans' Affairs lists the park as open daily from 9am to 5pm (September 2026). Commemorations are held there each year on Anzac Day, 25 April, and at the Sandakan Day Memorial on 15 August.
Remains that were recovered are buried at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Labuan War Cemetery, and those with no known grave are commemorated on the Memorials to the Missing at Labuan and Singapore.
Wildlife centres outside Sandakan
Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre
The Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre was set up in 1964 to rehabilitate orphaned orangutans. It is in the Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve, about a 40-minute drive from the town centre, and has an outdoor viewing platform and an outdoor nursery viewing area. The Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre adjoins it on the same site.
The Sabah Tourism Board lists opening hours of 9am to noon and 2pm to 4pm, except on Fridays, when the morning session ends at 11am (September 2026), so the centre does not open over the middle of the day. Feedings are scheduled for 10am and 3pm, but the orangutans do not always appear, particularly in fruiting season, when there is plenty of wild food.
Rainforest Discovery Centre
The Rainforest Discovery Centre sits beside a lake at the edge of the Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve, near the orangutan and sun bear centres, and the tourism board lists it as open daily. Its skywalk is 620 metres long, which the tourism board calls the longest in Sabah, and the centre also has loop trails through the reserve, a plant discovery garden, an exhibition hall and lakeside viewing areas.
Its night walk has to be booked in advance. The centre was designated an Important Bird Area in 2009, and it hosts the annual Borneo Bird Festival.
Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary
Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary is in mangrove forest near Kampung Semawang, inside an oil palm estate, about 20 km west of Sepilok and about 45 minutes' drive from Sandakan Airport. Its operator, Labuk Bay Nature & Tour, runs feeding sessions through the day at the sanctuary's feeding platforms. Besides proboscis monkeys, visitors may see silver leaf monkeys, hornbills and other native wildlife.
Turtle Islands Park
Turtle Islands Park lies 40 km north of Sandakan and takes in the islands of Selingan, Gulisan and Bakungan Kecil, in a marine park of 1,740 hectares of islands, reefs and sea gazetted in 1977. Green and Hawksbill turtles, both protected, come ashore at night all year round to lay eggs, and hatcheries operate on each of the islands. Pulau Bakungan Kecil also has a naturally occurring bubbling mud volcano, one of few such formations in Sabah.
The egg-laying viewing and the release of hatchlings take place only at night, so seeing them means staying overnight on the islands; the accommodation and restaurant on Selingan are run by Crystal Quest. Boats leave from the Crystal Quest jetty on Jalan Buli Sim-Sim in Sandakan, and the crossing takes about an hour by fast boat.
Sabah Parks lists the park's opening hours as 8am to 5pm daily, and the exhibition centre on Selingan as open from 9am to 4pm, with a video presentation in the evening (September 2026). The Sabah Parks Turtle Islands Park page carries the current arrangements.
Side trip: the Kinabatangan River
The Kinabatangan River is 1.5 to 2 hours from Sandakan by boat, or about 1.5 hours overland with a connection at Kota Kinabatangan. An area of 26,000 hectares is gazetted as the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary under Sabah's Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997, and the Sabah Tourism Board calls it Malaysia's largest Ramsar site.
The tourism board lists Bornean orangutans, proboscis monkeys, Bornean pygmy elephants, saltwater crocodiles and hornbills, among them the Rhinoceros and Oriental Pied hornbills, in the wildlife there. It names a river cruise at dawn or dusk as the best way to see it, and recommends staying at least three days. Lodges operate at Sukau, Bilit and Abai, and a homestay programme runs in the surrounding villages.
Moving between the sights
The Heritage Trail is a walk through the town centre, and Agnes Keith House is one of its stops. The other sights on this page are out of town by road or by boat, so each needs its own transport. The Sepilok orangutan centre, the sun bear centre and the Rainforest Discovery Centre sit close together at the edge of the same forest reserve.
When to go to Sandakan
Sabah Parks records turtles coming ashore on the Turtle Islands all year round. The northeast monsoon, from November to March, is Malaysia's main rainy season and brings heavy rain to Sabah.
From late May to September the southwest monsoon is relatively drier across most of the country, but the Malaysian Meteorological Department notes that Sabah stays wetter through this period because of typhoon tail effects. Pesta Kaamatan, the harvest festival, gives Sabah public holidays on 30 and 31 May in both 2026 and 2027.
Sabah observes these state holidays as well as the national ones, according to the Prime Minister's Department's published schedules:
| State holiday in Sabah | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Sabah Governor's Birthday | 30 March | 30 March |
| Good Friday (also observed in Sarawak) | 3 April | 26 March |
| Pesta Kaamatan (also observed in Labuan) | 30 and 31 May | 30 and 31 May |
| Christmas Eve | 24 December | 24 December |
The national holidays are listed in the Malaysia travel guide.
Flying to Sandakan
Flights to the town use Sandakan Airport (SDK), which the Ministry of Transport places about 13 km from the town; the airport's own page covers the terminal and the ride into town. Direct domestic flights recorded from Sandakan go to the places below, with the airlines recorded on each. Routes change, so check with the airline before booking.
| Destination | Airlines recorded |
|---|---|
| Kota Kinabalu | AirAsia |
| Kuala Lumpur | AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines |
| Lahad Datu | AirBorneo |
| Tawau | AirBorneo |
AirBorneo took over all services previously operated by MASwings from 1 January 2026. Destination guides for places on that list: Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur and Tawau.
Arriving in Sandakan from Kuala Lumpur
Sabah keeps its own entry control for Malaysians arriving from Peninsular Malaysia, even on a domestic flight. Under Section 66 of the Immigration Act 1959/63, a Malaysian citizen needs a pass or permit to enter and be in Sabah or Sarawak, and Immigration counters sit in the arrival halls of Sabah and Sarawak airports.
For Malaysians from West Malaysia, the Document in Lieu of Internal Travel Document is an alternative to a Malaysian passport. It is issued free at those arrival-hall counters, on an identification card or a police or military identity card at 12 and over, or a birth or adoption certificate under 12, and it gives a social or business visit pass of up to three months for a single journey.
A stay in Sabah of more than three months needs a Restricted Travel Document, which is valid for five years. Leaving Sabah on a domestic journey, travellers show an identity document (such as a passport, Restricted Travel Document, MyKad, birth certificate or MyKid), hold a valid pass and show a boarding pass.
Sandakan questions
How far is Sepilok from Sandakan?
The Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre is about a 40-minute drive from Sandakan town centre. The Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre adjoins it, and the Rainforest Discovery Centre is nearby at the edge of the same forest reserve.
Can you see the turtles on a day trip to Turtle Islands Park from Sandakan?
Not the egg-laying or the hatchling release, which take place only at night, so seeing them means an overnight stay on the islands. The boat from the Crystal Quest jetty in Sandakan takes about an hour.
When is Sandakan Memorial Park open?
Daily from 9am to 5pm, according to Australia's Department of Veterans' Affairs (September 2026). The park is in Taman Rimba, about 11 km outside Sandakan town.
Do Malaysians need a passport to fly to Sandakan from Kuala Lumpur?
Not necessarily. A Malaysian from West Malaysia can get a Document in Lieu of Internal Travel Document free at the Immigration counter in the arrival hall, on an identification card, and it covers a stay of up to three months. It is an alternative to a Malaysian passport.