How to Get From Brunei to Kota Kinabalu by Bus


Lawas in Sarawak

Note: as of March 2024 the Sipitang Express (the only bus company operating this route) is currently not running. Operations should have resumed by mid-April 2024. If you’re planning on taking this journey before then, you’ll have to travel overland by ferry or fly to Kota Kinabalu instead!

Overland border crossings suck.

They’re one of my least favourite aspects of travel in Southeast Asia.

Not only do they mean dealing with hours of queueing beneath a scorching hot sun, but scams are rife, directions are non-existent, and nobody ever really seems to know what’s happening.

In the early days of my travels, I used to do everything I could to avoid overland border crossings — often opting to spend more money in order to fly over them.

After 12 years of near-continuous travel, however, I now take border crossings in my stride and know that they’re not all that bad. As long as you’ve packed a hefty dose of patience in your luggage, you’ll find yourself in a different country before you know it.

Mosque in Brunei
It was time to say goodbye to Brunei

These days, I know to research any scams beforehand, to memorise the exact cost of the visa, and to blanket my skin in sunscreen.

Despite this, overland borders are never the highlight of my adventures.

Why, then, did I find myself sitting in my guesthouse in Brunei, attempting to convince my travel partner that we needed to take the bus to Kota Kinabalu? A bus that takes you to eight separate immigration officials, no less.

Four border crossings.

Eight new passport stamps.

Well.

For the story, essentially.

I wanted to do it for the story.

Because there aren’t many places in the world where you can score eight new passport stamps within six hours of travel.

So, four borders? How is that even possible? 

Well, the geography of Borneo is a little unusual, as Brunei is split up into two slices of land. Here’s a photo:

Map of Borneo
To get from BSB to KK, we needed to cross out of Brunei, into Sarawak, out of Sarawak, into Brunei, out of Brunei, into Sarawak, out of Sarawak, and into Sabah. Phew!

There’s just one bus running from Bandar Seri Begawan to Kota Kinabalu, called the Sipitang Express; it leaves at 8 in the morning and runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. I recommend buying your tickets several days before your departure date, as they’re slightly cheaper to buy online than on board.

In 2023, the cost of the bus is 135 MYR (28 USD/23 GBP) per person for the trip.

Our guesthouse was a little way out of the capital, so we were up at 7 a.m. to catch a local bus into town. Taxis are rare and expensive in Brunei, so the cheaper and least comfortable option was once again my exhausting jam.

Sunrise in Brunei
A hazy sunrise on our final morning in Brunei

There are three ways to get from Bandar Seri Begawan to Kota Kinabalu, 250 miles away.

The first is flying, which I try to avoid for short distances, if at all possible. At $100 for a one-hour flight, it also felt like poor value for money.

You can take a ferry from Brunei to the Malaysian island of Labuan, spend three hours having a look around, and then continue onwards by ferry to Kota Kinabalu. This would potentially be the most comfortable journey, but would still take most of the day. The thought of potential seasickness was enough to put me off, however; I’m particularly sensitive to movement. As of late-2023, the ferry is currently not running.

The Sipitang Express leaves from Jalan MacArthur, directly in front of Joy Guesthouse, and there was a queue of around a dozen people waiting for it, letting us know we were in the right place.

I wandered into a nearby grocery store and reluctantly bought a tube of Pringles — the official snack for long and boring travel days. I wondered if this was going to be a frustrating journey.

Boats in Bandar Seri Begawan

We handed our passports over to the driver as we stepped on board, and awaited instruction.

There was none.

This wasn’t exactly a shock, given that we were in Southeast Asia after all.

An hour later, we arrived in Kuala Lurah for our first border crossing of the day. Fortunately, it was still early, so we were right at the front of the non-existent queue. Dave and I collected our passports from the driver, got them stamped within around 10 minutes, and then jumped back on board

It did feel a little pointless to be getting back on the bus, given that 50 metres later, we were stopping at the next immigration post to get stamped into the Malaysian state of Sarawak.

So far, so good. These had been two of the most efficient and least scam-filled border crossings of my travels.

Brunei immigration card

Long-term travel can result in jadedness if you do it for long enough.

As much as I wish it wasn’t the case, after 12 years of travel, it takes a lot to impress me. After all, if you’ve seen a hundred beaches, some of them in places like the Maldives and Bora Bora, the stretches of sand that would have once had you swooning are now pitted against the prettier ones you’ve seen in the past.

One thing that’s never left me jaded, however, is a new passport stamp. There’s something about a fresh pattern of ink in those battered pages that fills me with joy. I’ve had this odd little ritual from day one of my travels, where as soon as I enter a new country, I sit down and look through my passport from page one until the end, reminiscing on how it felt to arrive in all of those destinations for the first time.

I’ve had my current passport for five years now, and 36 pages are crammed full of stamps, so it always takes several minutes. But as I study each memory, a rush of euphoria floods my brain, and I think of how the pre-travel version of myself would have been gobsmacked at the prospect of having one day been to so many countries.

The stamps remind me of the ridiculous bribe attempt I encountered in Guatemala, of how terrified I was to be entering the D.R.C, of the panic to get my visa in Tanzania.

As I flicked through the pages now, I had a feeling that at some point in the future, I would find myself pausing on this page of Borneo-themed stamps and smiling as I remembered this ridiculous travel day.

An hour later, we were at our next border.

Border crossing in Malaysia

We passed from Pandaruan, in Malaysia, to Ujung Jalan in Brunei within 20 minutes, and I giggled at the knowledge I was back in Brunei. In an hour, I’d be back in Malaysia again.

Dave was bemused by how much happiness he was witnessing as I repeatedly told him how fun!!! this was.

We spent 60 minutes cruising through this small sliver of Brunei, and I gazed out at the scenery, knowing I’d likely never return or see these towns again. I had little reason to return to Brunei in the future, so I tried to memorise as much of it as possible.

When we passed back into Malaysia, our driver announced that we were going to be stopping for lunch.

Lawas in Sarawak

I was excited.

Malaysian Borneo is split into two states: Sarawak and Sabah. Over the next month, Dave and I were planning to travel across the latter. Sabah sounded more interesting to us, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t sad to not be spending time in Sarawak. Simply stopping in a random town in the state to have lunch felt meaningful to me, in some way.

We stopped into a small cafe filled with locals, with a menu entirely in Malay. I ordered a nasi lemak from a smiling woman, because that was the only dish I could recognise and remember.

After a delicious meal, we had one final border crossing to deal with. You might wonder why, given that we were already in Malaysia.

Both Sabah and Sarawak retain control of their borders, due to a fear of locals from peninsular Malaysia coming to Borneo to work. These citizens from West Malaysia can’t legally work in Malaysian Borneo, and the strict immigration rules of the island means that travellers have to pass through a border to enter either Sarawak and Sabah.

Once the final crossing was out of the way, we had just a couple of hours in rush hour traffic to get through, and then we were taking our first steps in Kota Kinabalu.

Next up: eating everything we can get our hands on. You can see my Kota Kinabalu food guide for my recommendations on the best places to eat in town.

Food court in Kota Kinabalu

Overall, I was surprised by how easy this journey was, given how many borders we had to contend with.

The roads were reasonably quiet, the borders had little traffic, and the crossings themselves were highly efficient. We never spent more than 20 minutes at each immigration office, and the bus was air conditioned and comfortable.

If you’re considering making the journey, I’d recommend doing it overland.

Just, uh, make sure you have plenty of space in your passport.

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About the author

Lauren Juliff

Lauren Juliff is a published author and travel expert who founded Never Ending Footsteps in 2011. She has spent over 12 years travelling the world, sharing in-depth advice from more than 100 countries across six continents.

Lauren's travel advice has been featured in publications like the BBC, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Cosmopolitan, and her work is read by 200,000 readers each month. Her travel memoir can be found in bookstores across the planet.

25 Comments

  1. December 11, 2018
    Reply

    Ahh I wish I would’ve done it overland too! I was apprehensive about the many border crossings so I decided to fly. I wish I hadn’t done that so I could’ve stocked up on my stamps :-)

    • January 8, 2019
      Reply

      Haha! It’s always good to have more stamps, and these ones were pretty unusual :-)

  2. December 12, 2018
    Reply

    I didn’t know you could get eight new passport stamps in Borneo alone! Thanks for the info. What months do you think would be the best time to do an overland?

    • January 8, 2019
      Reply

      I’d recommend between January and April, as those are the driest months on the island. You don’t want rain causing you to have to cancel your treks in the jungle!

  3. Haha, sounds like the sort of crazy thing I would do!! All for the adventure. :)

    • January 8, 2019
      Reply

      I figured I’d end up with a great story by the end of it! Although it went so smoothly that it all ended up being rather boring :-)

  4. December 14, 2018
    Reply

    We took the ferry option and it was quite comfortable and smooth. Labuan is a very interesting town to stop in, filled with duty-free stores. Either way beats flying :)

  5. December 16, 2018
    Reply

    WOW! That is a journey. I’m glad it went smoothly and felt easy for you. It sounds like quite the trek! I remember when we drove from Swaziland to South Africa and I thought that border crossing was a lot because you had to get out the car to get your exit stamp in Swaziland, drive like 20 metres, then get out of the car again to get your entry stamp for South Africa. But that’s nothing compared to this!

    • January 8, 2019
      Reply

      Ha! Yes, quite. While the border crossings were fairly easy, having to do them over and over was a little ridiculous! We were forever jumping off and on the bus all day :-)

  6. jonny
    December 17, 2018
    Reply

    So do Sabah and Sarawak have different stamps to the standard Malaysian one? I get excited about stamps too. My old passport had a lot more than my current passport does though :-/

    • January 8, 2019
      Reply

      Yeah, they’re all technically different but look similar, so they’re not super exciting. Same colour and shape as peninsular Malaysia but with Sabah or Sarawak written on.

  7. December 17, 2018
    Reply

    I seriously had no idea about double borders but now when I look at the map I see how the border goes :O I am planning to go there soon (if it wont be rainy to much on borneo) and than I will come back to this post :)

    • January 8, 2019
      Reply

      Hope you have a great time in Borneo, Anita! That border is certainly a case of interesting geography :-)

  8. December 18, 2018
    Reply

    I was unaware of a lot of things that I read here.. Lovely read. And border crossing.. OMG! That’s a bad headache when its done over land. Can’t agree more!

    • January 8, 2019
      Reply

      Right? One border crossing is bad enough and here I was signing up for eight of them!

  9. Cam
    January 21, 2019
    Reply

    Wow that’s so brutal. Now that I think it, I’ve never crossed a border besides flights. I couldn’t imagine being in that heat, because the south east asian sun is brutal.

    • January 21, 2019
      Reply

      We spent the vast majority of the time in an air conditioned bus, so it wasn’t so bad :-)

  10. Jayne
    January 25, 2019
    Reply

    I’m about to do this next week. Mainly because I want to go back to Sabah and Brunei is a new country for me. The 8 passport stamps is what enticed me though. Where did you buy tor tickets online?

    • January 26, 2019
      Reply

      It’s linked in the post: http://www.sipitangexpress.com.my/

      • Bec
        January 10, 2023
        Reply

        Hi Lauren, thanks so much for this really useful post.
        I’m planning my trip for February and would love to know if you think this bus trip is worth it in terms of what you see on the road, not just the masses of stamps ;) I love a good overland journey but I only have a couple of weeks in Borneo so weighing up if it’s worth a full day of my trip. Did you find it interesting, beyond the border crossings?
        Thank you!

        • January 11, 2023
          Reply

          No, not really. I wouldn’t say it’s worth a day of your trip — just driving through suburbs and sparse countryside on a busy main road, from memory.

  11. Emily
    October 1, 2019
    Reply

    Do you think this route is safe for a solo female traveller? I would love to take this journey in the summer but feel a little apprehensive being alone in this situation. Many thanks.

    • October 1, 2019
      Reply

      Yes, definitely! 100%. I had no safety issues whatsoever on this route or in Borneo. I felt very safe :-)

  12. Tanmay
    April 8, 2020
    Reply

    Hi, U wrote a wonderful blog. i have a query.
    I have a single entry Brunei visa. so in this case if i want to take bust from kinabalu to Brunei would it be permissible?
    Again I have Brunei Single Entry Visa.
    and in this journey will cross border several times.
    please let me know. thanks in advance.

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