Kota Kinabalu travel guide

Top 10 sights in Kota Kinabalu

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1. 

   1© CEphoto, Uwe Aranas · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Kota Kinabalu City Mosque

   A white mosque built on a man-made lagoon at Likas so that it appears to stand in water, finished in 2000. The reflection is the standard photograph of Kota Kinabalu, and it is often called the floating mosque.

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2. 

   2© Manukan,_Mamutik_&_Sulug_-_Happy_Islands.jpg: Thien Zie Yung derivative work · CC BY 2.0

   Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park

   A national park of five islands in the bay off the city, twenty minutes out by boat. Sapi and Manukan are the usual pair for island-hopping, and the snorkelling over the fringing reefs is the reason to go.

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3. 

   3© CEphoto, Uwe Aranas · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Sabah Museum

   The state museum of Sabah, covering the indigenous cultures of Borneo and the natural history of the region. An open-air village of traditional longhouses stands in the grounds below the main building.

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4. 

   4© CEphoto, Uwe Aranas · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Sabah State Mosque

   The state mosque of Sabah, finished in 1977 in a contemporary Islamic manner with a ribbed gold dome and a slim minaret. It holds five thousand and stands beside a lagoon that reflects it, which is why it is photographed rather than the newer city mosque.

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5. 

   5© CEphoto, Uwe Aranas · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Tanjung Aru

   Tanjung Aru beach is the sunset spot that many rank among the finest anywhere. Sitting on the sand at dusk with a coconut in hand is something close to a civic ritual here.

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6. 

   6© (WT-shared) Robert Biuk-Aghai · CC BY-SA 1.0

   Atkinson Clock Tower

   A wooden clock tower of 1905, raised by a mother for her son Francis Atkinson, the town's first district officer, who died of malaria at twenty-eight. It is the only structure in Kota Kinabalu to survive the bombing of 1945.

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7. 

   7© CEphoto, Uwe Aranas · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Sacred Heart Cathedral, Kota Kinabalu

   The Catholic cathedral of Kota Kinabalu, built between 1979 and 1981 and consecrated that November. It serves an archdiocese in which a large share of Sabah's indigenous population is Catholic.

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8. 

   8© CEphoto, Uwe Aranas · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Petagas War Memorial

   A memorial garden on the ground where Japanese troops executed three hundred and twenty-four members of the Jesselton uprising in January 1944. Their names are cut into the wall and a mass grave lies within the enclosure.

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9. 

   9© CEphoto, Uwe Aranas · CC BY-SA 3.0

   St. Michael's Church, Penampang

   A Catholic church at Donggongon in the Penampang district, the oldest in the district and the second-oldest stone church in Sabah, built for the Kadazan community by missionaries in the nineteenth century.

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10. 

    10© CEphoto, Uwe Aranas · CC BY-SA 3.0

    Double Six Monument

    A memorial at Sembulan marking the aircraft crash of 6 June 1976 that killed Sabah's chief minister and six others on their way back from signing an oil agreement. The cause has never been settled and the date is still used as shorthand for the loss.

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1. 

   1© CEphoto, Uwe Aranas · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Gaya Street

   A street in Kota Kinabalu lined with Chinese coffee shops and restaurants, which functions as Sabah's Chinatown. A market fills it every Sunday morning, and a paifang gate raised in 2005 stands at one end.

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2. 

   2© Stefan Fussan · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Pu Tuo Si Temple

   A Chinese Buddhist temple of 1980 on the road out to Tuaran, with a Kuan Yin figure at the entrance and views over the city. It is the principal Chinese temple in Kota Kinabalu.

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3. 

   3

   Kepayan

   A sub-district of Kota Kinabalu holding the international airport, the state police headquarters and the central prison — the practical, unlovely end of the city.

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4. 

   4© Profmauri · CC BY-SA 3.0

   The Green Connection

   An aquarium and science centre in Kota Kinabalu, opened in May 2010 and set outside the city centre on the northwestern coast of Borneo. Its tanks cover the reef and mangrove systems of the Sabah coast.

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5. 

   5© CEphoto, Uwe Aranas · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Peak Nam Toong Temple

   A Chinese temple among the housing estates of Kota Kinabalu, built by the local community and serving both Taoist and Buddhist devotion under one roof.

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6. 

   6© CEphoto, Uwe Aranas · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Malaysia Monument

   A monument near the city hall commemorating the formation of Malaysia in 1963, when Sabah joined the federation. It was paid for by the local Chinese community and is still used for Malaysia Day ceremonies.

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7. 

   7© CEphoto, Uwe Aranas · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Sabah Islamic Civilisation Museum

   A two-storey museum on Menteri Street covering Islamic civilisation and its arrival in Sabah, with manuscripts, calligraphy and material from the state's Muslim communities.

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