Things to do in Tawau
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Tawau
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
The best window, with the calmest seas, the finest Sipadan visibility and comfortable park trails.
Turtle nesting season and peak demand, when Sipadan permits and island rooms are scarcest and need booking months ahead.
A shoulder sweet spot, with strong diving, arriving migratory birds, thinner crowds and easing prices.
Monsoon trade offs: rougher seas, reduced visibility, the November Sipadan closure, but the cheapest rates and emptiest restaurants.
What's on
- Regatta Lepa Traditionally April, recently June; check dates
Semporna's water festival for the Bajau Laut and their decorated lepa boats, with races, a parade, dance, music and the Ratu Lepa crowning.
- Pesta Kaamatan 30-31 May
Sabah's Kadazan-Dusun harvest festival, observed statewide including Tawau, at the tail of the best diving season.
Best things to do in Tawau
Pasar Tanjung
Tawau's vast covered market for produce, dried seafood, amplang and daily life, and the best souvenir stop in town.
Masjid Al-Kauthar
Tawau's landmark mosque by Sabindo Square, the town's most recognisable building, best viewed in late afternoon light.
Teck Guan Cocoa Village
A bean to bar cocoa estate with a heritage gallery, plantation tastings, a cocoa cafe, a waterfall and basalt trails.
Teck Guan Cocoa Museum
A small pre booked factory museum showing how Tawau cocoa becomes powder and butter, with tastings and a shop.
Tawau Bell Tower
The oldest standing structure in Tawau, built in 1921, and the heart of a short old town walk.
Taman Traulsen
The town's waterfront green for an evening stroll and sunset over the Celebes Sea toward Sebatik Island.
Tawau Fish Market
Go early for the Celebes Sea catch coming in, the range of fish and shellfish that explains Tawau's restaurant scene.
St. Patrick's Anglican Church
A quiet colonial era parish church on the old town walk, a small window into Tawau's trading port past.
Where to stay in Tawau
Bandar Tawau - Fajar, Sabindo and Jalan Dunlop
first trip, food and markets, all-round base
Walk to the markets, mosque, old town sights, curry house and kopitiams, with the seafood streets in the same grid.
Jalan Kuhara and Eastern Plaza
biggest hotel and mall comfort
Quieter and more spacious than the centre, with the town's largest hotel and a mall, but you will Grab into town to eat.
Balung and Quoin Hill
cocoa, Tawau Hills and quiet inland days
Plantation country about 30 minutes out, right for inland days and wrong for seafood streets at night.
Mabul and Kapalai gateway bases
diving trips via Semporna
Separate bases 90 minutes from Tawau where Sipadan permit packages and dawn dives actually work.
Danum Valley
primary rainforest extension via Lahad Datu
A lodge base inside the conservation area, reached as its own leg with its own nights, never as a day trip.
Think twice about
- Tawau Airport road strip
Not a safety problem, a trip quality problem: stranded 30 minutes from dinner with nothing walkable.
- Semporna waterfront stilt settlements and unlit jetties after dark
Use Semporna town in daylight for provisioning and dinners, sleep in a recognised hotel or offshore, and do not wander the jetty edges at night.
- Lahad Datu as a sightseeing base
A transfer town for Danum Valley and Tabin, worth only the night a lodge schedule forces.
Best restaurants in Tawau
Kam Ling Fresh Live Seafood
Tawau's seafood institution since 1984, where you choose crab, lobster and fish live from the tanks and agree the cooking.
Maxim's Seafood Restaurant
The air conditioned banquet room alternative for live seafood, used by Tawau families for celebrations and weddings.
Sri Titingan Seafood Restaurant
A big family seafood hall with grilled fish, barbecue steamboat and portions reviewers call good value for groups.
Good View Seafood Restaurant
A simple Sabindo seafood house where steamed grouper, scallops, sea snails and prawns are the repeat order dishes.
Cottage Garden
A garden setting seafood and barbecue restaurant, the outdoor alternative to Tawau's tank lined seafood halls.
Yassin Curry House
Tawau's curry house institution for biryani, roti canai and teh tarik, open from early morning to late night.
Kedai Kopi Tawau Mee Tauhu
The highest volume address for mee tauhu, Tawau's signature noodles with tofu and fish paste in soybean gravy.
Yuan Yuan Soto Tawau
Tawau's best rated soto address, a fragrant spiced broth breakfast bowl to start a park or cocoa day.
Outdoor things to do in Tawau
Tawau Hills Park
Lowland rainforest with waterfalls, sulphur springs and an 88 metre giant tree, the essential nature day from Tawau.
Table Waterfall
The main waterfall and swimming spot in Tawau Hills Park, reached by a jungle trail past giant trees.
Shan Shui Golf & Country Club
An 18 hole championship course in jungle hills near Tawau, designed by Nelson and Haworth and opened in 1998.
Balung River Eco Resort
A quiet river and plantation nature stay near the cocoa village, built for switching off between coast and park days.
Sipadan Island
Malaysia's only oceanic island, famous for barracuda vortexes, jackfish schools, sharks and turtles on every dive.
Mabul Island
The macro diving island near Semporna, famous for frogfish, nudibranchs, cuttlefish and mandarinfish at dusk.
Bohey Dulang Island
A steep volcanic island hike to a summit panorama over a turquoise crater lagoon, with snorkelling stops after.
Kapalai Island
A sandbar reef near Semporna with garden eels, mantis shrimp and turtles, easy snorkelling and diving with no hiking.
Best hotels in Tawau
LA Hotel
A full service central hotel on Jalan Haji Karim, keeping the market and seafood streets walkable.
Shervinton Executive Boutique Hotel
A boutique hotel in the Fajar Complex with a spa and restaurant, in the middle of the kopitiam streets.
MB Hotel
The value pick with the strongest review base in town, a modern budget hotel on Jalan Haji Karim.
My Inn Hotel Tawau
A clean, simple budget inn near the night market streets, for travellers who need an early start more than facilities.
Borneo Royale Hotel
The closest thing Tawau town has to a flagship hotel, with large rooms, a buffet restaurant and a mall next door.
Mabul Water Bungalows
Overwater bungalows on boardwalks over a house reef, the luxury base for Sipadan and Mabul diving packages.
Sipadan Kapalai Dive Resort
A stilted resort village over the Kapalai sandbar reef, where all inclusive diving is the whole product.
Scuba Junkie Mabul Beach Resort
The mid priced way to sleep on Mabul, a social dive resort rated for its guiding and house reef, not luxury.
Is Tawau expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | MYR 120 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | MYR 300 a person |
| Splurge | MYR 900 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Teck Guan Cocoa Museum: a few days ahead
- Shan Shui Golf & Country Club: a few days ahead
- Balung River Eco Resort: a few days ahead
- Sipadan Island: months ahead
- Mabul Island: weeks ahead
- Bohey Dulang Island: a few days ahead
- Kapalai Island: weeks ahead
- Danum Valley Conservation Area: months ahead
- Sipadan permits are capped daily, allocated only through licensed operators, and need months of lead time in peak season.
- Advanced Open Water is the Sipadan minimum, and Sipadan closes in November for conservation.
- Pre book the Teck Guan Cocoa Museum, Borneo Rainforest Lodge programmes and the Bohey Dulang island day early in your stay.
Is Tawau safe?
- A night curfew on the waters, reported as 6pm to 6am, covers the eastern Sabah coastal districts including Tawau and Semporna.
- Use licensed operators, daylight boat transfers and resort or Sabah Parks channels for all island travel.
- Malaysia reported no kidnapping incidents on the east coast for four to five years by January 2026.
- Bring leech socks for Tawau Hills after rain, closed shoes for Bohey Dulang, and reputable transfers for the long road legs.
Tawau travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Expecting Tawau town to be a destination town, when it is a gateway and food town with a half day of sights.
- Ordering live seafood without confirming the per weight price, cooking charge and total before cooking.
- Unlicensed boats and walk up Sipadan permit promises in Semporna, which carry safety and permit risk.
- Photographing the giant tree at Tawau Hills and leaving, when the waterfalls, springs and trails are the visit.
Getting around Tawau: public transport and more
- Tawau Airport is about 30 to 40 minutes by taxi or Grab from Tawau town, and Grab is the default way to move in town.
- Tawau Airport to Semporna is about 82 km and roughly 90 minutes by road, usually bundled by resorts or served by minibus.
- Tawau Hills Park has no public transport, so charter a Grab or taxi and agree the return pickup before you are dropped.
- Danum Valley runs through Lahad Datu, with a lodge transfer of about 2 to 2.5 hours on gravel roads.
Who Tawau suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Tawau your trip
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