Shangri La Rasa Ria Review: Is This the Best Family Hotel in Borneo?
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Planning a trip to Borneo with kids and wondering where to stay? In this Shangri La Rasa Ria review, I’m sharing our honest experience staying at one of Sabah’s most talked-about resorts — and whether it truly deserves its reputation as the best family hotel in Borneo.
We stayed at the Shangri La Rasa Ria during our family gap year, travelling with our two boys. This wasn’t a quick overnight stop or a romantic getaway review — it was real family travel, with early starts, hungry kids, big expectations, and the need for somewhere that could balance adventure, comfort, and downtime.
After several weeks of staying in backpacker style accommodation across Borneo, this was a real splash out stay for us. And it absolutely did not disappoint!
By the end of this post, you’ll know exactly who this hotel is perfect for, what it’s actually like to stay here as a family, and whether it’s worth the price tag.
Quick Verdict: Is Shangri La Rasa Ria Worth It for Families?
Short answer: yes — if you’re looking for a special, all-in-one family base in Borneo.
Shangri La Rasa Ria is one of the few places we’ve stayed that genuinely works really well for both fun, chilled family downtime AND education and adventure. It combines a huge natural setting, wildlife experiences, beach time, and excellent service in a way that makes family travel in Borneo feel really easy. And ‘easy’ isn’t always what comes to mind when you think about planning a Borneo family adventure!
🏨 Thinking about staying at Shangri La Rasa Ria with kids?
Check current family room availability and prices for your dates now — this is one place that books up fast during school holidays.
Where Is Shangri La Rasa Ria & How Do You Get There?
Shangri La Rasa Ria is located on the coast, around 40 minutes north of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah’s capital city.
- Easy road transfer from Kota Kinabalu International Airport
- Hotel transfers, taxis, and Grab all work well
- Straightforward to add to a wider Borneo itinerary
There is also a free hotel shuttle bus that runs to and from central Kota Kinabalu. However the timetable for this is quite limited. Whilst it’s handy during your stay if you want to check out the city, it’s not likely to be the best option for getting to the hotel at the start/end of your stay.
Despite feeling wonderfully remote once you arrive, it’s not difficult to reach — which is a huge plus when travelling with kids.
Sabah is the part of Malaysian Borneo that attracts most visitors – it’s easy here to pack in some real, remote wild adventure like the River Kinabatangan, seeing the famous orangutan sanctuary in Sepilok AND chilling on some stunning beaches. Which you can do in one perfect two-week itinerary.
Rooms & Accommodation: What’s It Like for Families?
One of the biggest strengths of Shangri La Rasa Ria is how well the rooms work for families.
The rooms are spacious, well-laid out, and thoughtfully designed, with enough space for kids to spread out without feeling cramped. Comfortable beds, good air-conditioning (definitely essential in Borneo), and balconies overlooking either the gardens or the ocean made downtime genuinely relaxing.
Each of the family rooms comes with a king-sized bed in the main room, then a pull out sofa bed on the lower area by the sliding balcony doors. Even though you’re all in the same space, they’ve managed to make the layout feel zoned into space for the parents and a separate space for the kids.
If you opt for one of the bigger family suite rooms you’ll get bunk beds and a king sized bed. Plus several of these family rooms are on the ground floor so have terraces that open out on to the grounds. Which is fab as you can roll out of bed and wander straight over to the pools or the beach.
And it might be a luxury resort, but it really does feel welcoming for families. It’s luxury but without that kind of fragile, don’t-touch-anything vibe you sometimes get in pricier resorts (which does NOT work well with kids!).
🏨 Want to see which room types work best for families?
View current family-friendly room options at Shangri La Rasa Ria
Facilities Families Will Actually Use
This is where Shangri La Rasa Ria really shines. The facilities and activities feel like they’ve been specifically designed for families. And the sheer range of stuff on offer is mind-boggling – this was honestly on another level from anywhere we’ve ever stayed.
Pools
These were such a star attraction for us, and somewhere we spent a LOT of time hanging out. There’s a big, oasis style pool complex that includes water slides and floating beanbags that you can float around the pool on.
There’s shallow areas for younger kids to paddle in and plenty of space in the main pool for older kids to be able to jump in, splash around and swim properly.
And the boys’ absolute highlight of our time in the pools? Swimming around the pool with a great big monitor lizard! This is still Borneo after all.
Private Beach
The entire hotel opens up on to a huge, white sand private beach. There’s sunloungers under palm trees, volleyball, watersports to try and a beach bar where you can watch the most glorious sunsets in the world with a drink in your hand.
The beach is so huge that the sea is actually quite a hike from the hotel. For this reason the boys generally preferred the pools instead, and our beach time was mostly had in the evenings when the temperature had dropped slightly.
Kids’ Activities
The resort offers a wide range of organised activities, but what stood out most was how natural and educational many of them felt — not just “kids club entertainment”.
Kids can just drop-in to many of the activities whenever there’s something they fancy. There’s craft sessions, regular movies in the purpose built Kids Movie Room, mini golf, stargazing, behind-the-scenes of the hotel tours and so much more.
Then there’s also a HUGE range of paid-for activities, including:
- Bike hire
- Paddleboard hire and/or lessons
- Windsurfing hire and/or lessons
- Donut rides
- Kayak hire
- Banana boat rides
- Surfing
- Jet ski hire
- Horseriding
- Fishing
- Archery
- Fireflies watching
- Twilight river cruises
The Nature Reserve
One of the standout features is the on-site nature reserve, which adds a completely different dimension to the stay. This was one of the key reasons we booked a stay here. Our kids loved learning about wildlife and ecosystems in a way that felt hands-on rather than staged.
As the nature reserve is within the hotel grounds it really does give you such a great opportunity to experience Borneo’s wildlife in a really accessible way (no days spent trekking through the jungle here). As well as the open-access trails, there’s an education centre with displays and staff full of knowledge, plus you can watch the hide cam footage here that picks up all the wildlife on film. The night before we arrived it had captured a pangolin on video!
They also offer a range of guided tours and activities that are affordable and really add to the whole Borneo experience.
Guided Night Tour
We took a guided night tour here as a family, trekking through the reserve by torchlight and spotting snakes, giant spiders and plenty of other insects along the way.
The tour lasts for around 1.5hours. Our guide was excellent, really engaging with the kids and pointing out a whole world of creatures that we would never have spotted ourselves.
The trail is uneven and a bit challenging in the dark, and steep in places. Our kids – aged 8 and 10 at the time – had no issues and found the whole thing really exciting! However it’s probably best for kids aged 4+.
Sunrise Hike
The sunrise hike up to the top of the reserve was a beautiful experience. From the top you can watch the sunrise over Mount Kinabalu in the distance, and right out along the winding coastline. It was definitely worth the early start.
There are also options to have breakfast at the top of the reserve, looking out across those views. We opted instead to hike back down and stuff ourselves on the standard huge breakfast buffet at the hotel. Very satisfying after an early morning hike!
Junior Naturalist
We also booked the boys on to the Junior Naturalist half-day session. Which they absolutely LOVED. They got to spend a half day with one of the rangers at the reserve, learning about the wildlife and about conservation work in Borneo.
They came back from the experience buzzing with excitement and facts about things they had seen.
They also got to take away a Junior Naturalist T Shirt, bag and water bottle – which are still prized possessions to this day.
This was one of those brilliant bits of travel where they were having fun and learning — without really realising it. Which was essentially the whole aim of our family gap year!
Games Room
Tucked away to the back of the hotel is a covered, open-air games room that will keep the whole family occupied. There’s board games, pool, table football and just plenty of chilled out space to relax.
We found this was a great option in the evenings – or when we’d just had too much time in the sun!
Karaoke Rooms
And if you fancy a family sing-a-long, you can hire one of the little private karaoke rooms by the hour.
🏨 This place was one of the highlights of our entire Borneo trip.
If you’re looking for a hotel that genuinely balances nature, adventure and downtime with kids, you can check current rates here
Dining With Kids: Easy, Flexible & Stress-Free
Food can make or break a family holiday, and Shangri La Rasa Ria made it easy.
- Excellent buffet options with plenty of choice
- Whole sections of the breakfast and dinner buffets built specifically for kids
- No stress about picky eaters or unfamiliar options
Meals felt relaxed rather than formal, which matters when you’re travelling with children who don’t want to sit still for two hours.
All room rates include the absolutely enormous breakfast buffet. Honestly, we didn’t eat any lunch during our stay as the breakfast was so filling. There’s pretty much every type of food you can think of. Including – the star of the show for the kids – a donut wall.
And this is another example where kids aren’t just welcomed but actually really catered for. The breakfast buffet includes a whole kids area that comes with all the sweet treats that kids love laid out at a lower level for them to access more easily. Plus in this area they provide colourful plastic plates and cups to make things even easier for young children.
Friends we were staying with had a child with specific dietary needs and the staff went above and beyond – walking them through all the options at each buffet that were suitable and prepping specific meals when requested.
Tip: You can opt for an all-inclusive rate that includes all meals. If you’re on a tighter budget, go for the breakfast-only rate – you can then order much cheaper meals via Grab for the evenings, or mix-and-match and have dinner at the resort sometimes too.
What Makes This One of the Best Family Hotels in Borneo?
Having travelled extensively as a family, there are a few things that really stood out here:
- Staff who are genuinely warm and patient with children
- Enough space that the resort never felt claustrophobic
- A rare balance of luxury + nature + family practicality
- Activities that suit a wide age range, not just toddlers
This is not just a hotel where kids are tolerated — it’s a place that is actually built around family life.
Pros & Cons of Shangri La Rasa Ria
✅ Pros
- Excellent service and attention to detail
- Fantastic facilities for kids and adults
- Beach + rainforest setting is genuinely special
- Educational nature experiences for children
❌ Cons
- It’s not cheap — this is a splurge for most families
- Remote location won’t suit travellers who want nightlife or city hopping
- The food is excellent, but the only options are on-site or Grab deliveries – there are no other eateries anywhere nearby
How Much Does Shangri La Rasa Ria Cost & Is It Worth It?
This is not a budget hotel — but for us, the value was in how much it delivered.
When you factor in:
- Accommodation
- Facilities
- Activities
- Dining convenience
- How relaxed the whole experience felt
…it started to make sense as a “one big splurge” stay rather than something to regret later.
Our room rate was just under £120 per night for the four of us, including breakfast. While this was much, much more than we’d spent in the rest of Malaysia (where our accommodation averaged around £25 per night) it was still INCREDIBLE value. I think you’d struggle to find such a luxury, family-friendly resort anywhere in the world for this price.
We used reward points to reduce the cost, which made it feel like an even better decision — but even without that, it’s the kind of place you remember long after the price is forgotten.
If you’re going to splurge on one place in Borneo, this is the one we’d choose again.
Money-saving tips for a stay at the Shangri-La Rasa Ria
There are a few tricks to saving some cash if you want to squeeze a stay at the Shangri-La Rasa Ria in to your world travels. We used points to get a discount on our stay which made quite a difference to our bill in the end.
Whilst the all-inclusive packages do make for a fab, relaxing holiday you can save cash by going room/breakfast only. The breakfast is, honestly, so enormous that we found that we didn’t need lunch at all during our stay. We’d stocked up on crisps/snacks etc before we arrived and these covered us during the day.
In the evenings we opted to order in via the Grab app. There’s a lot of choice on there and some of the Malaysian food in particular was delicious and saved us cash vs eating in the hotel.
And instead of using the incredibly expensive in-house laundry service, we found a local launderette who collected/dropped off our laundry the same day and cost just £3.50.
Whilst this might be the best family hotel in Borneo, you can still make it more affordable with some of these tricks!
Who This Hotel Is (and Isn’t) For
Perfect for:
- Families with kids under 16
- Parents who want nature + comfort
- First-time visitors to Borneo
- Families doing a longer Southeast Asia trip or gap year
Not ideal for:
- Ultra-budget travellers
- Couples looking for nightlife or a party scene
Our Final Verdict: Would We Stay Again?
Without hesitation — yes.
When it came to writing this Shangri La Rasa Ria review, it was hard not to sound a bit over-the-top and glowing to be honest. But that’s because the experience was so genuinely awesome for our family. It’s rare to find a place that keeps kids engaged, parents relaxed, and still feels like a once-in-a-lifetime destination.
If you’re looking for the best family hotel in Borneo and want somewhere that combines wildlife, adventure, comfort, and ease — this is the one we’d recommend.
It’s the absolute perfect end point for any Borneo family itinerary. Get your fix of adventure and wildlife across Sabah, then end your trip with a few days of glorious relaxation by the sea.
If you’re planning a trip to Borneo with kids and want one place that truly delivers, this is it.
🏨 Check availability and book Shangri La Rasa Ria here
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