How to Get From BSB, Brunei to Kota Kinabalu by Bus

Overland border crossings suck.

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

Not only do they mean dealing with hours of queueing beneath a hot sun, but scams are rife, bribes are everywhere, directions are non-existent, and nobody 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 — even spending more money just to fly over them.

After more than 15 years of near-continuous travel, though, 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.

Still, 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:

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.

As of late-2026, you’ll pay RM150▾ per person for the trip.

Our guesthouse was a little way outside of the Sipitang Express bus station, so we were up at 7 a.m. to catch a local bus into town. Taxis are rare and expensive in Brunei, and Dart (the Uber/Grab equivalent) isn’t always reliable, so do make plans in advance for how you’ll get to the station; your guesthouse owner might be able to drop you off. In our case, we decided the bus would be the easiest option.

There are three ways to get from Bandar Seri Begawan to Kota Kinabalu. The cities are just 250 km, or 155 miles away, so you wouldn’t think it would be so complex!

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

As of late-2026, the ferry between Bandar Seri Begawan and Kota Kinabalu has been suspended. It ceased operating during the pandemic, in fact, and has yet to start the route back up again. I’d be surprised if it ever did. This option would have taken you from Brunei to the Malaysian island of Labuan. You’d then spend three hours having a look around, then continue onwards by ferry to Kota Kinabalu. This would have potentially been the most comfortable journey, but would still have taken most of the day.

And then you have the bus.

The Sipitang Express leaves from Gadong Night Market, and it’s marked on Google Maps as Sipitang Express Bus Station. There’s been a lot of confusion over departure locations over the past few years, as the Sipitang Express ceased operations, then started back up again, then changed its station location, then changed it again. Sipitang Express Bus Station is where you need to go, though — that’s the only place the bus leaves from.

The journey takes eight hours in total, leaving from Bandar Seri Begawan at 8 a.m. and arriving in Kota Kinabalu at 4 p.m.

When we arrived, there was a queue of around a dozen people waiting outside on the street, helping confirm that we were definitely in the right place.

Note that there aren’t any grocery stores near the bus station, so stock up the day before if you think you might want snacks for the journey. Having said that, the bus does stop half-way through the trip at a local restaurant for lunch, so you’ll get the chance to eat along the way.

Do you need multiple arrival cards when travelling between Bandar Seri Begawan and Kota Kinabalu? The good news is no, you don’t. You see, both countries require you to fill in a digital arrival card to enter, so I was confused about how the process would even work.

Would I need to apply for multiple arrival cards for Brunei and Malaysia, given I’d be entering each of them twice in one day? Was it even possible to apply for multiple arrival cards?! The good news is that you only need to apply for one Brunei Immigration e-Arrival Card and one Malaysia Digital Arrival Card (MDAC) — as you’re in transit, one card will be valid for the entire trip.

If you’ll be travelling between the two countries over multiple days, you’ll need to apply for multiple arrival cards.

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.

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.

Despite travelling for as long as I have, the one thing that’ll never get old is getting a brand new stamp in my passport.

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.

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. An hour later, 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 all 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.

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 wandered into a small cafe filled with locals, with a menu entirely in Malay. I ordered a nasi lemak from a smiling woman and delighted in how such a simple dish can be packed full of so much complexity.

After a delicious meal, we had one final border crossing to deal with. You might wonder why, at this point, 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. 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.

And so that’s exactly what we did.

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.

The Sipitang Express Bus Station in Kota Kinabalu is located beside the waterfront outside Lorong Plaza Wawasan shopping centre. It’s marked on Google Maps as “Sipitang Express Bus”. Unlike in Brunei, Grab does operate in Kota Kinabalu, so you can hail a taxi at a reasonable price if your hotel is too far away to get to on foot.

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.

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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