Skip the theme parks and crowded viewpoints. Sometimes the best family trips are the ones where there isn’t actually that much you have to do.
Ask a family where they went on holiday and you’ll probably hear about the attraction they visited, the hotel they stayed in or the photographs they took.
Ask them what they remember ten years later, and the answer can be surprisingly different.
That ridiculous card game after dinner. Dad falling into the river. Mum insisting everyone wake up for sunrise. The children discovering that fruit actually grows on trees and does not magically appear in a supermarket.
Sabah is particularly good at this kind of holiday.
Away from the usual tourism circuit are places where the itinerary becomes less important and simply spending time together becomes the point.
Here are three we think are worth making time for.
1. Kiulu — For Families Who Need to Put Their Phones Down
About an hour or so from Kota Kinabalu, the landscape begins to change.
Buildings disappear. Roads get narrower. Hills take over. Somewhere below, the Kiulu River winds past villages, farms and patches of forest.
Welcome to Kiulu.
There are plenty of reasons to come here, but perhaps the best one is that Kiulu makes it remarkably easy to do things together.
Try beginner-friendly rafting on the Kiulu River. The rapids here are generally Grade I–II, which has made the area popular for families and first-time rafters.
Or don’t raft at all.
Stay by the river. Visit a farm. Learn how rubber is tapped. See how rice is traditionally processed. Eat food prepared in the village. Sleep in a bamboo house or camp out and let the sound of the river replace Netflix for the night. Sabah Tourism highlights community stays in Kiulu where visitors can experience village activities and the surrounding countryside rather than simply sightseeing.
The nice thing about Kiulu is that different generations can enjoy it differently. The adventurous ones can get into the river. Grandparents can enjoy the scenery. Younger children can discover farms and village life. Everyone eventually meets again over food.
Why we like it for families:
Because you actually have to interact with one another.
There are fewer distractions here. And sometimes removing the distractions is exactly what a family holiday needs.
BAH tip: Don’t rush back to KK after rafting. Stay overnight if you can. Kiulu becomes a very different place once the day-trippers leave.
2. Tenom — Take the Kids Somewhere Green
There are family holidays designed entirely around keeping children entertained.
Tenom isn’t one of them. And that’s exactly why we like it.
This quiet interior town is Sabah’s coffee country, surrounded by farms, greenery and the kind of slower pace that makes two days feel considerably longer than a weekend in the city.
Make Sabah Agriculture Park your starting point.
The park is far more than a collection of flower beds. Its Crop Museum contains hundreds of plant species, while its Native Orchid Centre conserves hundreds of Bornean orchid species. There are landscaped gardens, trails, cycling, camping, fishing and accommodation within the grounds.
For children who spend most of their lives surrounded by screens and concrete, this is the sort of place where learning happens without anyone announcing that it is educational.
What does cocoa look like before it becomes chocolate? How does coffee grow? Why do some plants thrive in Sabah?
And just how many varieties of banana can one family argue about identifying incorrectly?
Beyond the park, take your time exploring Tenom’s farms and coffee culture. Sabah’s fertile interior has long been associated with crops including coffee, cocoa, fruits and vegetables, giving families an easy opportunity to connect what they eat and drink with the people and land producing it.
Most importantly, don’t over-plan Tenom.
Have coffee. Find somewhere local for lunch. Drive slowly. Stop when something looks interesting.
Why we like it for families:
Tenom gives children something increasingly rare: room to be curious.
And adults get something too—permission to slow down.
BAH tip: Make it a two-night trip instead of squeezing Tenom into a rushed day visit. The whole point is not having to hurry anywhere. Check out this Tenom farm experience from Helolokal
3. Kota Belud’s Riverside Villages — Camp, Get Wet and Do Almost Nothing
We could have picked another resort. Instead, bring a tent!
The countryside around Kota Belud has some wonderfully simple riverside escapes where the main attractions are cold mountain water, open skies and Mount Kinabalu appearing in the distance when the weather decides to cooperate.
One established option is Polumpung Melangkap View Camp Site, but the wider Melangkap and Tegudon area has several community-run camping spots and riverside stays.
At places such as Tegudon Tourism Village, the formula is refreshingly uncomplicated: tents, river, mountains, food and family. Sabah Tourism describes visitors cooling their feet in clear mountain water outside their tents—about as far removed from a conventional resort itinerary as you can get.
Children can spend hours doing what children have always been surprisingly good at doing when adults stop organising activities for them.
Getting wet. Collecting stones. Looking for tiny fish. Inventing games. Getting wet again.
Meanwhile, adults can sit beside the river with coffee and rediscover the forgotten pleasure of not needing to be anywhere else.
Stay until evening. Cook or share dinner. Talk. Look at the stars if the clouds behave.
Nobody needs a packed itinerary.
Why we like it for families:
Because sometimes family time doesn’t need to be spectacular.
It just needs everyone in the same place, without somewhere else to rush to.
BAH tip: Go on a weekday or outside peak holiday periods if possible. These riverside spots are at their best when they’re quiet.
Maybe That’s What Family Travel Should Be
Sabah has famous islands, mountains, wildlife and resorts—and they deserve their reputation.
But family time doesn’t necessarily improve because the attraction is famous. Sometimes it happens somewhere much smaller.
Around a table in a village in Kiulu. Walking underneath giant trees in Tenom.
Or just sitting beside a cold river in Kota Belud while someone attempts to make dinner and everyone else offers completely unnecessary advice.
Those are the moments you don’t normally put on an itinerary.
Funny enough, they’re often the ones everyone remembers.
BAH DISCOVER. Go somewhere different. Stay a little longer. Come home with a story.
