Land Travel By Bus: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

There are three ways to reach Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, from Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. First, ride a ferry via Labuan Island, it will take about 7 hours. Second is by bus via Sarawak, Malaysia; it will take more or less 10 hours. Lastly take an hour flight from Brunei Airport.

Let's focus on land travel. There's no concrete info online regarding this route before I travel, but I really want to do it because of the Passport stamp I will get before I reach Kota Kinabalu.

One month before my travel date, I purchase a bus ticket online via Sipitang Express. This company is the only one offering a trip to Kota Kinabalu via Lawas, Sarawak Malaysia. I was so nervous at first because of the multiple entries in the two countries. I was consulting some of the travel blogger friends regarding doing numerous entries into a visa-free country. They said nothing to worry about. It's fine. 

First Border TENDUNGAN, SARAWAK, MALAYSIA

I left the hotel in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, around 7am since the bus would leave at 8am sharp. My friend fetches me up in the hotel and drops me off in the loading area of the bus. 

The loading area of sipitang is not in the bus terminal of BSB. They parked between Jalan Sungai Kianggeh and Jalan McArthur just in front of Joy Guest House. I purchased my ticket online because it's cheaper compared to the day of travel. I paid 100RM- 22USD online and 45BD - 32USD for walk-in passengers. 

They collected our passports for their manifest in Immigration. It was 8am when we left Brunei. The bus is not complete. I think we are less than 20 passengers on board. The first border to cross is Tendungan, Sarawak, Malaysia, but we need to exit in Kuala Lurah, Brunei, before that. It took an hour to reach the exit border of Brunei. It took almost an hour to get an exit stamp because of the traffic, and many people were exiting that time. 

Lawas, Sarawak, Malaysia

Finally, the bus leaves in 1 hour and 5 minutes later. We need to get off again on the bus because we will fall in the Immigration of Tendungan to legally enter the state of Sarawak, Malaysia. The bus is very comfortable, and the air-conditioner is in full blast because the weather in Borneo is quite hot.

We took 2 hours to reach Limbang town in Sarawak and headed to the exit border, which is Pandaruan. We get off again in the bus to fall in line with the immigration window. I promise there's no ending to getting off in the bus until you reach the last border. After we leave in the Sarawak, 5 minutes later we get off again to get an entry stamp in Ujung Jalan, Brunei, yes you will enter again in Brunei after, 1.5 hours later we reach the exit border of Brunei which is Labu we get off again to get an exit stamp. After 10 minutes, we arrived at the Mengkalap, Sarawak border control to get an entry stamp and the last border control before lunch in Lawas.

We reach Lawas, Sarawak around 11:30am to take a stopover, lunch, and get more passengers. 12:30pm when I get back in the terminal as the bus will leave at 1pm this time the bus is already full. We continued our journey to reach the exit border of Sarawak, which is Merapok. We get our exit stamp and the entry stamp in Sindumin, Sabah, Malaysia. That is the last border. Yes, I made it! They're the same country but different governments, so we need to get an entry stamp to legally enter Sabah, Malaysia.

We reached Kota Kinabalu around 6pm because we got stuck in the heavy traffic in Bongawan.

I know you're confused. Here's the border I crossed before I reached Kota Kinabalu and was able to get an 8 passport stamp.

1^st stamp – Exit in Kuala Lurah, Brunei

2^nd stamp – Entry in Tendungan, Sarawak, Malaysia

3^rd stamp – Exit in Pandaruan, Sarawak, Malaysia

4^th stamp – Entry in Ujung Jalan, Brunei

5^th stamp – Exit in Labu, Brunei

6^th stamp – Entry in Mengkalap, Sarawak, Malaysia

7^th stamp – Exit in Merapok, Sarawak, Malaysia

8^th stamp – Entry in Sindumin, Sabah, Malaysia