Best Hostels In Sandakan - Budget Travel In Malaysia

Sandakan is located on the north-east coast of Borneo. It is a popular destination for travellers wanting to experience some of the island’s rainforest. These are the best hostels in Sandakan.

Sandakan was our final destination on the island of Borneo after making our way across the island from our starting point at Kota Kinabalu. Our stay in Sandakan was split with a few days on the Kinabatangan river in between.

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Where To Stay In Sandakan

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These are some of the best budget hostels in Sandakan, according to user reviews. These are affiliate links to the Agoda web site. I found Agoda to be much better than booking.com in Southeast Asia. I receive a small amount for any bookings made through these links at no extra cost to you.

Borneo Sandakan Backpackers

We had 3 nights in Sandakan before our river cruise and then we booked a further night before we flew back to Kuala Lumpur. For our 3 night stay, we chose ‘Borneo Sandakan Backpackers’ (map), not to be confused with ‘Borneo Backpackers Sandakan’ which is on the same street.

Borneo Sandakan Backpackers Hostel

After some confusion trying to find the entrance (the door is to the left of the 7-eleven), we made our way to reception. The woman on reception was very welcoming and helpful, giving us advice and tips about our stay in the city.

Our room was very clean and overlooked the main street below. WiFi was good and the shared bathroom facilities were excellent and always clean. We never had to wait to use them.

There was a communal area and free water/tea/coffee. Free toast and fruit was available at all times.

We had a great stay here. It is a simple hostel but they just got everything right. It is ideally located; you step out of the hostel and you are on one of the main streets and one minute walk from the waterfront. The hostel even offered to save our bags whilst we were on the river cruise trip, even though we were not returning to their accommodation.

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We paid £39 for 3 nights (double room with shared bathroom)

Click here to stay at ‘Borneo Sandakan Backpackers’.

Oceanus Backpackers

Following our return from the Kinabatangan River cruise, we stayed one more night in Sandakan and decided to try another hostel. This time, we stayed at ‘Oceanus Backpackers’ (map) which is located on the same street as ‘Borneo Sandakan Backpackers’. The facilities here were not as good but it was OK for one night. The owner was very helpful and gave us lots of information on local sites of interest. As we had already visited them, it didn’t really help us apart from one very important piece of information he gave us, mentioned below.

Best Hostels In Sandakan – Budget Travel In Malaysia