Hello everybody,
please need help with decision on what hotel to take.
We are planning to go to Kota Kinabulu - and are trying to decide between Shangri La Tanjung Aru Resort and the Shangri La Rasa Ria Resort.
We prefer to be closer to the town.
But all in all which is nicer and what would be the preferable one - especially regrading the beach, the sea aso.
Planning to go in May 2005

Hello,
We stayed at the tanjung aru in march,we enjoyed our stay so much that we are going again in april[i shall be counting the weeks down soon!!!!].

We went to the rasa ria for a day,mainly to visit thier orangutan sactuary.
The hotel is very nice,and the beach stunning,but it is quite remote.

Although there is only a small beach at tanjung aru,you have a choice of 5 very beautiful islands you can visit,only 5 mins away in hotel boats.
I am a great beach lover, and found the islands really lovely,.

Overall ,i prefered the tanjung,you are only 10 mins from town,12 riggets in taxi, you also have the tanjung aru village beach just connected to the resort,this is a couple of miles long,mostly just used by locals.

Kota kinabalu is a great place,and there are so many interesting trips to go on .I'm sure you will have a fantastic time.
Ask if you need any more info,
sue

The Tanjung Aru hotel is wonderful and as already stated is closest to the town.

Little tip - join the hotels loyalty club "The Golden Circle" before you go - it entitles you to free breakfasts amongst other things - Go to the Shangri La groups homepage. http://www.shangri-la.com/en/

Rooms in the older Tanjung wing have recently been refurbed and are now more expensive than the newer Kinabalu wing. My own preference is for the Horizon Club floor in the Kinabalu wing - free cocktails, private lounge, purser service etc.

Finally, great watersports are available at the hotel - I learnt to dive there a couple of years back.

hy,
thx for the info.

could you pls give us more information about the "golden circle"-to get the benefits do I have to book the room through the homepage from the hotel?

thx

My vote also goes to the Shangri La Tanjung Aru, one of the best resorts in Kota Kinabalu.

It's not far from town. The hotel has a shuttle service or you can take a cab.

One thing I'd recommend to do is to have dinner at Gayana Island. Take the boat to the island at dusk to enjoy the sunset. The waters around Gayana Island is beautiful and it's a lovely setting for dinner.

No need to book your hotel room via the web site. Just go to the home page and follwo the links for enrolling the golden circle.

Thank you everyone for your postings. Has anyone also stayed at the Magellan Sutera Harbour Resort? My wife would like to visit a place with a nice spa and the Magellan is the only hotel I found to have a spa. http://www.suteraharbour.com/new/Magellan-overview

Does the Shangri La Tanjung Aru also have a spa on-site or affliations to a spa? Thanks.

Pretty sure the T-Aru didn't have a SPA when I was last there 18 months ago but I'd be surprised if it wasn't building one - like every other hotel in the world (check the Shangri La web site for further details)

The Magellan is a very nice hotel too. Located a short distance from the Shangri La.