4 Best Sights in Bintulu, Malaysia

About a mile from the center of Bintulu, this interesting Chinese temple includes a lovely garden courtyard, koi ponds, a waterfall, and carved Chinese zodiac animals. Three churches are nearby.

These wooden houses on stilts, with thatch roofs and bamboo walls, are the traditional dwellings of Sarawak’s indigenous groups, and (by arrangement) these hospitable people will welcome you inside. You will usually arrive by longboat, and you’ll usually be offered a meal and a tour by gracious hosts—you may even be able to spend the night. A number of longhouses on the Kemena River can be reached within a half-hour drive or boat trip from Bintulu. Any local travel office in Bintulu will help you arrange the tours, usually for around 75 rinngit.

Thick rain forest covers this gorgeous 12-square-mile park, where caves thought to have been inhabited 40,000 years ago are accessed via a short boat ride (0.50 ringgit). Alight from the boat onto a boardwalk that runs between the caves: the Great Cave, at 820 feet wide, is one of the largest caves in the world; the Painted Cave is filled with ancient rock paintings; and the Traders’ Cave is where bird nests were historically collected for soup—and sadly, they still are, though the practice has been decreasing. The park is about a two-hour drive from the Bintulu pier.

Created in 1976 as a protected habitat for nesting green turtles, this 27-square-mile park features walking trails and pristine beaches, including Golden Beach, where green turtles lay their eggs between July and September. More than 180 types of birds can be spotted here too, as well as crocodiles, dolphins, and porpoises. About a half-hour drive (19 miles) northeast of Bintulu pier, this is a lovely place to stroll, laze on the beaches, or to rent a boat to cruise around.