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A collection of 5 islands (Gaya, Manukan, Sapi, Sulug and Mamutik) just off the coast of KK city. Travel by speedboat takes about 15-20 minutes depending on the island and departs from the Sabah Parks jetty behind Wisma Merdeka or from Jesselton Point Waterfront jetty. Pulau Gaya is the largest of the islands with two resorts on the far side, the eastern end has a Kampong Laut with 6000 villagers. Pulau Sapi is the closest island to Gaya and has a zip wire ride called the Coral Flyer from Gaya over to Sapi. Pulau Manukan is the second largest, 10-minute ride away from Sapi. It has a smaller overnight accommodation and has the parks office to collect fees. Pulau Mamutik is smaller and offers the same facilities as the others. Pulau Sulug is the smallest of the five. Special permission from the park authorities is required to stay overnight on Palau Tiga, made famous from the TV series Survivor and has a mud pool, it is not within the Marine park and not visited on a regular basis, so the conditions are very sparse.
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A small park and the only park in the city center opposite the court complex. It contains the British North Borneo Memorial which commemorates the soldiers who fought and died defending the British Empire during World War I. The memorial was built in 1923.
Gaya Street
Located in the city centre surrounding Gaya Street and Pantai (Beach) Street. There is a Sunday market here the Market starts early 6:30AM-1PM, arrive late you will miss it. There is also a night market every Friday and Saturday from 6PM to 2AM. The area is home to Chinese shops and restaurants and together with the adjacent area around Australia Place near the city police station has the highest concentration of budget hostels in KK. The name "Chinatown" is mainly a tourism gimmick after the arch gate was erected not more than after 2005, so many locals would not know what Chinatown is. Use instead "Gaya Street".
Built in 1902 in memory of Francis George Atkinson, the first district officer of Jesselton, as Kota Kinabalu was then called. He died of a tropical disease in the same year at the young age of only 28. The clock tower is one of only two structures to survive the World War II destruction of Jesselton (renamed Kota Kinabalu in 1963), the other being the Post Office building, which is now the Sabah Tourism Board building on Jalan Balai Polis. Not to be confused with the general Post Office building on Jalan Tun Razak in Segama district of KK city.
Tiny pedestrian strip running along the river. Partly abandoned and thus doubtfully a high destination.
formerly known as Kota Kinabalu Bird Sanctuary
A 24-hectare mangrove conservation area used for recreation, education and research. It is located in Likas along Jalan Bukit Bendera Upper just 5 minutes drive from city centre (15 minutes walk from Signal Hill Observatory). The area is managed by the Sabah Wetlands Conservation Society.
A memorial site on the location of the 1976 plane crash which killed the state chief minister Tun Fuad Stephens and other state cabinet members. There is a nice new food court on site called Grace Point Food Court offering local Sabah, Malaysian, Indian, Chinese, Korean, Thai and other cuisine.