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4.5

#1 of 42 hotels in Sandakan

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A jewel like tiny island in the Sulu Sea, an hour and a half boat rides north of Sandakan; Lankayan has been declared part of an immense Marine Protected Area to adopt the eco-tourism concept. Unpopulated and covered by thick tropical island vegetation on its topside, this peaceful, untouched little bit of paradise is ringed by an endless pure of white sandy beach, offering simply elegant and exquisite accommodation.

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Property amenities

Pool / beach towels

Restaurant

Breakfast buffet

Beach

Snorkelling

Airport transportation

Non-smoking hotel

Room features

Air conditioning

Private balcony

Safe

Refrigerator

Room types

Ocean view

Non-smoking rooms

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HOTEL CLASS

HOTEL STYLE

Charming

Great View

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Lankayan Island, Sandakan Malaysia

Getting there

Sandakan Airport69 kmSee all flights

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516Reviews42Q+A79Room tips

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farah h wrote a review 20 Mar

2 contributions

The beautiful island in Sabah that can people come for works and vacation also a television programme

The best luxury and peaceful places The nature was incredible Will come again with family and friends also my patners Little bit pricely but its okay As long a we can make a memories with family and friends

Date of stay: April 2022Trip type: Travelled as a couple

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

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minnie_globetrotter wrote a review Dec 2022

Singapore, Singapore103 contributions71 helpful votes

Amazing and beautiful resort

Super relaxing place to visit. Inform of your intentions to dive as they need to have enough dive masters as they maybe already booked for other dives. We had an over water chalets which were beautiful to stay at. We could see turtles and rays everywhere. Snorkelling is amazing here with resident lion fish near the dive pier and lots of fish everywhere. You can also adopt a turtle nest with the amazing turtle conservation lady there. Great experience for kids! We received videos of when the turtles hatched and how many hatched! Food is good there, a choice of a’la carte. It did feel the wait stuff were young and slightly immature but I guess that this difficulty is worldwide. We will certainly be back. It’s amazing location and serene location.

Date of stay: July 2022Trip type: Travelled with family

Room Tip: Water chalets are the best

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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

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k s wrote a review Aug 2022

Bath, United Kingdom6 contributions1 helpful vote

A beautiful place to relax

We spent 5 nights on Lankayan as a family of 4, with two kids aged 6&7. We all loved the experience. We arrived and walked down the boardwalk spotting many turtles before we’d even got to our chalet! The snorkelling for the children was excellent. We had brought our own, and we were soon all in the sea swimming with turtles, and amongst the most amazing sea life we’d ever seen! We all enjoyed watching the turtle hatchings in the evenings, although I think we more propel it could have felt a little overwhelming as we experienced for a turtle egg laying. But maybe they manage the numbers when more people are staying. The food and drinks offering could be improved, we had a mixture of ‘Al a carte’ (they bring food to your table) and buffet. But if you are vegetarian there are not many options. My son has a dairy allergy and was catered for when there weren’t many guests but as it filled as the weekend the options decreased (there’s always rice!). Drinks wise there is beer or bottles of wine (ie not available by the glass). I would have preferred having a couple of glasses of wine in the evening rather than buying a whole bottle and then wasting half of it! The chalets were very well appointed, the best we’d experienced in Borneo and we’d been at some 5* hotels. There would be some improvements personally I’d make (glass in the windows rather than boarded up to get the view of the sea), but as I say the best in Borneo and we were comfortable and happy. As I unfortunately had to be in touch with my business whilst staying here, I was looking forward to the wifi, which did only work on one of the 5 days. This did cause me some stress, but I could understand how if you wanted to get away from it all, this would be perfect. The mobile signal is just strong enough to receive some emails / messages and open maybe 1 webpage (a day!) but calls are fine. Although there are some negatives, I could have stayed forever and was sad to leave which I don’t normally experience. A really special place and I’d recommend to anyone. Please look after the reefs!!…

Date of stay: August 2022Trip type: Travelled with family

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

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Nate B wrote a review Aug 2022

New Haven, Connecticut4 contributions1 helpful vote

+1

Beautiful, romantic snorkel destination

We had an amazing experience on Lankayan Island for our honeymoon!! It is absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous—just as stunning as the pictures make it look and then some. We spent three nights in a water Chalet, which was incredibly luxurious and beautiful: by far the most stunning accommodations we have ever stayed in! The food was also quite good, especially the lunches and dinners—each day we got served a tasty Asian style stir fried vegetable dish and two main course dishes, I believe always one seafood and one meat (although they offered accommodations for those with dietary restrictions). There was also always a tasty dessert and fruit! We don’t dive, but love snorkeling, and snorkeled each day. While we were there, there was no option to take a boat ride to other areas to snorkel, but the snorkeling was excellent right on the reef around the island. We saw so many kinds of amazingly beautiful fish as well as so many gorgeous sea turtles and also some sharks and rays!!! Overall it was a super peaceful and gorgeous experience and in our mind a real bargain for how insanely nice the accommodations was and how much privacy there was.…

Date of stay: July 2022Trip type: Travelled as a couple

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

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Chloe C wrote a review Aug 2022

2 contributions

Lovely staff but severely understaffed dive center

Let me be clear, staff are lovely at this resort. Facilities are pretty well maintain and clean. The island is beautiful. However, I don’t think the management /owner are handling the understaff issue correctly. When we booked, we made our intention to dive clear. However, we are not signing up for dive package because we had no intention to dive so much. When we arrived, we were told there wasn’t enough dive master to cater for the number of divers. So we couldn’t dive. Dive staff were bending over backward to accommodate to our request which was very nice of them. However, I don’t think they should be put into such situation where the resort taking more booking than they could handle. Due to short handed, which means dive guide to diver ratio are not ideal. Also, considering this is luxury dive resort, you don’t get much help from getting in and out of the boat because the poor DM have to now handle more guest! I sincerely think this is very unfair to the staff as well as the paying guest. Do check the dive guide to diver ratio before u book. Make them commit to it as a measure of safety and staff welfare. Otherwise, don’t come here to dive.…

Date of stay: August 2022Trip type: Travelled with friends

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Tom S wrote a review Jun 2022

2 contributions

Paradise island

As spectacular a place as you could wish for. We spent the last four nights of our honeymoon here and, after 8 days on the go touring Sabah, this was the perfect place to relax and unwind. Lovely rooms, friendly staff and a postcard perfect location. And the diving was incredible too!

Date of stay: June 2022Trip type: Travelled as a couple

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andy.karla wrote a review Nov 2020

Ottawa, Canada1265 contributions514 helpful votes

+1

Fitting End to a Three-Month Adventure

We enjoyed a 6-night stay at this property in an ‘Over The Water Chalet’ the week prior to the COVID Malaysia country wide lockdown – Our stay was during very low occupancy, which was certainly more pleasurable than the full house experience we might have other wise been subject too! On departure morning we were promptly picked up at our hotel in Sandakan and brought to the dock a few minutes drive away. The trip over was in calm waters, plain clothes security were on board and we were accompanied by a police boat part of the way. On arrival we noted a Malaysian Navy boat sitting off the island. On the island there were Military personal behind blinds at numerous points on the island. Our Chalet was equipped with a panic button and red light all of which contributed to our safety while on the island. While there have been no terrorist kidnappings in the area in almost a decade, we felt very safe with the necessary security noted! On arrival we were promptly herded into the main building for an initiation session by an employee who rhymed off a spiel which was hard to understand, outdated, mostly irrelevant and he was unable to answer questions which were outside of his written practiced spiel. After the induction we were sent to our ‘East Facing Chalet’ meaning we had morning sun followed by shade in the late afternoon which meant the room stayed cooler and the deck was a cool respite at the end of the day. The west facing Chalets would provide the opposite experience. Our Chalet was spacious and comfortable with the main area air conditioned which really only provided relief at night due to the fact the Chalet ceiling is mostly open to the outdoors and the door to the outdoor washroom did not close. We were given an Internet log in code for the main building, which provided spotty, slow as molasses service. We inquired of the strong internet signal showing up in the chalet and were told this was for employees only and required a Purchased Voucher available only to employees. After some discussion with the manager Cyril the girl at the front desk who had initially refused to sell us a card, agreed to order an internet card allowing us to use the internet point in the room. Unfortunately, it did not arrive until our second last day, however we found the connection was faster, reliable and much more convenient to have a connection in the room. We would run into numerous instances of disconnection with staffs – Fortunately when we could get the ear of Cyril the manager, a solution was always instantaneous. Examples: The door lock on our chalet would not turn and lock or unlock with out force and multiple attempts. Reporting to the front desk went no where until Cyril became involved. Complaints of guests smoking inside the main building next to dinners eating a meal went ignored until we could track down Cyril Initially we would go to the front desk and ask to speak with the manager, the girl working the front desk was always more interested in Facebook on the computer and grudgingly indicated he was not here; however, he was somewhere on the island but could not be reached. We were told that possibly he would be back at 3:30 PM which was not the case when we returned at the appointed time. The next day we insisted on leaving a message for the manager. Out message indicated we needed to speak with him – Cyril did track us down and told us that was “Total BS” as he could always be reached 24 hours a day via the radio he always carried! Snorkeling was very good. We would take a boat snorkel in the morning to various spots close to the island and in the afternoon, we would snorkel off the shore for a different experience. We would be ready and waiting in the dive office well before the appointed time. Staffs were very vague and there was an evident disconnect as to when or if the snorkel boat would be going out. Direct questions were always met with “wait over there”! One day after a wait of 50 minutes and staffs ignoring us and refusing to acknowledge or update us, we decided to leave – half way back to the Chalet staffs came after us yelling to come back, they were going now, almost an hour late! Perhaps these and other unmentioned examples of disconnect were down to a very laid-back cultural approach, or perhaps there is some sort of disenchantment by certain staffs in their work creating a lack of empathy and enthusiasm for their work contributing to a negative customer experience in what is a high potential, beautiful, serene and exotic location. Snorkeling is a highlight here. Fish, sea snakes, turtles, huge parrot fishes & lots of coral were only some of the fascinating underwater life conducent to the island Food was average and daily selection was consistent with what one would expect on a remote island location…. Basic & edible but not gourmet. Due to the small number of guests, most days were à la carte with occasional buffet meals when guest numbers increased slightly. For a resort in the sun the one resort bar peculiarly only sells an assortment of beer and a small selection of wine. There is no hard alcohol, mixed drinks or liqueurs. The island is beautiful. White sandy beaches great for sunbathing and turtles laying eggs late at night. The overwater Chalets offer privacy and comfort. Many of the staffs are hardworking friendly helpful people from different cultures willing to assist with any requests. While there were numerous disconnect challenges, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay and left with many happy memories. Special thanks to Cyril and all the staffs who made our stay memorable!…

Date of stay: March 2020

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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

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Michael M wrote a review Mar 2020

Kihei, Hawaii292 contributions229 helpful votes

Fantastic!!!

We spent 6 nights on Lankayan and loved every minute. We stayed in both the beach bungalows and the over-water chalets. Both were spacious and comfortable with great amenities. The air-conditioning was definitely colder in the beach rooms but we never felt hot over the water. The food was excellent with a good range of Western and Asian food. We came for the diving and were not disappointed. We saw a Marlin, Jawfish, many Sharks, Frogfish, and quite a bit of macro. Every dive we saw something cool. Definitely worth a visit!

Date of stay: March 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

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yeremiasamola wrote a review Mar 2020

Manado, Indonesia2 contributions3 helpful votes

Diving Trip

Nice place and nice resort ... I come in here with my fiance and some divers family and we do dive for some days , a lot of wreck dive in here and Good for fun dive also 👌 And best place for the turtle so you can see a lot of turtle around the resort in here even on the beach ...

Date of stay: March 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

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krinvan wrote a review Feb 2020

Vancouver, Canada64 contributions59 helpful votes

Paradise

One of our favourite island getaways to date. We had a great time, no complaints about anything. Our water villa was peaceful, staff are friendly and overall the resort is very quiet. We were pretty sad to leave.

Date of stay: December 2019

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

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