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Kuching
Malaysia / Sarawak (Borneo) / Kuching

Kuching

Riverfront City of Cats, Longhouses and Orangutans

Plan this trip
3 daysIdeal stay₹2,330From / night₹930Food / day₹470Entry

Sarawak's relaxed capital on the Sarawak river: the riverside walk, the Astana and Fort Margherita across the water by sampan, the Chinese temples and shophouses of the old town, and the new Borneo Cultures Museum. Within an hour: semi-wild orangutans at Semenggoh's feeding times, proboscis monkeys and bearded pigs on the beaches of Bako National Park (by boat), and the Sarawak Cultural Village's longhouses. Sarawak laksa for breakfast. Sarawak runs its own immigration check on arrival from the Peninsula.

Highlights

  • Orangutan feeding at Semenggoh
  • Proboscis monkeys at Bako National Park
  • Sunset on the Kuching Waterfront
  • Borneo Cultures Museum
  • Sarawak Cultural Village longhouses
  • Sarawak laksa and kolo mee
  • Sampan across to Fort Margherita

Things to do

  • Semenggoh orangutan feedingMorning · 2h 30m
  • Bako National Park boat & jungle trailsMorning · 7h
  • Borneo Cultures MuseumAfternoon · 2h 30m
  • Waterfront & Carpenter Street evening walkEvening · 2h
  • Sarawak Cultural VillageMorning · 4h

Tours & tickets

Tours & tickets in Kuchingvia GetYourGuideTours & tickets in Kuchingvia Klook

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When to go

Best time: April – September

Worth knowing

Haze from Kalimantan Fires

Sarawak is closest to the fires in Indonesian Borneo, and in dry years August and September bring thick haze, unhealthy air and flight delays at Kuching and Miri. Check the air index before you go and keep the itinerary flexible.

  • Chinese New Year — Two public holidays and a week of lion dances, lanterns and open houses, finest in Penang (Kek Lok Si lit up) and Melaka's Jonker Street. Many Chinese-run shops, hawker stalls and kopitiams close for 3-5 days, and buses and flights out of KL sell out the weekend before as people go home.
  • Ramadan and Hari Raya Aidilfitri — During Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk: Malay restaurants are quiet by day and the evening Ramadan bazaars, with food stalls at every mosque and market, are the best street food of the year. Don't eat or drink in the street in Kelantan and Terengganu. At its end, Hari Raya Aidilfitri brings the "balik kampung" exodus: buses, trains and flights sell out weeks ahead and KL empties for a week. Dates move about 11 days earlier each year; they are set by the new moon.
  • Gawai Dayak (Sarawak harvest festival) — The Dayak peoples' harvest festival, with open longhouses, rice wine (tuak) and dancing; Kuching holds parades and the Sarawak Cultural Village its biggest shows. Longhouse visits round 1 June are welcome but book ahead, as Sarawakians travel home.
  • Rainforest World Music Festival — Three days of world music in the grounds of the Sarawak Cultural Village outside Kuching, with workshops by day and stage shows at night; usually late June or July. Kuching's hotels sell out for it.