Mantanani, the closest pristine beach with clear blue water you can experience if Semporna is too far away. Forget about the famous trio Manukan, Mamutik, and Sapi, as they are too mainstream and crowded, despite not very tourist laden as before. But if you’re visiting Kota Kinabalu for the first time, you may want to check them out first.

This is actually a throwback post, as I explored this beautiful tropical island a year ago. Since RMCO calls for cuti-cuti Malaysia, I thought to myself that I should blog more about my local adventures in this exotic land of Borneo.

Mantanani Islands consist of a group of three islands, located near the town of Kota Belud, in northern Borneo. Mantanani Besar, being the largest island, followed by Mantanani Kecil and Lungisan.

 

How did I get there?

To get to Mantanani Island from Kota Kinabalu, it takes a 1.5 hour drive to Rampayan Jetty and from Rampayan Jetty, it takes a 45 minute boat ride to Pulau Mantanani Besar. Alternatively, you may take a 1hr boat ride from Kuala Abai Jetty. You may either rent a car or get a tour package that offers transportation.

The sea is definitely bluer on this side.

The latter obviously makes your trip more convenient. Sutera at Mantanani offers land and sea transfer with an additional cost of approx. RM100 for the bus ride (as of 2019, before Miss Corona arrived at the shore) if memory serves me right.  You can also opt for sea transfer only, of course.

 

Where did I stay?

Sutera @ Mantanani, located at Pulau Mantanani Besar, where you find most of the resorts are. Sutera offers either Deluxe or Chalet type of rooms inclusive of buffet-style breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as hi-tea!

 

What did I do in Mantanani?

Also known as the mermaid island due to several dugong sightings, Mantanani Islands are widely known for their diving sites. For less challenging water activities, snorkeling is a pretty good alternative to watch the mesmerizing underwater marine life.

 

My experience in Sutera@ Mantanani

Amazing. Sutera@Mantanani definitely gives the perfect weekend getaway any busy and stressed out workaholics could ask for. The beach is very well maintained, with pristine clear water. The sea water has different shades of blue ranging from turquoise to cerulean.

No filter needed.

The entire itinerary has many free and easy slots and allows you to be flexible with the activities. Sutera management is generally reputable with providing excellent hospitality services and I can say the same for its Mantanani counterpart. Apart from the top rated accommodation services, they serve delicious meals too.

Breakfast

Stunning night view

There was only one drawback I experienced in this whole trip. The round trip for the land transfer from the jetty took a much longer time than expected. This is because the bus stopped several times to drop off tourists to their respective hotels. As a result, we reached KK at 7pm, a few hours behind schedule. But of course, that happened in the pre-Covid era.

I could not recall the overall price of the trip but currently there’s an ongoing promotion package! You may head over to their website for further information.

Till next post,

 

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored content. The entire trip was self-funded by the author. All the opinions are solely belong to the author of the view/opinion and do not represent the aforementioned product/company.