Places · Malaysia

Natural Wonders of Malaysia: The 5 Most Beautiful Places to Visit

5 places in the atlas

Malaysia spans the Malay Peninsula and northern Borneo, cloaked in ancient tropical rainforest — among the oldest and most biodiverse on the planet. On Borneo rises Mount Kinabalu, a young granite massif and the highest peak in the Malay Archipelago, its slopes climbing from lowland jungle through cloud forest to bare, glacier-sculpted rock. That range of habitats supports staggering biodiversity, including the giant Rafflesia flower, orchids, and endemic pitcher plants, alongside orangutans and hornbills in the surrounding forests. Below are the 5 natural wonders of Malaysia in the atlas — the most beautiful places to build a trip around, each with what makes it remarkable, when to go, and how to reach it. Best overall time: The drier months (roughly March–September) give the best chance of clear summits on Kinabalu; the tropics are warm and humid year-round.

Gunung Mulu

Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia

A Bornean rainforest hiding some of the world's greatest caves — including the largest cave chamber on Earth — plus razor-sharp limestone pinnacles rising from the jungle canopy.

Cave Southeast Asia

Kinabatangan River

Sabah, Malaysian Borneo

Sabah's great wildlife river — the second longest in Malaysia, whose forested floodplain is among the best places on Earth to see wild orangutans, proboscis monkeys and pygmy elephants from a boat.

River Southeast Asia

Mount Kinabalu

Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia

The highest peak in Southeast Asia's island world — a granite giant on Borneo, ringed by one of the richest concentrations of plant life on Earth, from giant Rafflesia flowers to carnivorous pitcher plants.

Mountain Southeast Asia

Sipadan Island

Celebes Sea, off Sabah, Malaysian Borneo

Malaysia's only oceanic island — a coral pinnacle rising 600 metres from the floor of the Celebes Sea off Borneo, ringed by walls of reef alive with turtles, barracuda tornadoes and reef sharks.

Coral reef Southeast Asia

Taman Negara

Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia

One of the oldest tropical rainforests on Earth — more than 130 million years unbroken — sprawling across the heart of Peninsular Malaysia, with a treetop canopy walkway, jungle rivers and the peninsula's highest mountain.

Forest Southeast Asia