Semporna
Semporna is a small port town of about 150,000 inhabitants on the south-east coast of Sabah, and for divers it is simply the gateway: the boats to Sipadan, Mabul, Kapalai, Pom Pom and Mataking all leave from here. The town itself is a working fishing port: a mix of tourist hotels, Bajau Laut stilt villages, a wet seafood market, waterfront restaurants, dive shops and the jetties where the day-trip boats load up every morning and return between 4 and 5pm.
Two practical things to know before you plan. Sipadan is protected by a daily permit system (254 permits per day, allocated through the resorts and dive operators), so Sipadan dives must be arranged in advance, never on arrival. And since October 2022 you need an Advanced Open Water certification (or equivalent) to dive Sipadan itself; Open Water divers still have superb diving at Mabul, Kapalai and the Tun Sakaran Marine Park.
Most visitors sleep one night in town at most, then move to the islands. Below is our honest, regularly verified list of what is actually open in Semporna: we removed the ghosts, corrected the renames, and grouped everything the way you will search for it.
Which are the Semporna Islands?
"Semporna" the town is really the front door to Semporna the archipelago: several dozen islands scattered across the Celebes Sea, split between the protected Tun Sakaran Marine Park to the north-east and the dive islands to the south. The park - managed by Sabah Parks - covers eight islands and their reefs: Bohey Dulang and Bodgaya (the two halves of an old volcanic rim around a jade-green lagoon), the postcard sandbars of Sibuan and Mantabuan, plus Maiga, Selakan, Sebangkat and Church Reef. South of town lie the names divers fly in for:
- Sipadan island - the legendary wall dives, permit only
- Mabul island - macro diving capital, resorts for every budget
- Kapalai island - a stilt resort on a sandbank
- Mataking island - private-island resort, about 45 minutes out
- Pom Pom island - quiet beach-and-house-reef island
- Tun Sakaran Marine Park - Bohey Dulang, Sibuan, Mantabuan and five more islands
Distances are short. Bum Bum sits ten minutes off the jetty; Mabul and Kapalai are roughly 40 minutes by speedboat; Mataking, Pom Pom and Timba Timba around 45 minutes to an hour; Sipadan itself about an hour. From the tourist jetty (Jeti Pelancongan) the classic day out is the Tun Sakaran island-hopping tour: hike Bohey Dulang's stairway ridge - count about 45 minutes up to the viewpoint at roughly 350 m - for the famous lagoon panorama, then snorkel the shallow reefs of Sibuan or Mantabuan among the seaweed farms and Bajau stilt houses. Book the Bohey Dulang hike or any multi-island combo at least one day ahead, as park slots are limited and boats leave early. Divers should plan the geography around one fact: Sipadan is permit-only, so your Sipadan day is fixed first and the other islands arrange themselves around it.
Semporna Boat Transfers
Scheduled boats run every morning from Semporna to Mabul and the resort islands, with returns in the afternoon. Timetables shift with the seasons and the resorts.
Contact us for the latest Semporna boat transfer schedule
Which are the Top Hotels in Semporna?
These are the places we send divers who want a proper hotel within walking distance of the jetties. The Seafest is the closest thing Semporna has to a business hotel; the Dragon Inn is the town landmark on stilts. Everything listed here was individually verified as open.
Seafest Hotel (3 stars)
The reference hotel in town, right on the waterfront next to the Seafest mall and one of the resort jetties. Rooms are simple but reliable, there is a rooftop sports bar, and its annex building (the former "Lepa Wing") handles the overflow in high season. If you want one comfortable night before the islands, this is the default answer.
Pacific Inn (3 stars)
A long-running mid-range hotel a short walk from the jetty, popular with dive groups on a schedule. Clean air-conditioned rooms and an easy location near the Then Wang kopitiam corner make it a practical, no-surprises base.
Dragon Inn Floating Resort
Semporna's landmark: a stilt-built hotel with Bajau-inspired wooden boardwalks and chalets over the green harbour water, complete with a taxidermied giant grouper in the lobby. It is more about character than luxury, and its seafood restaurant is an institution in its own right.
Sipadan Inn, Sipadan Inn 2 & Sipadan Inn 3
A trio of sister hotels around the Seafront township, a few steps from the departing boats. Sipadan Inn 2 has balcony rooms with sea views; all three share the same straightforward formula of clean rooms, luggage storage and early-breakfast timing that suits dive-boat departures.
Mabul Inn
Despite the name it sits in Semporna town, not on Mabul. A compact, fully air-conditioned hotel with fresh bathrooms and a bright colour scheme; one of the town's better-value private-room options for couples.
City Inn
A simple in-town hotel a couple of minutes from the market streets. Nothing fancy, but rooms are decent-sized and it is one of the easier places to find a bed when the waterfront hotels are full.
Han Palace Hotel
One of the newer Chinese-run hotels in town and consistently among the most-booked mid-range places in Semporna. Modern rooms, proper lifts and reception that is used to divers leaving at dawn.
Holiday Dive Inn
A hotel attached to a dive operator, which is exactly what many visitors want: stay two nights, dive Sipadan one day, and let the same house arrange permits, boats and gear. Rooms are simple and the package logic does the heavy lifting.
Ocean Inn
The Ocean Inn 3 building is the one to book: sea-view standard and family rooms over the water side of town, larger than the Semporna average. See our dedicated page for room photos and current package options.
Wing Tat Grand Hotel
A proper full-service hotel by Semporna standards, with its own website and a solid local reputation for weddings and functions. Rooms are spacious for the price; ask for the upper floors on the quiet side.
Grace Hotel Semporna
With 107 rooms this is one of the biggest hotels in town, part of the Sabah-wide Grace group. It brings something Semporna rarely has: real capacity, consistent housekeeping and a front desk that answers email. A sensible pick for families and small groups.
Wave View Hotel
A newer seafront-township hotel with its own restaurant and, as the name promises, water views from the better rooms. It has quickly become one of the more polished mid-range addresses in town.
Sipadan Crystal Haven Inn
A small Chinese-family hotel (also signed as Haven Crystal Jade Inn) in the town grid. Rooms are basic but kept clean, and it is one of the friendlier budget-plus options for travellers who just need a solid overnight before the boats.
Semrock Hotel 仙乐酒店
A modern shop-house hotel popular with Chinese-speaking guests, bookable on the main platforms. Compact, air-conditioned rooms and a location that puts the night food street within a short walk.
Little Turtle's Home (LTH)
A small guesthouse-style hotel run with a personal touch, better known by its initials LTH. Think of it as a boutique homestay: few rooms, helpful hosts, and honest prices.
OYO 89712 Grand Inn
A no-frills town hotel now operating under the OYO flag, about 200 m from the centre. It does one job: an air-conditioned room at one of the lowest hotel (not hostel) prices in Semporna.
Hemingway Cottage
A small character property that stands out from the concrete shop-houses, with cottage-style rooms and a quieter setting. Book early; with only a handful of rooms it fills fast in the diving season.
OHHSEM Hotel
A 3-star property that is currently easiest to reach directly through its own Facebook page rather than the big booking platforms. Worth a message if the waterfront hotels are full; confirm your dates in writing before you travel.
The Budget and Mid-range Hotels and Resorts around Semporna
This is the deepest part of the Semporna market: dozens of small hotels, lodges and mini-resorts within a few streets of the jetty. Every name below was checked and is open (several under new names, which we flag). Prices move with the seasons, so we deliberately list none.
Scuba Tiger Semporna Holiday Resort
A water-village style resort at the edge of town with its own dive centre, one of the few in-town places where you sleep over the water without taking a boat. See our dedicated page for rooms and dive packages.
Lato Lato Resort
A resort-style property about 4 km outside the town centre, trading space and quiet against walkability. Popular with Malaysian families; divers will need transport to the jetty each morning.
Semporna Kulapuan Island Resort
A small island resort on Pulau Kulapuan, booked as a package with boat transfer. We cover it together with the other over-water places on our Semporna water resorts page.
Sipadan Mangrove Resort
A mangrove-side resort between Tawau and Semporna, closer to the airport than to the jetty, with chalets on the water and a very quiet setting. Full details on our Sipadan Mangrove Resort page.
MY Rainforest Semporna
A garden-style stay slightly out of the grid, greener than the town-centre shop-houses. Good for travellers with a rental car who want calm nights between island days.
Together Palm Resort
A small resort-style property with simple chalet rooms, bookable on the main platforms. A budget-friendly compromise between a town hotel and a real island resort.
My Home Semporna / My Home Backpackers
Two closely related budget stays under the "My Home" name; the Backpackers branch runs the dorm side. Whichever you land in, expect basic clean rooms and staff used to arranging island-hopping tours.
Ju House homestay (formerly Rainbow Lodge Plt)
The property once listed as Rainbow Lodge Plt now trades as Ju House homestay. Small, family-run, and typical of Semporna's new wave of renamed guesthouses; book under the new name.
Three Star Hotel Semporna
The name oversells it slightly, but this is a fair-value budget hotel with private bathrooms and air-conditioning. A workable overnight if the better-known places are full.
7 Inn Semporna
A compact budget hotel with a shared kitchen and lounge, a short walk from the boats. One of those quietly reliable addresses that repeat visitors keep going back to.
Kuree Hut
An air-conditioned guesthouse with a 24-hour front desk, airport transfers and its own Facebook following. Small rooms, friendly operation, honest value.
Ang Lee Holiday Stay
A one-star hotel in the best sense: cheap, central, with its own little restaurant and an in-house dive club that can put your island days together. Laundry service is a nice touch after a wet week.
Grace Samudera Hotel
Not to be confused with the bigger Grace Hotel: this is a small budget property in the town grid, listed on the main platforms. Simple rooms for travellers who only need a bed and a shower.
Memory Boutique Hotel
One of the more design-conscious small hotels in town, with a terrace and tidy modern rooms. A good middle path between hostel prices and Seafest comfort.
Green World Hotel
A dependable Chinese-run budget hotel with its own Facebook page and steady reviews. Rooms are compact; location and price are the argument.
Chan Living (formerly Chan's Holiday Inn)
Same building, third name: the old Chan's Holiday Inn now operates as Chan Living. The family runs it hands-on, and it remains one of the better-organised budget stays near the jetty.
TEMPO (and Tempo Ext.)
A hostel-hotel hybrid with a garden, shared lounge and terrace, plus an extension building nearby for the overflow. Sociable without being a party place; the free-breakfast-and-laundry-corner formula works.
Elly's Home 仙本那爱丽家民宿
A small guesthouse popular with Chinese-speaking travellers, bookable online. Homestay feel, hotel basics.
Uptown Hotel
A straightforward budget hotel on the town side, away from the waterfront bustle. Useful when everything near the jetty is booked out around Chinese holidays.
See You Hotel 西柚
A newer small hotel with the fresh-paint feel Semporna's older stock lacks. Compact rooms aimed squarely at the island-hopping crowd.
Mushrooms Inn
A quirky-named budget inn in the town grid, listed on the main platforms. Basic private rooms at near-hostel prices.
Sunbay Inn
A simple inn a few minutes from the seafront township. Nothing to write home about, everything you need for one night.
Halo Hotel
A budget hotel with a 24-hour front desk, airport transport and luggage storage - the three services early dive boats actually require. Regularly listed among the town's hostel-adjacent picks.
TD Mutiara Hotel Semporna
A mid-size hotel on Jalan Hospital with family rooms, apartment-style suites, free parking and an on-site mini-market. It sits a 10-15 minute walk from the jetty, which buys you bigger rooms for the money.
The Firefly Resort
A small resort-style property listed on the main platforms. Chalet feel on a budget; check location against your boat times before booking.
Buddy Station
A budget stay with private-bathroom rooms and hostel DNA (slippers, hair dryers and free toiletries in some units). A frequent pick for small groups of divers.
Ozzy Lodge Semporna
A small lodge with simple rooms, listed on the main platforms. One of the many honest cheap sleeps within reach of the jetty.
Coconut Garden Resort (formerly Shunde Palm Resort 顺德人家棕榈园)
The property long listed as Shunde Palm Resort now trades as Coconut Garden Resort. A garden compound outside the concrete centre, still run with the same Chinese-Malaysian family hospitality; book under the new name.
Ocean Village 后海别墅
A villa-style stay on the back-harbour side of town (the "Semporna Ocean Village" listing you may see elsewhere is the same place). Roomier than the shop-house hotels, with a Chinese-speaking host team.
Coral Home 珊瑚之家
A small guesthouse popular with Chinese-speaking divers, listed on the main platforms. Clean rooms, helpful tour desk, sensible prices.
IB Room
A live-and-well hostel-style stay on the edge of town (about 4 km out), cheap even by Semporna standards. Best suited to travellers with their own transport.
Wings Hotel
A budget hotel in the town grid, listed on the main platforms. Compact air-conditioned rooms for a quick overnight.
A° Hotel Semporna
A family-friendly inn with something rare in town: a small pool and jacuzzi. Rooms have flat-screens and some balconies; a shared kitchen rounds out the value case.
A Hotel
Confusingly not the same place as A° Hotel: this is a separate budget property, also verified open. Double-check which of the two your booking confirmation names.
MnD Lodge
A small local lodge with basic rooms near the town centre. A fallback option worth knowing when the season peaks.
Paly Hotel & Neo Paly Hotel
Two branches of the same small hotel brand, with the Neo building being the newer of the pair. Simple rooms; pick whichever has availability, the formula is identical.
I Love U BnB 爱乐游民宿
A guesthouse that markets itself on one number: five minutes on foot to the jetty. For dawn Sipadan departures that is a genuinely useful promise.
The Village 本民宿之村
A guesthouse-style stay that survived the post-pandemic shakeout and remains listed and open. Homestay atmosphere with hotel bookability.
SBR Inn
A small budget inn in the town grid, verified open on the main platforms. One of the quieter cheap sleeps.
Anggun Lodge
A simple Malay-run lodge with basic rooms. Local feel, local prices.
Mango Inn
A small inn near the centre, listed on the main platforms. Bed, aircon, shower, done.
Bubul Village Stay
A village-style stay outside the concrete grid for travellers who want the kampung side of Semporna. Simple rooms, genuine hosts.
Rainforest·JIUQI Holiday
A garden-and-villa style property aimed at Chinese-speaking guests, listed on the main platforms. More space and green than the town hotels, a short ride from the jetty.
Casa Casa
A guesthouse with a shared lounge and kitchen and a 24-hour front desk. It used to be listed among the hotels; in reality it is a comfortable budget guesthouse, and a good one.
CK Guest House (formerly "Amazing Rooms")
The listing once marketed as Amazing Rooms is the CK Guest House: private rooms at hostel-adjacent prices. Book under the CK name.
De Marina Hotel (formerly Marina Hotel)
The old Marina Hotel now trades as De Marina. A cheap in-town hotel 5-8 minutes' walk from the market and jetty, with two restaurants at the end of the block and a 24-hour launderette behind it - the practical details matter more than the decor here.
OYO HOME 90667 Chen Room Bs
Serviced rooms under the OYO Home flag with TVs and hairdryers - closer to a private-room homestay than a hotel. Fine for a functional overnight.
SPOT ON 89947 Mu Yu
A tiny budget property on OYO's SPOT ON economy tier. Rock-bottom prices, matching expectations; verified open.
Which are the Hostels in Semporna?
Semporna has one of the deepest backpacker scenes in Sabah, and unusually, the hostels here are good: several are attached to dive shops, most include breakfast, and the best are genuinely spotless. All of the below are verified open.
Borneo Global Sipadan Backpackers
A veteran of the Semporna backpacker scene, tied into dive and island-hopping packages. See our dedicated page for the current setup.
Scuba Junkie Hotel & Backpackers
The best-known dive operator in town also runs its own accommodation, and the diver's bar downstairs is the closest thing Semporna has to a scene. Stay here if you want your dives, permits and evening beers handled by one team.
Billabong Scuba
A dive operator with its town office doubling as the meeting point for its lodge guests on Mabul and Bum Bum. If you booked a Billabong package, this is where your Semporna morning starts.
Best Bunk Beds
Currently ranked #2 of all specialty lodgings in town, and deservedly: spotless dorms with privacy curtains, big clean washrooms, a sea-view balcony, and a manager who runs well-reviewed fun-dive trips to Mataking and Bohey Dulang. On the 1st-3rd floors of the Seafront township (no lift, pack light).
Cube Bed Station
Forty capsule beds with individual curtains on the waterfront near the jetty and food street, plus free breakfast, a BBQ area and even a small pool - unheard of at this price point. The most polished capsule option in town.
Perfect Hub Semporna
A capsule hotel with desks in the rooms and a shared lounge, consistently named among the most popular hostels in Semporna. Modern, quiet, well run.
Ocean House
A hostel with room service and a shared lounge, popular with Singaporean and Chinese travellers. Clean and central.
Belong 归属仓
A capsule-style hostel with a Chinese-speaking host team. Compact, tidy, and priced for long-stay divers.
Island Backpackers
One of the town's staple hostels (you may also see it flagged as ZEN Rooms Island Backpackers). Private rooms and dorms, easy extensions, and staff used to sorting airport shuttles at short notice.
Wanderer's Inn 漫游者旅舍
Eleven rooms plus capsule dorms at Lot D1 of the Seafront township, with rainfall showers and a small restaurant. The capsules are the smart buy; the windowless private rooms less so.
Awys Backpackers
A cheerful cheap hostel in Taman Bandar with an on-site bar and beds from pocket-money prices. Shared bathrooms, sociable common areas, zero pretension.
Atine Semporna Backpackers Hostel
A long-runner on the first floor of the Chinese Chamber building in the old town. Basic dorms, central position, honest prices.
Mydin Lodge Semporna
A simple local lodge, verified open. Best treated as a budget bed rather than a social hostel.
Luna Capsule
A capsule hostel in the current TripAdvisor top list for Semporna. Curtained pods, shared bathrooms, and the low prices that come with them.
Aramaitie Backpackers
A staple of the Semporna dorm scene, still listed and active. Expect the standard formula: bunks, breakfast, island-tour bookings at the desk.
Jeff Backpackers Lodge
A small, personal hostel that has outlived many flashier rivals. Simple bunks and a host who knows every boat departure by heart.
Wook Wook Homestay
Half hostel, half homestay, fully local. A budget pick for travellers who prefer a family house over a bunk factory.
Mermaid Inn 美人鱼客栈
First-floor rooms in the Seafront township with a shared sea-breeze balcony strung with hammocks - the single best sunset perch in the hostel price class. Staff get consistently glowing reviews.
Alice Semporna Backpackers Hostel
A dependable dorm address in the current hostel top list, bookable on the main platforms. Clean, central, unfussy.
Poga Backpackers
A small hostel that keeps showing up in the town's active listings year after year. Budget bunks, local management.
Bunk Inn Semporna II (B.I.S II 好望角)
The second-generation Bunk Inn, popular with Chinese-speaking backpackers and one of the few pet-tolerant stays in town. Dorms and simple privates.
My Home Backpackers
The dorm wing of the My Home family (see the budget section). Cheap bunks a short walk from the boats.
RTMS Guesthouse
A small guesthouse verified open in the current listings. Few frills, fair prices.
Which are the Semporna Homestays?
My Scuba Diver's Mabul Homestay
The homestay long listed here as "Mabul Scuba Homestay": a genuinely basic Bajau-style guesthouse on Mabul island with one-to-one snorkel guiding and home cooking. Choose it for the experience and the price, not the pillows.
Mabul Hometown (Homestay)
Despite the name, this one is in Semporna town (Jalan Kastam, Seafront township), not on Mabul - a hostel-style homestay with shared kitchen and laundry. Useful to know before you book expecting an island.
Aloha Wonderland Homestay
A homestay with proper online bookability and a loyal Chinese-speaking following. Private rooms with the family-house warmth hotels cannot fake.
Hosanna Semporna Homestay
A small family homestay, verified in the current listings. Quiet and local.
AE Semporna Guesthouse
A compact guesthouse in the town grid, verified open. A straightforward budget alternative to the dorms.
bamboo homestay M2
A tiny homestay with a handful of rooms, verified open. Book direct through the platforms and confirm the exact unit.
Which are the Hotels and Resorts around Bum Bum Island?
Bum Bum is the big inhabited island just off the Semporna jetty, ten minutes by boat and a world away in pace. Two names matter for visitors: Egang-Egang Resort, a stilt water-resort on the reef edge (covered in detail on our water resorts page), and Luma Kembara, a small local stay for travellers who want village life rather than a resort bubble.
Which are the Water Resorts around Semporna?
This is the fastest-growing part of the Semporna scene: more than fifty stilt resorts and water villages now dot the reefs and islands within an hour of the jetty, from simple Bajau family homestays over the seagrass to glass-floored villas. They deserve their own guide, so we built one - every resort, honestly described, with the boat logistics explained.
See the complete Semporna Water Resorts guide
Twelve of the most established ones already have full pages on our site: Crystal Resort, Sea Star Resort, Blue Ocean Resort, Danglai Resort, Dayang Resort, Royal Resort, Sisipan Island Resort, Sand Bay Resort, Sky Water Villas, Larapan Water Village, SKY Resort Timbun Mata & Reef and Singamata Adventures and Reef Resort.
When are the Semporna Events & Festivals?
The event of the year is the Regatta Lepa, held every April on the Semporna waterfront. The lepa is the traditional single-masted boat of the Bajau, the "sea gypsies" of this coast, and for the festival the boats are dressed in layer upon layer of sambulayang - the huge, brilliantly coloured ceremonial sails - and paraded along the seafront to be raced and judged. Around the boat contests the town packs in cultural performances, traditional dance and music, duck-catching and greasy-pole games on the water, and a beauty pageant, and for one long weekend sleepy Semporna feels like the capital of the Celebes Sea. If your dive dates land in April, plan a town day around it - and book your hotel well ahead, because everything on this page fills up.
Beyond the regatta, time your trip with the Malaysian calendar in mind rather than the weather. Hari Raya, Chinese New Year and school holidays fill the jetty hotels with domestic travellers, so book early around those dates even outside April. The weather itself is the good news: Semporna sits south of the typhoon belt and has no true monsoon shutdown, so the boats run and the diving continues year-round. Conditions are generally at their calmest and clearest from roughly mid-February to mid-November, while the north-east monsoon months can bring afternoon rain and choppier crossings - a packing note, not a reason to stay home. In short: the sea rarely cancels a Semporna trip; a festival weekend without a booking might.
Semporna Chinese Restaurants
Chinese kitchens rule the Semporna seafood scene, and the formula is the same everywhere that matters: pick your fish, prawns or mantis shrimp live from the tanks, agree the style, and eat it twenty minutes later. Fat Mother Semporna is the name every returning diver knows - big tables, fast woks, and buttered prawns that justify the queue. Ocean Treasure Live Seafood Restaurant (海中宝) is the tank-lined heavyweight for groups, strong on steamed fish and chilli crab. The Dragon Inn restaurant lets you eat over the water on the stilt boardwalks of the famous floating hotel, which is worth one dinner for the setting alone. Fish Village Seafood Restaurant runs the same live-tank playbook with a local crowd, and it is often the easier table when Fat Mother is slammed. For everyday Chinese cooking rather than a seafood feast, the old-school kopitiam pair of Then Wang Restoran (near the Pacific Inn) and Restoran Thien Wang covers noodle soups, rice plates and strong kopi from early morning, while Fung Ling Restaurant does honest stir-fries at honest prices. Budget one proper seafood dinner per stay; it is the thing Semporna genuinely does better than the islands.
Semporna Western Restaurants
Nobody flies to Semporna for Western food, but after a week of rice you will be glad these exist. The Scuba Junkie Diver's Bar & Family Cafe is the social hub of the dive scene: burgers, big breakfasts, cold beer and every table talking about hammerheads. Mabul Steak House - in town, despite the name - is the go-to for an actual steak and western comfort plates at Malaysian prices. The Skyline Sports Bar on the Seafest rooftop pairs sunset views over the harbour with beer and pub food, and it is the best place in town to watch a match. Arthur's Bar keeps things simple: drinks, snacks and dive-crowd company. And yes, there is a KFC, which at 9pm after three boat dives has saved more divers than any of us will admit. Expect relaxed service everywhere and remember that alcohol is served in the tourist venues but not in the Malay kedai around them.
Semporna Malaysian Restaurants
The local food is the everyday win in Semporna, and the mamak-and-kedai circuit runs from dawn until late. Restoran Nasi Kandar Al-Farisha is the reliable nasi kandar stop - point at the trays, pile the rice, pay almost nothing. Restoran Bismillah and Restoran Al-Nafisah cover the roti canai, mee goreng and teh tarik essentials from early morning, which matters when your boat leaves at seven. Along the waterfront, Anjung Lepa and Anjung D'Samudera Cafe serve grilled fish, sup and rice plates with a sea breeze thrown in, while the Seaview Cafe 1 and 2 near the Seafest do the same trick closer to the hotels. Mabul Cafe is a solid all-rounder for local plates in town, Restoran Bawang Merah Bawang Putih handles the Malay classics, and Chrystal Jubilee 2 is the kind of unpretentious kedai where the ikan bakar is better than it has any right to be. Keep an eye out for the Zanah Food Truck in the evenings for cheap grilled skewers and local snacks. Order the catch of the day grilled with sambal, add a fresh coconut, and you have eaten Semporna properly for the price of a soft drink at the airport.
What are the Top Semporna Other Attractions?
Semporna rewards the traveller who keeps one day for the surface. The obvious first pick is a Tun Sakaran island-hopping day: the Bohey Dulang hike for the lagoon viewpoint, then snorkelling off Sibuan or Mantabuan, where reef, sandbar and stilt village share the same hundred metres of turquoise. It is the best-value day trip in Sabah and the reason many non-divers come here at all. Around the islands you will also meet the Bajau Laut, the sea-nomad communities whose houseboats and stilt villages define this coastline; enjoy the encounter respectfully - these are working villages and family homes, not attractions, so ask before photographing people and buy something from the boats if you want to give.
- Bukit Tengkorak (Skull Hill) - a short stairway hike just outside town to one of Southeast Asia's largest Neolithic pottery-making sites, worked some 3,000 years ago, with a panorama over the very islands you will be diving the next day. Go for late afternoon light.
- Proboscis Monkey River Cruise - a late-afternoon boat up the nearby mangrove rivers for proboscis monkeys, macaques, hornbills and, on lucky evenings, fireflies on the way back.
- The wet market and waterfront - Semporna's daily theatre: seaweed farmers landing their harvest, fish auctions, dried-catch stalls and lepa boats tied three deep. Go early, bring small notes.
- The seafood waterfront at night - pick-your-own-tank dining from the Chinese restaurants below, eaten over the water. Budget one blow-out dinner; it is Semporna's true signature dish.
Other previous resorts and hotels
Semporna's hotel scene turns over quickly, and several names that still float around the internet no longer check out. As of our latest verification, we could not find any active trace of the Sipadan Hotel Semporna, Mutiara Inn (not to be confused with the very much open TD Mutiara Hotel), Semporna Backpackers, Star Inn, Damai Traveller Lodge or Lok 10 Guesthouse. If you hold an old booking or find a live listing for any of these, treat it with caution and confirm directly before paying anything.
With speed boats minutes away, an unmatched spread of beds from capsule to resort, and the Tun Sakaran islands on the doorstep, Semporna has grown into one of the biggest diving hubs in Southeast Asia - a town you pass through so you can spend your days where it counts: on and under some of the best diving water in the world.