Shangri La Rasa Ria Hotel

Nice hotel with a fab orangutan sanctuary attached to it which should not be missed. its a rare opportunity to see (very closley) these amazing animals and it only costs a few pounds to do so, the money then goes to rehabilitating them back into the wild.

Staff are extremly friendly and the hotel is very clean.

The beach and sea is amazing with plenty of water sports to keep you busy.

There is even a lovley wedding pagoda.

There is a nice selection of food available which is of a good standard.

Rooms are lovley and spacious and of a very good standard, but in all honesty the Nexus Resort just down the road is by far better!

Just got back from our stay and are ready to go back again! We wanted a holiday where we could relax in beautiful surrounds and we defiantly found it!

The ground floor ocean view room that was home for 7 nights was fitted out very tastefully and to be able to wander out to the beach from the front sliding doors was just perfect.

The staff were really attentive and friendly, I don’t think we ever waited more than a minute for service when we put up our flag by the pool for a drink! The beach volleyball games with the staff became a ritual every night as it was such a laugh!

Being monsoon season, we were quite worried about getting rain, but we needn’t of. Though it did tend to cloud over on an afternoon, it was still sunny for 90% of the time.

It is quite pricey if you are on a budget, especially for drinks – make use of the supermarkets in KK!

stayed there for 10 nights jan 06 good resort staff are g8 room on 5 th floor views of sunset etc sounded like the 5th 6 th floors were new others were not

food good plenty of choice in buffet style with restaurant offering finer dining.

plenty to do horse riding water sports orangutans sactuary is fab saw 3 babies up close

worth making the effort to go to sepilok long way but worth it very much bigger and better then rasa ria sanctuary. we went with exotic borneo who are situated in the resort good day out. worth doing the river cruise saw probiscus monkeys and a tree snake.

played golf at the local course a stones throw from the hresort 2 mins in a free shuttle, hired clubs played 18 with buggy for £52 good value. good course plenty of water a little too wet on the fairways for that time of year but still good.

went to KK a couple of times safe cleanish ? shops were quite westernised 3 shopping ctrs which were good.

waterfront area very good, clean bars & restaraunts had a meal at one called atlantis prawns were huge see pic

weather was good rained most days around 4 pm but not too bad cleared and was very warm most of the time a little humid bit not too bad.

resort pool good plenty of chairs to siton got better as the 10 days went on.

the mix of nationalities were noticable plenty of aussies who r good fun euorpens and japanese.

Just returned from three nights at the Rasa Ria as part of a wider tour of Malaysia. While we very much enjoyed our stay, it's worth noting that this is a big resort with a "corporate" feel. The beach in front of the hotel is nice, but gets quite dirty if you walk further. The shortage of sunbeds noted in earlier reviews is still a problem. I'd very much like to know why the management hasn't addressed this. The rooms, while clean, are in need of renovation. They feel a bit dated compared to other beach resorts. The staff are friendly and the restaurant "Coast" is excellent. I was put off by the other restaurants outlets as they were mostly buffets and lacked atmosphere. The resort does have a very good selection of activities. Our 14 year old daughter loved the ATV safari. To summarize, a nice place but I'm not sure it's worth the 2.5 hour flight from KL unless you plan to explore Sabah further.

We have recently returned from a fantastic holiday over Christmas at the Rasa Ria resort. We found the Rasa Ria to have a relaxed, welcoming and family-friendly atmosphere. We stayed seven nights with our three young children.

The resort was very well managed and seemed to run like clockwork, with no apparent hiccups at this busy time of year. The Rasa Ria staff were absolutely fantastic – nothing was too much trouble and service was always with a smile.

The pool was great. As has been mentioned, other hotel guests seem to stake out their sun lounges by the pool early in the morning. We found that it didn’t seem to take too long before sun lounges were vacated and we could take up one or two. In any case, the pool was a perfect temperature and we ended up spending most of the time relaxing in the pool.

The food was wonderful, of a very high standard and with such variety. We recommend the Tepi Laut for lunch and dinner. The Coffee Terrace provided a delicious buffet breakfast.

The beach was good and it was lovely to walk along in the evening. Our four year old daughter went for a horse ride along the beach one morning. This was the highlight of her holiday.

We stayed for the final two nights of our holiday at the Tanjung Aru and were disappointed. It lacked the relaxed and friendly atmosphere of the Rasa Ria.

Overall, this is a great holiday destination for families and couples alike.

I scrolled through some of the review of Rasa Ria and I cannot agree with the majorioty's view of Rasa Ria.

We stayed there in August 2005 for only one day - after which quickly moved to the other Shangri-La (Tanjung Aru) for the rest of our stay in Sabah.

The beach was no more than average. The worst thing was that is was swarming with sand flies. The hotel even had placed a warning sign for the flies in the garden.

The rooms were ok but otherwise the hotel appeared to be a little run down. The plastic deck chairs by the pool - many of them broken added to the shabby outlook.

The pool was an average size. Nature reserve with the baby Orang Utang's was ok but somewhat overrated.

Amazingly this was our 6th trip back to this gem of a hotel tucked between the jungle and the South China sea. The things that make it so special are the relaxed atmosphere, the excellent service and attention to detail typical of the Shangri La family but especially well done here.

The heat isn't oppresive as there is a nice cool breeze most days but high factor sunscreen is still the best way to stay safe in the sun.

Although the town of Kota Kinabalu is a 30 to 40 minute bus ride away this helps to keep the place peaceful and relaxed It doesn't have the slightly hurried atmosphere of it's sister hotel, the Tajung Aru, in town.

There are now fantastic new facilities enabling guests to see baby Orangs and other indiginous wildlife in controlled but accesible surroundings.

For those who want a quiet adventure without too much effort, the boat trip from the beach is great fun. The helicopter rides aren't such a good idea as the noise is loud when you're trying to relax by the pool.

The golf course is a joy. You'll need to be a handicapper to get the best out of it but take it easy in the heat and you'll get great reward out of a challenging but stunningly beautiful course. Recommend the driving range for an unusual experience driving into a lake using balls which float!

There is a good variety of food on offer too and shouldn't come as too much of a shock to western tastes but will enable you to safely sample some great local favourites.

The Coast retaurant is superb and for a special treat, hire a Gazebo for a night and get all romantic without getting public!

If you're on a tight budget then you will have to be careful. You are somewhat of a captive audience if you don't have transport but it is still possible to enjoy everything on offer without breaking the bank.

The last word must go to the management and staff. Get the service wrong and it can ruin the whole package, here they get it right every time and they really take a pride in what they do. It does take a while to realise that the smiles and greetings are genuine, very unusual and very commendable and as far as we are concerned the detail that keeps us coming back.

My family and I just returned from a 6 nt/7 day stay at the Rasa Ria and we all had a wonderful time. This was our first time to KK and we wanted a hotel with a beach, activity for kids and a nice swimming pool. We got all that and more with the friendly staff who made our stay so enjoyable, great food at all the restaurants and nice sandy beach. Our 3 y.o. daughter practically lived in the pools and met lots of other children while playing there. The kid's club is there if the kids want it but for us, it was more of a back-up. The best part of the Kid's Club was the Christmas activities that they organized for the children. My daughter joined the children's choir and it was a wonderful experience for her. The only thing that might be improved are the lack of sunchairs around the pool area. Most families stake out their chairs early morning so that after breakfast, there are no chairs left by the pool. In this case, you need to use a hotel provided mat and sit on the ground until someone leaves. We spent most of our time swimming with the kids and didn't sunbathe much so this was not a big deal. After a few days, we learned to eat breakfast by the pool so we could find good spots early on. This might not be first choice if I were a couple without kids but for us, it was a great place for a relaxing family holiday with friendly staff, good facilities and average rooms.

The resort is great and very child friendly.

The service is excellent and people are very nice there. The restaurants are good too.

Our room had a stunning view on the beach and was really very confortable.

We're very happy with this resort, there are plenty of activities.

This place blew my mind. We travelled to the rasa ria after 2 weeks in bali and sadly only stayed 3 nights - i really wish it had been longer.

The room we had was fabulous - spacious, lovely bathroom, great view across to the sea through the palms, and a nice lower level seating area in front of the balcony doors. Its the best room ive ever staying in at a hotel. The staff were great, so helpful!

The pool was great with different depths in different sections, lots of comfy sunloungers either by the pool on the grassy areas or on the beach...oh and the beach was amazing!!! So wide and lovely white sand. The only thing to be aware of is sandflies - they don't treat the beach/pool area with chemicals so anti bug stuff is a must. OOh and check out the friendly lizards...some swim in the pool!!! And the daily delivery of cold towels at about 1pm was so welcome!! then at three oclock the fruit kebabs were brough round...I want to be there now!!!

The nature reserve was great too - good to see the birds and the information at the nature hut and amazing to see the baby orangutans - they are beautiful!! Its also worth going to sepilok if you can (we went with discovery tours which we arranged via teh internet before leaving the UK) they have more and older orangs where as the rasa ria only have 6 little ones at the mo.

Food wise - Naan, the indian restaurant was great - but unless your very hungry don't order starters and mains and rice and naan!! HUGE starters! The food and drink was also very reasonable, particularly in comparission to the hotel we stayed in in bali.

The Rasa Ria is amazing, and i desperately want to go back. 3 nights was sooooo not enough!