ElizabethKuching turned out to be one of the best surprises on our trip to Borneo. It’s a lively city that’s perfect for families—featuring lush river views, wildlife adventures, and a touch of quirky fun (cat museum, anyone?). Here’s everything we did in Kuching with kids—from orangutans and bamboo rafting to delicious street food and cozy places to stay.
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Where We Stayed
We based ourselves at the Lime Tree Hotel. It’s a small boutique hotel that used to be a bank—kind of quirky, right? It has a family room that sleeps five, which was perfect for us. The rooftop view is great, especially at sunset, and the breakfast was solid.
Day 1: River Cruise, Cat Museum & Rainforest Night Adventure
We kicked off our stay with a dolphin sightseeing cruise that left bright and early (8:30am pickup). It was a small boat tour with a handful of other families. The kids spent most of the trip reading on their Kindles because—spoiler alert—we didn’t see any dolphins until the very end. Still, it was peaceful and a fun way to see the river. If I were going to cut anything that we did from this trip it would have been this dolphin adventure.
We were served banana and chocolate chip cookies on board, which was a nice touch. Tip: Wear a hat and sunscreen—there’s some shade on the boat, but not much. Long-sleeved UV shirts are great too. (These are our current go-to options.) Life jackets are required for the whole trip.
After the cruise, we grabbed lunch at the Round Tower 1886 Cafe and Restaurant—a small café with good food and an iced chai latte that hit the spot.
One of the things to do in Kuching is to track down all the Cat Statues. Kuching sounds like the word cat and therefore has become known as the cat city. Our cat loving Little had a great time finding all the statues.
Our walk took us down to the waterfront, where we crossed over the Darul Hana Bridge. These turned out to be some of the best views of the city.
Next stop was the Cat Museum (yes, you read that right). It’s a bit of a drive (we took a Grab) because it’s in the government building on a hill. The museum itself is… well, it’s a LOT of cat stuff. Statues, posters, paintings—our middle kid, who is cat-obsessed, was in heaven. The rest of us? We just enjoyed how much he loved it.
After the Cat Museum, we rested up a bit because that night we had something totally new planned—a nighttime rainforest adventure. We grabbed flashlights and headed into the forest as the sun went down. The trick? Holding the flashlight right next to your eyes so you could spot the tiny glints of animal eyes in the dark. Everywhere we looked, things lit up! We found frogs, bats, lizards, spiders—the rainforest really comes alive at night. Hearing the sounds of the jungle in the dark was an experience none of us will ever forget.
These frogs were some of the cutest things I’ve ever seen. In 2014, the frog songs from this very pond were named the most beautiful sound in the world. While we couldn’t get the kids to be completely silent, we were able to be completely engrossed by this incredible sound.
I recommend this outing no matter who you are traveling with. We were all completely engrossed in finding things in the dark. We’ve camped and done a lot of things outside, but this will stick with me forever as a full sensory experience.
Day 2: Bako National Park
One of the biggest highlights of our trip: a day at Bako National Park. We booked this through Borneo Adventures, who were great the whole way through.
The trip starts with a 15-minute boat ride to the park entrance. The boats were arranged by our Borneo Adventures guide. There is a desk at the park check-in in where I presume you could arrange your ride if you didn’t have a guide. (It is also possible that guides are required in the park, but I’m not entirely sure.) Our family of five was split into two boats. This is a short but thrilling ride and one of the kids’ favorite parts – your going to want to hold on!
Most of the animals hang out near the main bulidngs, so we started our visit by checking them out. Borneo Advnetures is a large company, and many of the tours in the park were being led by them. The guides all talk, so we were able to go right to some of the great animal finds. While we saw plenty of monkeys, we also saw way more snakes then I ever hoped to see. Luckily they were all chilling on branches.
The hike we came to the park to do is an hour each way, not long, but enough to make you sweat in that Borneo humidity. We saw monkeys, learned about the local plants, and ended up at the beach. There are other hikes that you can arrange with your guides, but this one was perfect for our family.
Lunch was pre-arranged at the only spot on the island. They have a buffet. The food was good, everyone found something to eat. The monkeys started to get aggressive at the end of lunch and were attempting to steal plates, so make sure you watch out. Just as we were finishing lunch, a bearded pig made an appearance.. He was everything we hoped for.
On the way back, the tide had come in, so we had to wade out to the boats—a bit of a muddy mess, but honestly, the kids thought it was hilarious.
If the boat ride home from the park was even more intense then the ride there. The wind had picked up a bit and we were bouncing all over the place. We took some air a few times. Again, a highlight for the kids and a little bit of a scare for me.
Do not go on this trip without bug spray and all the bug-bite remedies. Our kids took quite a few bites. We layer up with a variety of products. Days in the rainforest or anywhere with Malaria we use the Sawyer Proucts Picaridin Isect Repellant. I also really love the Nat Patch Buzz Patch, while not enough for the deep rainforest, they are great for daily use. And I’ve pretty much always have the Magic Patch Itch Relief Stickers in my bag for when we do get a bite. They really keep the kids from scratching and getting infected. I also use the Bug Bite Thing. And I’ve been known to have the Cortizone-10 pen in my bruse for the really itchy situations. Phew.. As you can tell bug bites are a big part of our life around here.
We opted for a rest when we got back to the hotel and then decided on a family spa night. It was puring rain and this is a family favorite activity There are no shortage of great spa’s in Kuching, so its easy to find one. The Big and the Middle Litte love getting food reflexology. They bring their books and read. We always make sure they can stay together for this treatment. Meanwhile the Little, Jeff and I all got full body massages. Its a lovely little treat when we are traveling.
We spent the rest of the evening dodging rain storms and wandering the waterfront. There was a boxing tournament going on and lots of tourists along the river. Its easy to find nice places to eat in Kuching and so many interesting shops. We opted for a walk down little India street, before ultimately ending up at The Commons, a very cute restaurant with comfy couches. We stayed and played some board games before walking back to our hotel.
Day 3: Bamboo Rafting & Orangutans
The next morning we were up early again for what would turn out to be the best day of our Borneo trip. We booked a bamboo rafting trip with Valentino—an absolute highlight. You sit on these bamboo rafts (literal bamboo poles tied together) with plastic chair seats. The kids loved it. The guides stop along the way to chop down bamboo, make whistles, and even cook lunch on the riverbank. Pack your water shoes and dry bags—trust me, you’ll be glad you did.
It was wet, bumpy, and just a little bit wild—my kind of family adventure. We ended up at Valentino’s village, where you can actually book a night in the longhouse if you’re up for it. I forgot my gopro, so i have zero pictures of this experience, but its all we could talk about for the rest of the trip.
On our drive back from bamboo rafting Valentino suggested he drop us at the Semengooh Wildlife Center. We were suppose to go the next morning before flying out. Valentino’s sister works at the park and had mentioned the orangutans had not been stopping by the feeding stations in te mornings lately. His thought was that if he dropped us off and we didn’t see anything we could come back again. This was the best decision of the trip.
Despite a looming rain storm we got so lucky—seven orangutans came out to feed while we were there. It was a bit of a scene, with tourists jostling and guides shushing everyone to stay quiet. But seeing these giant orange guys in the rain (yes, it was raining and one of them even made a hat out of a leaf) was pretty special.
We used Grab to get a ride home. Our driver even had towels to let us dry off when we got into the car. The rain was pretty intense for the rest of the evening. Instead of venturing back out we ordered dinner at the hotel and enjoyed it up on the rooftop while playing games and working on our journals.
Day 4 – Goodbye Kuching
Having seen six orangutans the day before we decided we didn’t want to make the treck all the way out to the park again, how could we top last nights experience. Instead we opted to go spending the morning walking around the riverwalk area.
Small local ferry boats cross the river from dock to dock. We hopped on one to give it a try. From here were were able to walk the river from the other side, giving us a lovely view of Kuching. The morning wether is milder and we enjoyed walking without the sticky humidy and looming rainstorms.
We ended up at The Brooke Gallery at Fort Margherita an 1879 fortress with historical exhibits. The exhibition provided some much needed context to our visit, but the fort was the real highlight. We had the place to ourselves and our kids enjoyed playing fort seige and running around the grounds.
We didn’t want to leave Kuching without trying the layered cakes. We stopped at one of the many “famous” cake locations. We coulnd’t choose just one so instead we bought two to enjoy back at the hotel while we finished packing. It was the perfect way to finish off our time in Kuching before catching our flight to KL.
What We Loved
- Valentino’s bamboo rafting tour—an absolute standout
- Semenggoh’s orangutans in the rain
- All the river views in Kuching—this city is so green and lush
- The cat museum—maybe not for everyone, but we loved seeing our middle kid in his element
What We’d Do Differently
- Pack a GoPro for the rafting (so many missed photo ops)
- More rain gear—it’s Borneo, after all!
- Double-check flights—AirAsia changed one of ours at the last minute, which was stressful
Need to Know
- All our tours in Sarawak were through Borneo Adventures—super easy to book and great with kids
- The Lime Tree Hotel was a great family base
- Grab is your friend for getting around
- Pack all the insect repellent and bug bite stuff.
Heads up: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase, I might earn a small commission—at no extra cost to you. I only share things we’ve tried and loved ourselves!
P.S. For the latest updates and more behind-the-scenes tips, follow me on Instagram! I pin every post there so you can always find the exact location and all the little details you need to plan your own adventure.
What a great article—Kuching really does seem to be an undersold family destination! We’ve been looking at kid-friendly places around Malaysia recently as well, particularly for short school for holidays. One thing I thought of while reading this article was a few fun places for weekends we saw that had kid friendly experiences. Malaysia has so much variety for family travel!