How Much Should You Budget for a Trip to Borneo?
Calculating a budget for a trip to Borneo is less straightforward than it may seem. The island is shared by three countries, uses three currencies and comes with very different travel costs across Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Kalimantan.
A local meal may cost only a few euros, and accommodation can remain very affordable, especially in Indonesia. Yet Borneo can quickly become an expensive destination. The main reason is not the cost of living, but the way you travel: the island’s most iconic experiences are spread across an enormous territory and often require flights, boats, guides or organized tours.
Our budgets are based on prices we observed on the ground in 2025 and 2026 and on our 10, 20 and 30-day itineraries. International round-trip flights are not included.
To see which experiences are genuinely worth spending money on, also read What to Do in Borneo? The Experiences That Are Truly Worth the Trip.
How Much Should You Budget for 10, 20 or 30 Days in Borneo?
Here are the budgets corresponding directly to our three traveler profiles:
| Profile | 10 days | 20 days | 30 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backpacker | €1,110 | €2,065 | €3,420 |
| Couple | €2,450 | €4,380 | €7,320 |
| Family of 4 | €4,435 | €8,225 | €13,240 |
These amounts include activities, internal transportation, accommodation, food and miscellaneous expenses included in our itineraries.
More importantly, they show that the budget does not increase simply because the trip lasts longer. The farther your itinerary extends across Borneo, the more expensive the logistics become.
To understand exactly what each timeframe includes, read our article Which Borneo Itinerary Should You Choose Based on the Length of Your Trip?.
10 days in Sabah: activities cost more than transportation
Our 10-day itinerary stays entirely within Sabah. That is what keeps transportation costs relatively low.
For a backpacker, we estimate around €30 for transportation, compared with €840 for activities over the entire route.
The difference is considerable, but easy to explain: Borneo is a destination where some experiences come at a significant cost.
Around Semporna, for example, a day exploring Bohey Dulang, Sibuan and Mantabuan costs around €50. A trip to Mataking, Pom-Pom and Timba-Timba is about €34, while an excursion around Mabul and Kapalai costs around €30. Diving at Sipadan can reach around €90 per dive.
Add Mount Kinabalu, the Kinabatangan and the various wildlife sanctuaries, and it quickly becomes clear why activities are the biggest expense in Sabah.
At 20 days, transportation starts to change the budget
Our 20-day itinerary adds Sarawak and then Brunei.
The backpacker budget rises to around €2,065, including €1,175 for activities and, more importantly, €410 for transportation, compared with just €30 on the 10-day route.
Moving from one region to another explains much of this increase. Reaching Kuching from Semporna, for example, means first traveling to Tawau before flying onward. The journey we took cost around €130.
Then comes Mulu, isolated in the heart of Sarawak, followed by the journey into Brunei.
This is one of Borneo’s defining characteristics: because of limited roads, rugged terrain, waterways and dense jungle, two places that look close on a map can still require several hours of travel and sometimes even a connecting flight.
Brunei: more expensive day to day, but usually only for a short stay
Brunei is a case of its own.
Based on what we observed, a double room started at around €60, compared with roughly €45 in Malaysia and €25 in Indonesia. A dorm bed could cost €10 to €12, versus €5 to €8 in Malaysia and €3 to €5 in Indonesia.
A SIM card also costs more, at around €10 to €15, while renting a car can cost roughly €75 per day.
Local food, however, remains affordable. A simple meal across Borneo generally costs between €2 and €6, so spending a few days in Brunei does not necessarily turn the trip into a luxury stay.
The official Brunei Tourism website also notes that ATMs are readily available in shopping malls and that major international cards are widely accepted throughout the country.
30 days: Kalimantan mainly increases logistics costs
This is probably the most interesting difference.
Once you enter Indonesian Kalimantan, everyday costs tend to fall rather than rise. Accommodation and food can be cheaper than in Malaysia or Brunei.
Yet the total budget for our 30-day itinerary still reaches €3,420 for a backpacker, including €1,130 for transportation.
Why? Because the route now adds Pangkalan Bun, the Sekonyer River and then Derawan. Domestic flights, the klotok, overland transfers and boats to the islands all come into play. At this point, it is no longer accommodation or food that drives the cost, but access to the experiences themselves.
That is exactly what makes Borneo different from a destination where you simply travel from city to city.
How much do daily expenses cost in Borneo?
The differences become easier to understand with a few real-world prices:
| Expense | Typical price |
|---|---|
| Dorm bed | €3 to €12 |
| Double room | €25 to €60+ |
| Local meal | €2 to €6 |
| Western meal | €5 to €15 |
| Local breakfast | €1 to €4 |
| SIM card | €5 to €15 |
| Laundry | €1 to €4.50 |
| Scooter in Malaysia / Indonesia | €5 to €9 / day |
| Car rental in Brunei | around €75 / day |
Food therefore remains very affordable overall. Accommodation varies more, with Indonesia generally cheaper, Malaysia in the middle and Brunei more expensive.
On our own route, for example, the accommodation we chose ranged from around €9 in Kota Kinabalu to €40 in Kuching, €70 in Mulu and €75 in Derawan.
Where does the money actually go?
Borneo perfectly illustrates the difference between cost of living and cost of travel.
Eating local food remains inexpensive. Sleeping somewhere simple does too. But a trip built around Mount Kinabalu, the Kinabatangan, Mulu, a klotok journey on the Sekonyer or the Derawan Islands requires a series of activities and transfers that are difficult to avoid.
That is why saving a few euros on a room ultimately has much less impact than choosing your itinerary carefully.
Our view: Borneo is not particularly expensive on a day-to-day basis. What costs money is reaching the places and experiences that make it exceptional. The farther your itinerary extends across the island, the more transportation and activities outweigh the basic cost of living.
Planning your trip?
Our TAMAP Borneo Guide includes complete 10, 20 and 30-day itineraries, the actual routes we traveled, prices we observed, best areas to stay, activities and alternatives so you can adapt each stop to your own trip. The guide was built after several months on the ground.