Penampang
Penampang is the capital of the Penampang District in the West Coast Division of Sabah, Malaysia.
Penampang is the capital of the Penampang District in the West Coast Division of Sabah, Malaysia. Its population was estimated to be around 93,616 in 2010, with ethnic Kadazan as the majority. It contains, or is synonymous with, Donggongon, which as of 2007, had a population of 78,086. It was also considered as the sixth-largest town in Sabah.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Penampang
5 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Sabah Art Gallery
The Sabah Art Gallery is an art gallery in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
5.6 km · art gallery in Sabah, Malaysia · Wikipedia - 02St. Michael's Church, Penampang
St. Michael’s Church is a Roman Catholic church in Donggongon, Penampang District, Sabah, Malaysia.
1.3 km · church in Sabah, Malaysia · Wikipedia - 03Peak Nam Toong Temple
Peak Nam Toong Temple is a Chinese temple located among housing estate beside Lorong Bunga Bakawali 3 in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
5.9 km · Chinese temple in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia · Wikipedia - 04Jesselton Twin Towers
Jesselton Twin Towers is a 56-storey, 192.15-meter-tall twin skyscraper in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Tower B was completed in 26 December 2022 and Tower A was completed in 15 February 2023.
5.9 km · Skyscraper in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia · Wikipedia - 05Pogunon Community Museum
Pogunon Community Museum is a museum located at Pogunon Village in Penampang District of Sabah, Malaysia.
3.2 km · museum in Sabah, Malaysia · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
- 01Atkinson Tower
- 02City Park
A small park and the only park in the city center opposite the court complex.
- 03Chinatown
Located in the city centre surrounding Gaya Street and Pantai (Beach) Street.
- 04Sembulan Riverfront
- 05Double Six Monument
A memorial site on the location of the 1976 plane crash which killed the state chief minister Tun Fuad Stephens and other state cabinet members.
- 06Sabah State Museum
A good place to understand the history of Kota Kinabalu and Sabah.
From Wikivoyage: Penampang, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
Try dives, leisure diving, technical diving and snorkelling are all available from Kota Kinabalu. Several interesting dive sites can be enjoyed as day trips from Kota Kinabalu with nearby World War II wrecks accessible for scuba diving. Some are in the 24-45 m depth range whilst other wrecks are only suitable for technical diving.
From Wikivoyage: Penampang, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
Kota Kinabalu is a cultural melting pot. Here Chinese meet Malays and Bruneis, Javanese, Filipinos and even a couple of Europeans, all of whom have brought along their own cuisine. Try out the many specialties offered at the various kedai kopi (often in buffet form making it easy to order) and shun fast food chains. For meals, head to the outdoor food stalls fronting the sea or coffee shops along the streets.
- 01Night Market
An outdoor street market with street food and music.
- 02El Centro
32 Jalan Haji Saman (Opposite Wisma Merdeka).
- 03Tavern Kitchen & Bar
Lot G-93, Imago Shopping Mall, KK Times Square Phase 2, Jalan Coastal (Opposite Soho Bar, same row as Starbucks on ground floor of Imago Mall), contactus@tavern.com.my.
- 04Gaya Vegetarian
Vegetarian Chinese restaurant with large portions, especially the soups.
From Wikivoyage: Penampang, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Penampang
- Airports
- Kota Kinabalu (BKI), 8 km · Brunei (BWN), 170 km
- Bandar Seri Begawan → Penampang169 km · quickest by road, 4h 35m · $20–28
- Kuching → Penampang801 km · quickest by air, 4h 47m · RM330–520
- Puerto Princesa → Penampang519 km · quickest by air, 5h 9m · ₱4,840–7,500
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Penampang
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Penampang. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inTerminal 1 serves full-service airlines such as Malaysia Airlines, Asiana Airlines, while Terminal 2 serves air cargo, a tourist helicopter service, and charter flights.
- Get inYou can also catch buses/minibuses doing the shorter run to Ranau.
- Get inMinibuses leave once full from Terminal Bas Bandaran Berjaya (Updated August 2022).
- Get inYou can also make the journey by minivans but you may have to change at Beaufort or even at Papar and Sipitang.
- Get inCatch them from the minivan station opposite Wawasan Plaza.
From Wikivoyage: Kota Kinabalu, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 01173 km
- 02687 km
- 03812 km
- 04877 km
- 05901 km
If you know how people move in Penampang – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Penampang
Penampang is 8 km from Kota Kinabalu, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.
- Donggongonhuman settlement in Malaysia1.6 km
- Kepayansub-district, or a neighbourhood, within the city of Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia5.7 km