- Sabah Tea Garden sits at KM17 of the Ranau to Sandakan road in Kampung Nalapak, about two hours by car from Kota Kinabalu and roughly 20 minutes past Ranau town.
- Day visitors are welcome 8am to 6pm every day, including weekends and public holidays; the restaurant keeps the same hours.
- Rooms run from RM80 in the shared-bathroom longhouse to RM250 for an air-conditioned cottage (plus RM30 from April to September), with whole bungalows at RM1,500 and RM2,700.
- The estate covers 6,200 acres at 692 metres, and most of that land is still rainforest rather than tea rows.
- Pair the visit with Poring Hot Spring, Kinabalu Park and the Sandakan-Ranau Death March memorials, all within about an hour.
What Sabah Tea Garden Is
Sabah Tea Garden is the visitor face of Sabah Tea, the largest tea producer in Borneo and the only plantation on the island that markets its tea as organic. The resort describes its leaves as grown without pesticides, artificial colouring or artificial flavouring. It does not name a certifying body on its public pages, so treat the organic claim as the company’s own description rather than a third-party label.
The numbers are what make the place unusual. The estate occupies 6,200 acres in Kampung Nalapak, in the Ranau district of western Sabah, at 692 metres (2,272 feet) above sea level. Yet the majority of that land is still forest, which the state tourism board describes as part of a rainforest around 130 million years old. The tea rows are a clearing inside a much larger green block, and Mount Kinabalu fills the skyline on clear mornings.
The history is short by Asian tea standards. The Sabah state government gazetted the land in 1976 to Koperasi Pembangunan Desa, a rural development cooperative. The farm was incorporated into Sabah Tea on 26 April 1978, and then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad officiated its opening on 19 February 1984. Management later passed through a partnership with Tate & Lyle and the Commonwealth Development Corporation, and since 1997 the business has been held by Yee Lee Corporation, a Malaysian consumer goods group.
For travellers, the result is a working estate that doubles as a small resort: a restaurant and tea house, a souvenir shop, a longhouse, cottages, two large bungalows, a campsite and forest trails. If you have already visited the Cameron Highlands tea valleys on the peninsula, expect a very different feel here: fewer coaches, more forest, and a mountain rather than a ridge of hotels as the backdrop.
Getting There From Kota Kinabalu
The resort address is KM17, Jalan Ranau-Sandakan, Kampung Nalapak, 89309 Ranau, Sabah, and the published GPS point is 5.946, 116.780. The junction off the main road is marked with several signboards. From Kota Kinabalu the drive takes about two hours by private car, van or taxi; public transport takes closer to three hours once you add the final taxi leg.
The resort publishes these one-way transport estimates on its own site:
| Option | Departure point | Approximate cost | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bus to Ranau town, then taxi | Terminal Bas Bandaraya-Utara, Inanam (about 10 km from the city centre) | RM15 per person for the bus, plus a taxi from Ranau | About 3 hours |
| Taxi from the Padang Merdeka stand | Padang Merdeka, central Kota Kinabalu | About RM160 per car | About 2 hours |
| Taxi booked from a city hotel | Your hotel in Kota Kinabalu | About RM300 per car | About 2 hours |
| Private van via the resort | Kota Kinabalu International Airport or hotel | On request | About 2 hours |
Self-driving is the most flexible choice if you plan to combine the estate with Kinabalu Park and Poring. The road climbs through Tamparuli and the Nabalu ridge, where most tour vans stop for the roadside handicraft market. E-hailing from Kota Kinabalu is possible, but finding a return car from Kampung Nalapak is harder, so arrange your ride back before you set out or ask reception to help.
Organised tours are the other route. Several Kota Kinabalu operators sell two-day highland packages that include lunch at the Sabah Tea Restaurant, a guided walk through the plantation and factory, a night in a cottage, then Poring Hot Spring and Kinabalu Park the next day. Check whether the tea garden entrance and factory visit are listed as included before you pay.
Lodging Compared: Longhouse, Cottages and Bungalows
Staying overnight is the best way to see the estate, because mornings bring the clearest views of Kinabalu and the tea rows before day-trip vans arrive. Check-in is from 2pm and check-out by 11am. These are the resort’s published rates, verified October 2026; none include meals or activities.
| Room type | Rate | Sleeps | Key features | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longhouse | RM80 per room | Up to 3 adults | Ceiling fan, mosquito net, lockable door, shared bathrooms with hot showers | Budget travellers and groups |
| Cottage | RM250 per room (plus RM30 April to September) | Up to 3 adults | Air-conditioning, queen plus single bed, private bathroom, TV, pantry basics | Couples and small families |
| Sunrise Bungalow | RM1,500 per unit | Up to 9 adults, 4 bedrooms | Private kitchen, barbecue area, air-conditioning | Family reunions |
| Garden Bungalow | RM2,700 per unit | Up to 9 adults, 6 bedrooms | Private kitchen, barbecue area, completed October 2024 | Events and celebrations |
The longhouse is the classic choice: simple, communal and close to the forest edge, with the sound of insects at night. Bring earplugs if you sleep lightly, since walls are thin and the building often hosts school and corporate groups. The cottages are the comfortable middle option, and the April to September surcharge tells you which months the resort treats as its busy season. There is also a campsite for those carrying their own gear.
Foreign guests in Malaysia pay a per-room, per-night tourism tax at check-in, on top of these rates. Book through the resort directly by phone on +6 088 440 882 or by email at info@sabahtea.com.my; the reception desk on site is +6 088 876 611. For comparisons with other estates where you can sleep among the bushes, see our roundup of the best tea estate stays.
Things to Do on the Estate
Factory and plantation walks
The factory is where Sabah Tea processes its leaf into the full-bodied black tea it is best known for, along with flavoured blends such as pandan, ginger, lemongrass and cinnamon. Guided walks cover harvesting, withering, processing and packing, and tour operators fold them into their packages. The resort’s current website lists no tour prices or fixed times. A 2016 listing on MySabah quoted RM14 for a 45-minute guided tour and recommended mornings between 8am and noon, Monday to Saturday, when the machines are most likely to be running; treat those figures as a guide only and confirm with reception before you go.
Older listings also describe a hands-on tea adventure in which visitors wear a native hat, carry a woven wakid basket into the rows for about an hour of plucking, then process the leaf themselves. Ask in advance whether it is running, since it is usually arranged for groups.
Rainforest trails and Kamunsu Hill
Because most of the estate is forest, the walking is the real draw. Trails lead to the top of Kamunsu Hill, there are river pools for a cold swim, and the Sapaon Recreational Area has a rope obstacle course. A tree house climbs into the canopy for a view over the plantation. Guided night walks look for insects and frogs along the forest edge, and mountain bikers use the trails that host the Sabah Tea Adventure Race.
The Ranch and the tea house
Families tend to head for The Ranch, home to goats, geese and deer. Afterwards, the Sabah Tea Restaurant (open 8am to 6pm daily) serves tea-infused scones, waffles, pancakes and ice cream, and the tea house is known for tea pancakes and pandan teh tarik. Buy loose tea and flavoured blends at the souvenir shop before you leave.
The Death March Memorials
Ranau has a heavier history than its tea rows suggest. In 1945, Allied prisoners of war were marched from Sandakan on the east coast to Ranau, and very few survived. On the estate itself, the Quailey Memorial sits on the Sandakan-Ranau Death March trail and honours Australian prisoner Allan Quailey. One of the resort cottages is named after Lofty Hodges, remembered locally for his role in recovering survivors after the war.
About 8.3 kilometres south of Ranau town at Pialungan, the Last Camp Memorial overlooks the valley where Ranau Number 2 Prisoner of War Jungle Camp stood. According to the Australian Department of Veterans’ Affairs, 183 men died there, and the memorial cairn holds 183 rocks for them plus 1,047 rocks from the Liwagu River headwaters, one for each prisoner who died on the three marches from Sandakan. It was unveiled on 27 August 2009. Allow quiet time for both sites; they are memorials, not attractions.
Combining the Visit With Kinabalu and Poring
Sabah Tea Garden works best as one stop on a two or three day highland loop. Tour itineraries put Poring Hot Spring about 30 minutes away by road, with its sulphur baths, cold pool and a canopy walkway roughly 105 metres long and 30 metres above the forest floor. Kinabalu Park headquarters, at around 1,500 metres, is about an hour from the estate. Foreign adults pay RM50 to enter Kinabalu Park and foreign children RM25 under the rates Sabah Parks introduced on 1 January 2023; Malaysians pay RM10 per adult.
A practical order is Kinabalu Park on day one, an overnight at the tea garden, then an early walk in the tea rows and a soak at Poring before driving back to Kota Kinabalu. Kundasang, the highland vegetable town on the way, adds dairy farm and war memorial stops if you have the time.
If this is part of a wider Asian tea route, compare it with the day-trip estates around Jakarta in our Puncak tea plantation guide, and read our overview of Asian tea culture for how Malaysian teh tarik fits into the region’s drinking habits.
When to Go and What to Pack
The resort is open every day of the year, and the plantation is green year-round, so timing is mostly about weather and crowds. At 692 metres the estate is noticeably cooler than Kota Kinabalu, especially at night. Western Sabah’s wetter northeast monsoon usually brings heavier rain from around November to March, while the resort’s own April to September cottage surcharge marks its busy months. Malaysian school holidays and long weekends fill the longhouse with groups, so book ahead if your dates overlap.
Whatever the month, mornings are the best time to see Mount Kinabalu before cloud builds, and afternoon showers are common. Pack a light rain jacket, shoes with grip for muddy trails, insect repellent for the night walk, a swimsuit for the river pools and Poring, and a warm layer for the evening. Cash is useful for small purchases and taxis in Ranau. For a wider view of how seasons affect plantation visits, see our seasonal guide to tea plantations.
Related Guides
Official information: Sabah Tea Resort lodgings and rates, Sabah Tourism Board: Sabah Tea Garden, Tourism Malaysia: Sabah Tea Garden and Department of Veterans’ Affairs: The Last Camp Memorial.
Frequently Asked Questions
How far is Sabah Tea Garden from Kota Kinabalu?
Sabah Tea Garden is about a two-hour drive from Kota Kinabalu. The resort sits at KM17 on the Ranau to Sandakan road in Kampung Nalapak, roughly 20 minutes past Ranau town. By public transport, take the RM15 bus from the Inanam terminal to Ranau, then a taxi, which takes about three hours in total.
What are the opening hours of Sabah Tea Garden?
Sabah Tea Garden welcomes walk-in day visitors from 8am to 6pm every day, including weekends and public holidays. The Sabah Tea Restaurant keeps the same hours. Factory activity is most reliable in the morning, so arrive before noon if seeing the machines matters to you, and call reception on +6 088 876 611 to confirm.
How much does it cost to stay at Sabah Tea Garden?
A longhouse room costs RM80 per night for up to three adults with shared bathrooms. Air-conditioned cottages cost RM250 per room, plus RM30 from April to September. The Sunrise Bungalow is RM1,500 and the Garden Bungalow RM2,700 per unit, each sleeping up to nine adults. Rates exclude meals, activities and tourism tax.
Is Sabah Tea really organic?
Sabah Tea describes itself as the only organic tea plantation in Borneo, with leaves grown without pesticides, artificial colouring or artificial flavouring. Its public pages do not name a certifying body, so read the claim as the producer’s own description. Most of the 6,200-acre estate remains rainforest, which buffers the tea rows from outside farms.
Can you see Mount Kinabalu from Sabah Tea Garden?
Yes, Mount Kinabalu is visible from the plantation on clear days and forms the backdrop to the tea rows. Early morning gives the best chance, because cloud usually builds around the summit by late morning and afternoon showers are common. Staying overnight in the longhouse or a cottage puts you in the rows at first light.