26 January 2014

Wanting to spend a couple days in Kota Kinabalu, we found an amazing place to stay called Marina Courts.  It is a complex of high rise apartment buildings with a swimming pool, gym and a prime KK waterfront location.

The particular deal that we found was listed as the Marina Court Vacation Home (Kota Kinabalu).  It was a room for rent (not the whole apartment like some of the other options mentioned on TripAdvisor) and it was set up similar to a hostel where the guests shared the living area, kitchen, washing machine and dryer.  One of the rooms has an en-suite bathroom, the other three rooms share a common bathroom. You can book it on Agoda.com.

There are showers, air conditioners and basic kitchen facilities.There’s a big swimming pool downstairs for guests to use at their leisure and also a gym.

Marina Courts’ location is perfect for exploring Kota Kinabalu.  It is within walking distance of most major tourist points and has a local bus terminal right in front of the complex for catching buses to areas that are further away from the city center.

Walking distances from Marina Court:

• 25 – 30 minutes: Jessleton point (the ferry and boat jetty), Museum, Signal Hill,
• 15-20 minutes: Shangri-la Bus terminal, Express bus to Kudat,
• 5-15 minutes: The Night market, Gaya street Sunday market
• Right outside: Wawasan Bus Terminal (intracity busses), Centre Point shopping centre is across the road,

TIP: There is an Arabian restaurant across the road from Marina Courts (on Centre Point side) called ‘Al Andalus’ – visit it! It has delicious, well-priced food, excellent service and an authentic Arabian vibe to it.  The extra Arabic Set was enough for two of us and the Baba Ganoush was fantastic! We ate here for at least one meal every day, for eight days.