Despite Borneo being the third biggest island in the world, the train is not a common way of transportation. In fact, this island, the only island in the world shared by 3 independent countries, possesses only 134 kilometers of rail. All of these 134 kilometers are located in Sabah, one of the states composing Malaysia. One popular line connect Tenom with Beaufort.

Trivia purpose : Borneo is shared by Indonesia under the name of Kalimantan, the Sultanate of Brunei and Malaysia under the two states of Sabah and Sarawak.

This line is in service since the end of the 19th century. Originally, the North Borneo Railway was made to ease the transport of tobacco. Now it’s almost a touristic attraction, following the Padas river through the jungle. Interestingly, this train line is the only road connecting directly Beaufort and Tenom. By land you’ll have to go around the whole valley to commute between these two cities.

As evidenced by our Transsiberian journey from Hong Kong to France, my son loves train, and both my partner and me had in mind to explore the Borneo’s jungle. Hiking with a two year-old kid through the rain forest is not an easy task, therefore this train ride seemed to be a great option.

Check out our article with our 32 best tips to hike with a baby!

This article will share our experience on taking a train in Borneo between Beaufort and Tenom, with information, schedule, duration, price, nearby accommodation & everything you need to know to do the same.

Note: If you make purchases through one of the links in this post, we get a small commission at no extra costs for you. This will help us to keep the website running and carry on our journey around the world so we can write more useful articles like this one.

Schedule & Price

From Beaufort, the first train is leaving at 7.50am every day and the second train leaves at 1.30pm, except on Sunday where it leaves at 1pm.

From Tenom, the first train leaves at 7.30am every day, and the second train leaves at 1pm, except on Sunday where it leaves at 12.30pm.

One ticket costs 2.75RM (0.65US$) and 1.40RM for kids aged 3 and plus.

Duration

It took us exactly 3 hours to reach Tenom. We were there a bit before 11am. On the return trip we were faster, and the trip took 2 hours and a half.

Things to know

In order to enjoy the view you should sit on the right side from Beaufort to Tenom, and on the left side from Tenom to Beaufort.

It gets hot in the train, make sure you sit near a window, where you’ll be able to take photos.

Even though it’s forbidden, some people were smoking inside the train.

You have to change trains halfway at the Halogilat station, clearly the low point of the ride. It allows you to make a toilet break though.

You don’t need to arrive in advance. You can’t book, and inside it’s free seating. We arrived 5 minutes before the return trip and still got a ticket without problems.

Bus station – Tenom to KK/Beaufort to KK

Instead of taking the train back, you can catch a bus in Tenom to Kota Kinabalu. The price is 20RM, and there are 4 buses during the day, at 7am/8am/12 and 4pm. You can also take a taxi.

From Tenom, you can catch one of the frequent mini-buses leaving for Keningau. They leave once they are full. The price should be around 8RM.

Trains from Beaufort to Kota Kinabalu are attractively priced at 4.80RM (1.15US$), but there are only 2 trains leaving in the morning. They leave every day at 5am and 11am.

There are buses between Beaufort and KK. We were extremely lucky because a bus arrived as soon as we arrived at the train station. We managed to catch it and paid 12RM each.

Where to sleep?

Sleeping in Beaufort

Not many options I could recommend here except the Mar’Wanis Homestay (7.7 rating). You could also walk around the city center to ask hotels for the on-going rate if you have time. A better option might be the OYO Eagle Wood Garden but it’s 20 kilometers away from Beaufort.

There’s a bunch of resorts up the coast on the way to Kota Kinabalu such as the Langkah Syabas Beach Resort.

You can browse more available options thanks to this map:

Sleeping in Tenom

I couldn’t find anything online in Tenom, but when I was around I noticed a few hotels. The closest option I could find on Booking.com is the OYO Regent Hotel (8.2 rating) in Keningau, 40 kilometers up North from Tenom. There are several other options in Keningau too.

Sleeping in Kota Kinabalu

As the capital of Sabah, Kota Kinabalu (or locally known as KK) offers many more sleeping options. From top-class hotels such as the Hilton, Shangri-La or Le Meridien, to affordable 4-star hotels such as The Palace, the Horizon hotel or the Mercure hotel, you’ll definitely have a comfortable stay.

Check out the popular and rather cheap AC Residence for a great deal.

If you’re more into hostels, check out my two favorite! Vibrant Hostel and the Signel Hostel. During our stay in KK, we stayed at the Masada Backpacker and it was pretty fine for us on a budget.

You can find most available accommodation in Kota Kinabalu on this link or browse the map below:

Our experience :

We stayed overnight in Beaufort. I set my alarm for the next day at 7am. It had been a while since the last time my son woke up that early. After emerging, we took a Grab from our hotel to the train station for just 4RM. We were there at 7.30am. The ticket counter opened a few minutes after our arrival and we got ourselves two tickets. Our kid didn’t have to pay because he’s less than 3.

The train has 3 carriages. We chose the first one as it looked more recent. Unfortunately it had only a few windows and we did not manage to get a seat near one. I was a bit upset because I wasn’t able to take nice pictures!

The temperature inside was still bearable and despite the early wake up, our son still had a lot of energy. We gave him some food we bought in the city the previous day to fuel him. We noticed that we weren’t the only foreigners, a dozen of them accompanied us on the ride. After one hour, we all had to disembark in order to change trains. We had to wait for the train coming from Tenom, and then we just swapped passengers. This time we got a window seat, but it wasn’t enough to stand the heat.

Rafting is a popular activity here

Along the way we stopped many times, often for a few seconds, until a stop at Rayoh where all the foreigners went down. They were all with different local guides and came back minutes later and boarded the train again. After dropping their belongings in Rayoh, they took the train until the Pangi station. We understood that they were going to do some rafting, one of the popular activities here. Most people book a tour directly from Kota Kinabalu.

3 hours later we were finally there ! It was a bit longer than I expected. We went down and our kid quickly socialized with someone playing with bubbles. Quickly after, we left his new friends to go to a kids playground for a while, a much-needed moment to let him release his energy.

Taking the train back from Tenom to Beaufort

We weren’t sure of our plans at first. We felt like taking the train once was enough and were looking to take the bus to Kota Kinabalu. The first bus left at noon, which was too soon for us. We were eating Nasi Lemak Ayam at that time. We went to walk a bit around the market, ask around to see if we had other options to go to KK, and then just decided to take the train back to Beaufort.

The ride was pretty similar to the first one, except that it was hotter but I could take many pictures. I felt asleep with my son until we arrived in Beaufort. It had started to rain.

We went out the station and right at that moment we saw a big bus passing by. The bus stop is right in front of the train station. We went to ask if they were going to Kota Kinabalu, and luckily they were. We directly hopped on and here I am, writing this article on my way to KK with my son still sleeping, this time with momma. We couldn’t find any host in town on Couchsurfing or any of its alternatives, but I’m sure we’ll find something comfy enough!

And you? Do you have any questions? Have you taken this train between Tenom and Beaufort? Share with us your experience traveling around Borneo!