Gaya Island Resort

This resort is gorgeous. Every single member of staff goes out of their way to provide excellent service with a cheery smile too. The food was excellent with so much choice, spa was exceptional. Be sure to book on a snorkelling trip with Safwan who takes the most amazing photos for you. The private beach is an added bonus.

Had an amazing week at the resort for our wedding anniversary. Such a beautiful place and the staff were all fantastic. Highly recommend.

We spent five wonderful nights here and all had a great time. Room was in great condition and very friendly staff all round. What really made the holiday though was Chef Dolis and all his team in the kitchen. Immediately, from the first night we arrived Dolis could not have been more kind and entertaining, prodiving the most delicious spreads of food and creating a really warm atmosphere in the restaurant which was echoed by the rest of the kitchen. He leads his team spectacularly and was by far one of the most memorable figures of our trip. Thank you Dolis and all!

A very Nice experience. Take a trip to an island from the gaya island resort to snorkel . Plenty to see. Even sharks. Very good guide safwan

We stayed here for 5 nights after a few weeks of exploration and a week in a beautiful hotel on the mainland. The resort is in a stunning location, approached by boat, and surrounded by beautiful water and virgin rainforest. The views are incredible over the bay. Accommodation - villas at various positions on the hillside. They are nicely laid out and spacious but tired looking and in need of modernisation. No control over air conditioner setting. Our outer doors did not slide shut properly so some insects came in. The bed was not overly comfortable. There was an enormous bath, which we didn’t use, but I don’t know if there would have been enough hot water. In fact, we had no hot water at all for 3 days. But the views were fabulous and the service was excellent. Pool area A long pool to swim in first thing which was nice. After that, just good for milling around as too busy. The sunbed situation is absolutely crazy. Coming to a hotel like this I was surprised that none were available after 8am! We noted that sometimes people didn’t arrive to reserved sunbeds until mid afternoon . More are needed, and on decking not sand, as the sand flies are awful. The hotel advises to use repellent but surely that’s not good for coral and other marine life. There is space for another pool too. Dining Main restaurant - very very hot and busy, in direct sun for the morning and no air conditioning as open sides. This made for sweaty breakfasts this time of year. But a brilliant selection of food and eggs especially. Fisherman’s cove - nice food and service Japanese - extremely seafood orientated so I’m sure great if you like that! Activities This is what gives the resort a great rating for me. Free snorkelling direct from the beach, at the pier, some great live reefs and fish. We did a mangrove kayak, excellent, and a snorkel trip - also great. We took the boat to the private beach and took part in coral restoration and heard marine conservation talk, both fabulous. Lastly communal areas - a lovely library, spa (we didn’t use). The gym was adequate but hot and grubby, and sadly the pool washrooms and toilets were often dirty and smelly. People use them a lot because their rooms are so far away, so better facilities would be welcome! Overall this is a nice hotel, but 5 nights was long enough and sadly I don’t think we will return unless changes are made.

Fabulous place to stay for a few days. Wonderful welcome from the staff team and excellent rooms and food. Ecotourism at its best with the resort surrounded by virgin rainforest and a coral reef 50m offshore from the resort private beach. Chance to snorkel as much as you want or do other short trips inc kayaking or to a neighbouring private beach. Only 20 min from KK but feels like a different world. You can see macaques, monitor lizards and hornbills in the trees around the lodges. Lodges are total luxury.

We were snorkling with Safwan and it was an amazing experience. He showed us reef sharks and lots of interesting fish, and He was very helpful in relation to our children. Thank you.

We chose to stay at Gaya Island resort for our honeymoon for 10 nights, and it was honestly the best decision! From the beautiful setting in the jungle, the immaculate jungle villa, the most helpful and personable staff and some fantastic activities and food, we really couldn't have asked for much more. We went all inclusive for the food (They didn't do all inclusive for drinks) which we would highly recommend, and managed to eat at all the restaurants a number of times during our stay with all meals being extremely high quality and so delicious. I would recommend booking these a night or so before though as they can get booked up during busy periods! We also did the beach bbq one night which was alot of fun. In terms of activities, there really is so much on offer and all very reasonably priced. We did the sunset cruise, snorkelling trips, mangrove kayaking and the diving, which were all fantastic. All of the staff were extremely knowledgeable and went out of their way to ensure you had a great experience. The pool area was always very clean and tidy, and had the most amazing views of the crystal clear sea and mount kinabalu when the weather was good. We would not hesitate to recommend this hotel, and hope that we can go back someday - thanks for making our honeymoon so special!

A fabulous end to our Borneo Adventure, what a treat, after 10 days of travelling we were all looking forward to some luxury and downtime, Gaya Island did not disappoint. Our highlight was the private island and the wonderful lunch over there, a short boat trip away, and this was all included in our package,definitely worth a visit. We did a night at the Japanese Restaurant and that was not a hit, particularly for the none fish eaters, but on the whole the main restaurant offered so many options and the chef's at the main restaurant and Private Island looked after everyone fantastically, bringing plates of prawns to tables and making sure everyone was happy. We enjoyed the snorkelling trip and kayaking too, the rooms are large and well maintained. I would not hesitate at recommending Gaya Island, we did a package full board with 1 hour of cocktails each day which day which was fabulous

We stayed in Gaya Island Resort four days, and we regret we didn’t stay longer. Excellent resort, fully into the nature, with breathtaking views. Services top with full support also for arrival and departure, with their exclusive boat. They have a beautiful private beach reachable with their boat; we had also very good excursions, where we had excellent guides; in particular Safwan, who supported and guided us through the snorkelling activities, providing many useful information. An experience that we would gladly replay.