Heritage Walk in Kota Kinabalu Sabah

This special and unique walking tour of Kota Kinabalu was created and founded by Grace Leong in 2005 and is a very interesting educational trip.

The walking tours of Kota Kinabalu is also considered something out of the ordinary, and if you love to know more about the history of Sabah or North Borneo, this is the tour you should be taking.

Heritage Walking Tour in Kota Kinabalu

This is a simple three hour walking tour around the city viewing the many historical sites and monuments which in turn is narrated by your professional tour guide,

Why it is done this way? The reasons is that the tour is one of the best ways of introducing Sabah’s interesting heritage to travelers.

Looking like a common field, I assumed games were played here, but I was wrong as this was the spot for Sabah’s Independence.

Let me just state that if I am going to tell you every detail that happened during my tour, then you will probably not need to go for it.

Hence, in this article, I am just going to give you bits and pieces of this unique and interesting Heritage Walk around KK. The next time you visit here, you can go for the tour. 

There were also many things that I did not know especially when Grace asked me if I knew the older name of Kota Kinabalu, which was originally called Jesselton. 

From the Padang, we headed over to a beautiful clock tower called Atkinson’s Clock Tower, which is just five minutes walk.

This striking monument had much of a history which was built back in 1905 and you could even climb up the stairs to get a closer look at the clock tower here in Kota Kinabalu city.

A plaque is also found at the base of the hill describing the tower in not one, but four languages for the convenience of non English speaking tourist. 

After the clock tower, we then cross the main road that leads us to Gaya Street which was once called Bond Street. 

Grace then points out that it was on this street that the first actual commercial shop lots of Kota Kinabalu were built back in 1900’s.

After all these years, you can still find some of the older shops that have had minor renovations. Originally, they were all made of wood, but over the years, they renovated them into brick and mortar.

For the market and shopping lovers, Gaya Street is also very popular due to the Gaya Sunday Weekend Market held along this main street, so if you are here on a Sunday, do visit this street.

Jesselton Hotel Kota Kinabalu 

After Gaya Street, we made a stop at the famous Jesselton Hotel where apparently Muhammad Ali once stayed. Honestly, I never knew he visited Kota Kinabalu.

This beautiful hotel was also established in 1954, and has maintained the same original look from back in the day, and is also the oldest hotel in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

We next passed the Kota Kinabalu Municipal Council (MBKK) building which was one of the stops during the tour.

But since it was a public holiday and the MBKK was closed, we continued to the next stop which was the Malaysia Monument. Another interesting part of Sabah’s past was revealed here by Grace.

Just nearby across the City Hall, we crossed the street and made our way to a small park where the North Borneo War Memorial is located.

Apparently this structure was moved here many years ago and now it sits perfectly in this little park by the main road in town.

 The monument was unveiled back in 1923 in memory of the fallen soldiers from Britain, Australia and Malaysia. 

Continuing our journey, we made a quick stopover at the Sabah Tourism Board (STB) building which was built in 1916.

The architecture was absolutely beautiful following the old British structure. This place has also gone through some major renovations on the interior while the facade still maintains the natural look.

Grace added that this is one of the three original structures left standing after the second world war, which also affected Kota Kinabalu.

Australia Place Kota Kinabalu

Our next stop was just a stone’s throw away and called Australia Place. This was where the Australian Liberation Forces set up camp when they landed in Jesselton back in the day during World War Two. 

Our final stop for the heritage walk was at the Museum Kopitiam (Museum Coffee Shop) where Grace then invites us to try the famous Kopi Botol or Bottle Coffee of Kota Kinabalu.

This museum cum coffee shop is well decorated with all sorts of memorabilia from the days of the Australian Liberation Forces.

Plaques, pictures and various items are spread out in the premises so you can spend some time reading and photographing these items. While here, we also tried the famous ANZAC Biscuits.

Update: The Museum Kopitiam is now closed. 

A big thank you again to Sabah Tourism for organising this trip and to Grace Leong for making this one of my most educational and memorable tours of Kota Kinabalu. 

Please bring drinking water and wear proper walking shoes for this tour. An umbrella would be practical for ladies.

Please check with the contact details below or with Sabah Tourism as the original walk gives you a passport chop at each of the buildings you visit while the impersonators do not.

Again, you are required to book ahead for a spot and it can get busy on weekends and public holidays. Enjoy your trip to Kota Kinabalu and have a great time there.