3 Nights at Shangri-La Rasa Ria. We Never Left the Hotel Once

We stayed 3 nights at Shangri-La Rasa Ria and confirmed 3 nights were just right to experience the resort. We never left the resort once, covering a sunrise hike, a cultural performance, a nature reserve night walk, a golf session, four different restaurants, and a room we didn’t want to check out of. Shangri-La Rasa Ria in Tuaran, Sabah, is running a 3rd Night on Us offer for its 30th anniversary, giving guests a free third night on a 3-night stay (book by 30 August 2026, for stays between 15 August 2026 and 30 January 2027).

There’s a version of a Sabah trip where you land, drop your bags, and start planning your first day out. Kota Kinabalu city, an island hop, somewhere else. This was not that trip. By our second morning at Shangri-La Rasa Ria, we had stopped checking what was outside the gates. We had a hike to catch, a bamboo dance to embarrass ourselves at, and a 1.5kg tomahawk steak waiting for us at the end of it, and none of it needed a car.

Shangri-La is marking Rasa Ria’s 30th anniversary with a simple offer: book 3 nights, pay for two. We went in expecting a nice beach break. We left with a clearer sense of what that free night is actually for. It’s not a discount. It’s the time you’d otherwise be too rushed to spend.

This was a hosted stay at Shangri-La Rasa Ria, Tuaran, in partnership with the resort’s 30th anniversary celebrations.

The room: an Ocean Wing Junior Suite Sea View

We stayed in the Ocean Wing, which turned out to matter more than we expected. The Junior Suite Sea View room is around 90 square metres, split into distinct zones: a window seat, a table for 3, a working desk if you need to get any work done, a day bed, the king bed, a dressing area, and a private balcony with an oversized outdoor bathtub facing the South China Sea. That balcony bathtub became the unofficial highlight of the trip. Ocean Wing guests also get their own private lobby for check-in, a minibar that’s restocked daily, and access to a pool and jacuzzi that Garden Wing guests don’t get.

Even with the resort celebrating 30 years, the room doesn’t feel dated. There’s a smart TV you can log into your own Netflix on, handy if you’re too comfortable to bother going out for the evening

Landing, and lunch that doesn’t feel like landing

We touched down on flight AK5106 at 10:30am and were checked into the Ocean Wing an hour later. No jet lag to shake off, it’s still Malaysia, so lunch at Oceano Modern Grill happened almost immediately. The aglio olio and bolognese were solid, the pizza was better than a resort lunch has any obligation to be, and the tiramisu ended the meal on the right note.

Dinner that first night was the buffet spread at Coffee Terrace, stretching from local to Western without making either feel like an afterthought. The satay is the one to go back for twice. The lamb and beef steak held their own too.

Breakfast the next morning kept up the same energy: fresh juice, fresh banana, an omelette made however you want it, and, unexpectedly, kimchi on the buffet line. Small detail, but it’s the kind of thing that tells you someone’s actually thinking about the spread instead of defaulting to the usual hotel breakfast script.

A sunrise hike to the Timpak Pogimpaan summit before most people are awake

Getting out of bed at 5am for a hike is never an easy sell, but we dragged ourselves up for it anyway. The hike starts around 5:15am from the Rasa Ria Reserve, inside the resort’s own nature reserve, and climbs 98 metres to the Timpak Pogimpaan summit, a manageable trail rather than a technical one. It’s worth timing it right: the sky turns orange well before the sun actually clears the horizon, and by 6:15am it’s up, lighting the waking coastal forest and Mount Kinabalu in the distance. Guides have refreshments waiting at the top, which is a small thing that matters a lot after a climb in the dark.

An afternoon with wax and fabric

Batik canting filled the afternoon before the cultural show, a two-hour hands-on workshop where guests learn the traditional Malaysian wax-resist technique and paint their own design onto a tote bag, guided by local experts. Sessions run a few times a week, capped at a small group size so everyone actually gets guidance rather than being left to figure it out alone, and it’s suitable from age 6 up, so it works as a family activity too.

Fire dancers, bamboo poles, and a night walk with scorpions

Cultural performances run at the Sampan Bar every Wednesday and Sunday evening, featuring indigenous dance troupes performing traditional movements from Sabah’s various ethnic tribes, with sunset as the backdrop. Guests get pulled in too, most memorably for the Magunatip, the Murut tribe’s bamboo dance, where dancers leap in and out of poles clashing together in rhythm. It’s harder than it looks and funnier to watch than it sounds. A fireworks show closes out the evening.

Later that night came the walk through the Rasa Ria Nature Reserve, torches out, looking for whatever the forest floor had to offer. We saw scorpions, and the guides pointed out the Giant Forest Ant, one of the largest ant species anywhere, which comes out to forage only after dark. It sounds like a small detail until you’re standing two feet from one.

Practical note: there are insect repellents at almost every corner of the hotel, so you’re never far from a top-up. Mosquitoes are serious business after dark in the reserve, and reapply at the beach too. The sandflies there don’t play around.

The Resort’s Recycling Story

The next day went somewhere different. We sat down with Rasa Ria’s Director of ESG to see what happens behind the resort’s sustainability claims, including the EcoRia glass recycling programme, where used glass bottles get crushed and repurposed into decorative sand around the property, and the rainwater harvesting and treatment system at DBGCC. It’s not the part of a resort stay most people post about, but it explains why the reserve we’d hiked through two mornings earlier has stayed intact for 30 years instead of being cleared for more rooms.

Japanese Lunch, Cooked Right in Front of You

Lunch was at Kozan Teppan-yaki, a different pace entirely from the open-air lunches earlier in the trip. Regular lunch sets run from around RM88 for the vegetarian Kanzen Set up to RM168 for the Sato Set, which comes with a choice of beef tenderloin or cod fish. We went with the beef tenderloin and watched the chef work the flambe right at the counter. Worth booking ahead if you want those seats.

An Afternoon at Dalit Bay Golf & Country Club

That same Thursday afternoon, we swapped hiking boots for golf shoes. A few rounds at the driving range first, then a buggy tour through the resort’s 18-hole course, which turned out to be far better maintained than we expected from a course attached to a beach resort rather than a dedicated golf destination. The buggy ride out to Dalit Bay is its own small highlight, cutting through the greens with the coastline visible in the distance.

One detail that fit neatly with the sustainability conversation from earlier that morning: the resort has six EV charging points scattered around the property, three at Garden Wing and three near Dalit Bay. They’re run through the JomCharge network at RM0.90 per kWh.

The Afternoon We Spent Swimming, and Watching the Sunset

Worth knowing: the entire 3km beach is completely natural. No added or imported sand, the whole stretch.

The plan was SUP in the afternoon, but the waves were too strong to make it safe, so we scrapped it and swam instead, which turned out to be the better call anyway. Later, the jacuzzi did exactly what a sunset view is supposed to do. By this point in the trip, the free hours had stopped feeling like a break from the itinerary. They felt like the actual reward.

There’s a full daily activities schedule posted by the resort if you want to plan around what’s on, since not everything runs every day.

One last dinner before the goodbye

The final night’s dinner at Oceano Modern Grill started with scallops and ended with a 1.5kg tomahawk steak that the whole table was still talking about the next morning. As we packed up to leave, the Shangri-La team sang us off, which is the kind of small, slightly emotional send-off that’s hard to fake and easy to remember.

A last cooking lesson before checkout

Shangri-La Rasa Ria runs complimentary, hands-on cooking demonstrations for guests, and on our last morning we learned to make Pinasakan, a traditional Sabahan dish. Everyone washed their hands and ate the same way it’s meant to be eaten, with their hands, no cutlery involved. We fit it in right before heading back to KL, and it turned out to be one of the better ways to close out a stay: still learning something new, right up to the last morning.

Everywhere We Ate in 3 Nights

We ate across four of the resort’s restaurants over 3 nights and never had the same meal twice.

Oceano Modern Grill sits on the Ocean Wing lobby level, overlooking a stretch of the resort’s 3km beach. It’s the one to book for a proper dinner. think lobster thermidor and Australian wagyu alongside the pastas and pizza we had on arrival.

Tepi Laut, poolside in the Garden Wing, leans into Malaysia’s street food heritage. Fried Tuaran Noodle, Nasi Goreng Kampung, and an Australian Wagyu Beef Rendang that’s worth the short walk from the pool.

Coffee Terrace is the all-day buffet venue, with a different theme each night. BBQ on Thursdays, seafood on Saturdays, Malaysian on Wednesdays and Sundays. It’s the easiest option if you’re deciding as a group and everyone wants something different.

Kozan Teppan-yaki is the one to book ahead for. It’s Japanese teppanyaki done properly, cooked at the counter in front of you, with sets running from RM88 to RM168.

Getting around without a car

The resort runs a complimentary shuttle for in-house guests to Imago Shopping Mall and Suria Sabah Shopping Mall, several times a day. So leaving the resort for a few hours in town is entirely possible if you want it. We checked, and a Grab into town would have cost around RM60 one way, versus taking the shuttle for free. We just never got around to needing either. Seats on the shuttle are limited and first-come, first-served, so check the schedule at the lobby or with the concierge before planning around a specific departure.

About the 3rd Night On Us Offer

Shangri-La Rasa Ria’s 30th anniversary promotion, 3rd Night on Us, gives you a free third night when you book a 3-night stay and pay for two. Bookings need to be made between 1 August and 30 August 2026, for stays between 15 August 2026 and 30 January 2027.

The package includes buffet breakfast for 2 adults and 2 children aged 6 and below, a ‘Dirty 30’ ice cream for two per stay, unlimited access to the Discovery Centre, Forest Garden and Waterfall (Nature Reserve activities excluded), daily access to the Cool Zone Kids Club for children 4 and above, daily non-chargeable activities for both kids and adults, complimentary parking, and unrestricted Wi-Fi throughout.

Book an Ocean Wing room specifically and the benefits extend further: a private lobby for arrival and check-in, a daily-replenished minibar, exclusive access to the Ocean Wing’s own pool, jacuzzi and garden area, and a pillow menu to pick from.

Rates start from USD 556 for the 3 nights. Check here for current terms before confirming, since offers like this run for a fixed window.

Where is Shangri-La Rasa Ria located?

Before you book, know that Rasa Ria isn’t the Shangri-La in Kota Kinabalu city. That’s Shangri-La Tanjung Aru, a 10-minute drive from the airport, with its own following for sunset drinks and a marina full of island-hopping boats. Rasa Ria sits about 40 to 50 minutes north of the city, on Pantai Dalit beach in Tuaran, and it’s a quieter, more spread-out kind of stay. If you want to be in and out of KK easily, Tanjung Aru does that better. If you’d rather not think about the city at all for 3 days, the distance stops being a downside. It’s the reason none of this itinerary needed a car.

Click here for map & directions

Which wing to book?

Garden Wing suits families best: pool slides, a kids’ club, and quicker access to the water activities and nature reserve. Ocean Wing is the quieter side, with jacuzzi access, a private check-in lobby, and less foot traffic. Both wings have swim-up bars in the pool, so neither side is missing out

Should you book a stay at Shangri-La Rasa Ria?

If you’re the kind of traveller who books a beach resort and still ends up spending half the trip Googling where else to go, this is the one where you won’t need to. Two nights is enough to see the reserve, the beach, and one good dinner. Three is enough to actually hike the summit at sunrise, dance badly at the bamboo poles, meet a giant ant, get a round in at the driving range, and still have an afternoon left for the pool and the jacuzzi. Take the extra night. Use it on the thing you’d otherwise cut, which on a 2-night trip is usually the doing-nothing part.

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