Lifestyle

8 Things To Do (And Eat) in Labuan

From diving four wrecks within a small radius to a free Commonwealth war cemetery and a weekends-only ambuyat stall, here are 8 real, currently-operating attractions and food spots on Labuan island, Malaysia's most overlooked Federal Territory.

Marcus Wong28 July 20267 min readUpdated 18 Sept 2026

Malaysia's most overlooked Federal Territory

Labuan sits just off the Sabah coast, a duty-free island best known to most Malaysians (if at all) as a stopover or a weekend shopping run. That's a shame, because it has a mix of attractions found almost nowhere else in the country — four shipwrecks within diving distance of each other, a genuine WWII history, and a food culture shaped by its proximity to Brunei.

Labuan is technically seven islands: the main island plus six smaller ones — Pulau Papan, Rusukan Besar, Rusukan Kecil, Kuraman, Burong and Daat — most of which sit inside the gazetted Labuan Marine Park. That compact geography is the reason a single short trip can cover wreck diving, reef snorkelling, colonial history and duty-free shopping without any long drives.

Getting there and getting around

Most visitors arrive by ferry from Kota Kinabalu, or by the shorter crossing from Menumbok on the Sabah mainland; there are also domestic flights into Labuan Airport. The main island is small enough to cover in a day or two by taxi or rental car — the Chimney Museum and the Bird Park sit almost opposite each other at the northern tip, roughly 16km (about 20 minutes) from town, while the War Cemetery is less than 1km from the airport and Financial Park is in the town centre itself.

What's on this list

We've mixed marine activities (wreck diving, island snorkelling), heritage and war history (the War Cemetery, the Chimney Museum), duty-free shopping (Financial Park), nature (Pancur Hitam Beach, the Bird Park), and one food pick — ambuyat, a sago-starch dish that reflects Labuan's Bruneian/Kadayan food culture rather than peninsular Malaysian cuisine. Every listing was checked against an official, government, or well-corroborated third-party source during this search.

What it actually costs

Labuan is cheap by Malaysian attraction standards. The Labuan War Cemetery, the Chimney Museum and Pancur Hitam Beach are all free to enter. The Bird Park charges RM3 for Malaysian adults, RM2 for seniors and students, RM5 for non-Malaysian visitors, and nothing for children under 6. Diving is the one genuine expense. A Discover Scuba session runs roughly RM300-400, and the bookable two-dive wreck trip is priced per diver on a sliding scale — RM3,196 if you go solo, RM1,598 each for a pair, RM1,065 each for three, and RM799 each once four or more divers book together. Splitting the boat is the single biggest saving on this list.

A few things worth planning around

Two scheduling quirks matter more than anything else here. The Bird Park closes on Fridays, while the Chimney Museum directly opposite it opens daily from 9am to 5pm (free entry, per the Department of Museums Malaysia) — so a Friday run north gets you the chimney but not the birds. The ambuyat stall listed here trades weekends only, Saturday and Sunday, 10am-5:30pm. The wreck day trip is the one thing you cannot simply turn up for: it is advanced-only (proof of 50 logged dives required), needs at least four divers before the boat departs, and closes to bookings three days ahead — so lock it in before you fly. One more detail worth a phone call: listings disagree on whether the Bird Park opens at 9am or 10am, so ring 087-463 544 before making the 20-minute run north.

How to pick

For something genuinely rare in Malaysia, wreck diving is Labuan's headline draw — four wrecks (two WWII, two from the 1980s) sit within a small offshore radius, and Tourism Malaysia's Labuan Diving Festival is built around exactly that "Big 4" set. If diving isn't your thing, pair the free War Cemetery with the Chimney Museum and Bird Park for a half-day of real history and an easy wildlife stop, and use Pancur Hitam Beach — the island's most facility-equipped beach, and a past COBSEA clean-beach award winner — for a straightforward afternoon by the water. Travelling with kids? The Bird Park and the beach are the two easiest wins. Don't leave without trying ambuyat: it's the one dish on this list you won't find replicated on the peninsula.

Things to do in Labuan at a glance

Attraction	Area	Best For	Price/Hours
Wreck diving	Offshore Labuan, via Marina	Divers, rare multi-wreck site	RM799-3,196/diver, 2 dives
Labuan War Cemetery	Jalan Tanjong Batu	History, quiet reflection	Free, Mon-Fri 7am-4:30pm
Chimney Museum	Tanjung Kubong	Colonial history, mystery	Free, daily 9am-5pm
Financial Park	Jalan Merdeka, Labuan City	Duty-free shopping	Mall hours
Pancur Hitam Beach	West coast	Beach day, families	Free
Rusukan Kecil/Besar snorkelling	Labuan Marine Park	Snorkelling, turtles	Day-tour packages
Labuan Bird Park	Northern Labuan	Wildlife, ~580 birds	RM3-5, closed Fri
Ambuyat (H'ambuyat Semangkuk Agung)	Tanjung Aru Nelayan	Local Bruneian/Kadayan food	Weekends 10am-5:30pm

Wreck diving — Australian Wreck & American Wreck (USS Salute)

Labuan is one of the few places in the world where four wrecks sit within a small offshore radius, dived year-round out of Labuan Marina Jetty. Two are WWII losses — the Australian Wreck (the Dutch steamer SS De Klerk, salvaged by the Japanese as Imabari Maru and mined in 1944, sitting at 21-33m) and the American Wreck (the US Navy minesweeper USS Salute, lost in 1945, at around 30m). Two are 1980s casualties: the Cement Wreck (the freighter MV Tung Hwuang, 1980), the shallowest and easiest of the four, with its upper deck reachable from about 18m, and the Blue Water Wreck (the Philippine trawler Mabini Padre, 1981), the deepest at roughly 35m. The bookable two-dive day trip run by Labuan Rusukan Besar meets at Labuan Marina Jetty at 8am and covers both guided wreck dives, tank and weights, return boat transfers and lunch. It is priced per diver on a sliding scale: RM3,196 solo, RM1,598 each for two, RM1,065 each for three, and RM799 each once four or more book together. It is advanced-only — proof of 50 logged dives is required — at least four divers are needed before the boat runs, bookings close three days ahead, and tickets are non-refundable. Equipment rental and the non-Malaysian marine park fee are extra. For training and shallower dives, N5 Diving Center at Palm Beach Resort is the island's listed PADI centre, while Borneo Star Dive Sdn Bhd is the long-established local NAUI operator; Discover Scuba sessions run roughly RM300-400. Tourism Malaysia's Labuan Diving Festival is built around this same "Big 4" set, a useful signal the sites are actively dived.

Labuan Rusukan Besar Resort (official Facebook page)

Labuan War Cemetery

A Commonwealth War Graves Commission site at Jalan Tanjong Batu, less than 1km from Labuan airport, honouring WWII dead from the Borneo campaign — manicured grounds, headstones and a memorial. Free entry; staffed Monday-Friday 7am-4:30pm, grounds otherwise accessible via a side entrance.

Calistemon (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Chimney Museum (Labuan Chimney), Tanjung Kubong

A 106-foot brick chimney of unexplained purpose (no soot residue has been found inside it) tied to Labuan's 1847-1911 British colonial coal-mining era, at Tanjung Kubong in the island's north, with an adjoining museum housing 612 excavated artefacts. Government-run (Department of Museums Malaysia). Per the department's official listing: free entry, open daily 9am-5pm, closed only on the first two days of Hari Raya Aidilfitri and the first day of Aidiladha. Address: Kg Lubok Temiang, Jalan Tanjung Kubong; tel 087-463 603. It sits almost directly opposite the Labuan Bird Park, so the two pair naturally into one trip north.

Limzh8835 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Financial Park (Ujana Kewangan) — duty-free shopping

Labuan's only shopping mall, on Jalan Merdeka in Labuan City — a department store, supermarket and multiple duty-free outlets selling discounted alcohol, cigarettes, chocolates, perfume and cosmetics, drawing on Labuan's federal-territory duty-free status. Anchor tenants listed on the mall's own site include Parkson, Giant, KFC, Pizza Hut, The Body Shop and WPL Bowling Centre; centralised air-conditioning runs 10am-10pm. Reviews through 2025 confirm it remains active despite some aging-infrastructure complaints.

CEphoto, Uwe Aranas (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Pancur Hitam Beach

Labuan's most-cited beach, on the island's west coast — won a UN COBSEA Clean Beach Award in 2008 for water and shoreline quality. Golden-brown sand, calm water, shaded trees, changing rooms, food stalls and parking make it the most facility-equipped beach on the island. Free public beach.

Jabatan Wilayah Persekutuan official Facebook

Rusukan Kecil / Rusukan Besar island snorkelling day trip

Islands within Labuan Marine Park, 30-40 minutes by speedboat from Labuan Marina Jetty — shallow coral reef snorkelling with 15-20m visibility on calm days, sea turtles, parrotfish and wrasse, also used for diving, kayaking and camping. A government-designated marine park under the Department of Fisheries. The Jabatan Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan Geopark listing puts Rusukan Besar at 0.12 sq km (30 acres), the second largest of the three islands inside the marine park, with a recognised Tessellated Pavement geosite exposed at low tide; Rusukan Kecil, at 0.03 sq km (7 acres), is the smallest and sits between Rusukan Besar and Pulau Kuraman. Day-tour packages are actively advertised by tour operators; specific pricing wasn't independently confirmed beyond operator listings.

Jabatan Wilayah Persekutuan (Labuan Geopark)

Labuan Bird Park

A 6.9-hectare park in northern Labuan, about 16km/20 minutes from town, home to roughly 580 birds — hornbills, kingfishers, cockatoos, eagles and ostriches — across three connected walk-through domes — built 1995-1997 and still the only bird park in Borneo. It sits almost opposite the Chimney Museum, so the two work as one trip. Open Monday-Thursday, 9am-4:30pm, closed Fridays (weekend hours worth double-checking before visiting). Entry: RM3 Malaysian adult, RM2 senior/student, RM5 non-Malaysian tourist, under-6 free. Third-party listings disagree on whether the gates open at 9am or 10am, so call 087-463 544 (or 087-463 846) before making the run north. The park's own Facebook page was still posting in 2026.

Labuan Bird Park (official Facebook page)

Ambuyat at H'ambuyat Semangkuk Agung

One of Labuan's best-known ambuyat stalls, at Pondok Cahaya Mentari, Pantai Tanjung Aru Nelayan (Sunrise Beach) — ambuyat is a sago-starch communal dish eaten with chandas (bamboo forks) dipped in cacah sauce, reflecting Labuan's Bruneian/Kadayan food culture rather than peninsular Malaysian cuisine. Its Instagram account was still posting as recently as July 2026. Weekends only, Saturday-Sunday, 10am-5:30pm; no fixed menu price confirmed.

e_chaya (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes Labuan's diving unusual?

Labuan is one of the few places in the world where four distinct wrecks — two from WWII and two from the 1980s — sit within a small offshore radius at 15-30m depth, all diveable year-round. Borneo Star Dive Sdn Bhd is the main operator running trips there.

What is ambuyat and where can I try it in Labuan?

Ambuyat is a sago-starch communal dish, eaten by dipping with bamboo forks (chandas) into a sour cacah sauce — it reflects Labuan's Bruneian/Kadayan food culture and isn't found on the Malaysian peninsula. H'ambuyat Semangkuk Agung at Pantai Tanjung Aru Nelayan serves it, but only on weekends, 10am-5:30pm.

Are there free things to do in Labuan?

Yes — Labuan War Cemetery and the Chimney Museum both have free entry, and Pancur Hitam Beach is a free public beach. The Labuan Bird Park charges a nominal RM3-5 entry fee.

Is the Labuan Bird Park open on Fridays?

No — Labuan Bird Park opens Monday to Thursday, 9am-4:30pm, and closes on Fridays. The Chimney Museum sits almost directly opposite it and opens daily 9am-5pm with free entry, so a Friday trip to the island's northern tip still works for the chimney. Bird Park entry is RM3 for Malaysian adults, RM2 for seniors and students, RM5 for non-Malaysians and free for under-6s.

How do I get to Labuan?

Labuan is most commonly reached by ferry from Kota Kinabalu or Menumbok (Sabah mainland), or by domestic flight to Labuan Airport. Once there, the island's attractions are spread across a compact area easily covered by taxi or rental car.

How much does wreck diving in Labuan cost?

The bookable two-dive wreck day trip out of Labuan Marina Jetty is priced per diver on a sliding scale: RM3,196 if you dive solo, RM1,598 each for two divers, RM1,065 each for three, and RM799 each once four or more book together. That covers two guided wreck dives, tank and weights, return boat transfers and lunch; equipment rental and the non-Malaysian marine park fee are extra. The trip is advanced-only — proof of 50 logged dives is required — a minimum of four divers is needed before the boat departs, bookings close three days ahead, and tickets are non-refundable. A Discover Scuba session, by contrast, runs roughly RM300-400.

Do you need to be an advanced diver to dive the Labuan wrecks?

For the bookable two-dive wreck day trip, yes — it is sold to advanced-level divers only and proof of at least 50 logged dives is required at booking. The wrecks themselves sit between roughly 18m and 35m: the Cement Wreck (MV Tung Hwuang) is the shallowest and most forgiving, with its upper deck reachable from about 18m, while the Blue Water Wreck (Mabini Padre) is the deepest at around 35m. Newer divers are better served by a Discover Scuba session or a shallower reef dive around the Labuan Marine Park islands.

#labuan#sabah#east malaysia#diving#things to do#duty free

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