Kudat Travel Guide, Sabah

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Kudat is a small town on the northern tip of Sabah. It is the administrative centre for Kudat Division, a district that includes other towns such as Pitas and Kota Marudu. Kudat is about 190 km from Kota Kinabalu and 450 km from Sandakan.

Kudat
Author: Tony Jones (cc-by-3.0)

Located on a peninsula, Kudat faces the South China Sea to the west and the Sulu Sea to the east. The town has a population of about 70,000 of which the majority are the Rungus people, a subtribe of the Kadazan. Chinese makes up 10% of the population, with the remainder comprises Bajau, Dusun, Murut, Bugis and Malay. In addition, there is also an unaccounted number of illegal immigrants from the Philippines in Kudat.

Kudat was founded in 1881 by A.H. Everett of the British North Borneo Company. It served as capital of British North Borneo from 1881 to 1883, when the capital was shifted to Sandakan after Kudat was repeatedly raided by Bajau, Sulu and Illanun pirates.

Getting there

By Plane
MASWings fly to Kudat from Kota Kinabalu four times a week.

By Road
Express buses from Kota Kinabalu to Kudat take 3 hours to make the journey. The fare is RM18 one way.