Gayana Marine Resort

Great short vacation on a tropical island. We were picked up from Kota Kinabalu harbor, without additional charge, and - in 20 minutes - taken to this exotic resort. The villas are very spacious and the staff is very friendly. We renjoyed the spectacular sea views and the good (and fairly priced) food. In some reviews I saw complaints about the price of the food, but knowing that everything needs to be delivered to this resort it is only logical that the prices are slightly higher than on the mainland.

Gayana Marine Resort is an idyllic place to spend time and relax. Located 20 - 30 mins by boat from Kota Kinabalu on the edge of the National Park, the resort has a range of facilities and amenities: restaurant, day spa, dive tours, guided morning hike, kayaks and snorkelling equipment...or you can just take a dip in the pool, relax, and enjoy the peace and quiet. All the employees at the resort were excellent and very welcoming and went out of their way to ensure we had a wonderful experience. The villas are clean and well appointed, and there was a wide range of delicious and well-presented meals available - and one morning we even had breakfast delivered to our room by boat. The Marine Ecology Research Centre is located at the edge of the resort and we spent a rainy afternoon at the centre learning more about the work they are doing to try and preserve the reef and the giant clams, and to fight the effects of plastics pollution. I would have loved our stay to have been longer!

Great place, great service. Love this place Staff are friendly and attentive, place is spotlessly clean, food is delish

We had so much fun at this resort for our honeymoon trip to Malaysia. Our main issue was that we wish we could stay longer. I was worried about the transfer from the mainland, but it was fine. We took Grab to the brand new ferry terminal, where they have an air conditioned waiting room for the resort guests. Staff assisted us with our bags and got us on the scheduled boat. Overall, we found all the staff to be kind and wonderful. Special thanks to Awang, Lydia, our spectacular server Eduardo, Mr. Karl, to Siti and Christy who even made us a cheat sheet so to learn Malay. The restaurant is great. The marine conservation work is cool. The Palm Villa felt like a very good value to us, water is most beautiful at that end, and I would recommend anyone to stay here Disclaimer: Unfortunately you will see trash in the water. The resort actively works to clean it up and give you the best possible experience. We were able to enjoy swims clear waters.

We had a great time at Gayana Marine Resort. The resort is beautiful.,especially the ocean villa. You can access the water from your balcony.The staff there were helpful. Everyone had smiles.We booked two villas. The first night, one of villas had strong fresh paint smells. My sister could not sleep. We worked with the staff from the resort, they helped us and relocated my mom and sister to a nearby different villa. The restaurant was the only restaurant that you can eat there. They provided delicious breakfast every morning. The manager sometimes even provided the fresh fruit and salad for free to us. Beware there were monkeys around the resort. They came down almost every day to search food.