Shangri La Rasa Ria with kids?

A friend recently stayed at this resort and loved it. She was travelling on her own. Anyone with experiences going there with small kids (under 5). we're thinking of going at Easter.

We have just spent 11 days at the Rasa Ria (Kota Kinabalu) with two daughters, aged 7 and 4. They loved it, especially: seeing the orangutans and feeding some of the other animals in the Rasa Ria's nature reserve; going on a jet ski for the first (and second) time; horse riding; playing on a quiet beach with good waves (the water is not crystal clear, but heaven compared with HK's beaches); batik painting; large swimming pool with good children's areas; hair braiding; children's club; being princesses in the daily 'fire lighting ceremony'; taking a Lepa Lepa boat up a nearby river, from which they saw enormous lizards on the bank and wild monkeys in the mangrove trees; etc, etc.


Some of this was with the children's club. We didn't force them to go, but they wanted to spend some time at the club and loved it. I believe the minimum age for the club is 4, but you might want to check.


We did all of the above without leaving the resort. This was great for us, as we really needed to relax. However, if you want to go shopping in KK (which we did not), the town is 45 minutes away.


Additional activities for adults include a spa, beautiful golf course (which I did not play), all-terrain vehicles and various water sports.


If you want the negatives, then I read somewhere that the hotel was a bit tired. This is certainly true of the bathrooms, though not much else. My big issue was with the service - I want to relax on holiday, I do not want the hotel staff to relax too. Getting a drink often took ages, hot food arrived cold at the poolside bar, white wine was served tepid, etc. This may have been due to the high proportion of trainees but, as I do not think the resort is cheap, I found this very frustrating. If you value service, you might be better off avoiding the buffet and eating at the other restaurants, such as the Indian restaurant Naan, which was very nice (and had a good children's menu to encourage them to be a bit more adventurous).


Enjoy it!

ABCGG - thanks for the reply. Did you have 2 adjoining rooms or are there family suites? We're thinking of 5-6 days - do you think this is enough time to relax and see the orangs? I want the kids to have lots of grass/space to run around on as a contrast to HK. We're happy to stay put at the resort (easier with the kids). Did you book through a travel agent or over the internet - any advice on getting good deals?

Thanks again

My secretary thought she could get us the best deal so, as newcomers to HK, we let her do so. Her contact was: eddie.yau@shangri-la.com. She booked flights separately, through our work travel agent. We went with Dragon Air.


If you take the early flight, you should be at the hotel by noon-1pm, giving you an extra afternoon. Book the 'limo' (van) in advance through the hotel for easy airport transfers.


5-6 days should be enough time to relax, it is probably worth seeing the things that are really important to you at the beginning (the first thing we did was book all activities on our first afternoon). The orangutans takes about an hour to see.


We had an executive suite. The bedroom had a double bed and daybed, so they also gave us one roll-in bed in the lounge. We actually got them to bring a second roll-in bed, so that our daughters would have their own room, rather than having one of them in with us. This takes up space, but the lounge (which also has a small kitchen and very small dining table) is big enough to cope. I understand that there are only 8 of these suites. Ours was on the 6th floor (room 654), which I would recommend, as this is the top floor and therefore quieter. Do not choose a room with a rainforest view, the good views are out to sea.

Wonderful place, lots of things to do and very nice restaurants. Horseriding, deep-water fishing, kids fun in the pool, orangutang watching and so on... spa and golf for the parents to enjoy.

any recomendations regarding a trip with a 8 month old baby? Is there an issue e.g. regarding mosquitos in Nov./ Dec.?