12 Best Brunei Attractions

Brunei is a small coun­try in South­east Asia cov­ered in trop­i­cal rain forests. It is famous for its beau­ti­ful beach­es, pic­turesque hills and mag­nif­i­cent mosques.

Things to do in Brunei

Men­tions of a pow­er­ful feu­dal state on the ter­ri­to­ry of mod­ern Brunei are found in ancient Ara­bic and Chi­nese sources. Local rulers were active in trade with their neigh­bors and con­trolled some of the islands in the South Chi­na Sea.

Today Brunei is a dynam­i­cal­ly devel­op­ing state. The well-being of the inhab­i­tants is pro­vid­ed by oil and gas fields, the oil refin­ing indus­try, and agri­cul­ture. In recent years, the tourism indus­try has been advanc­ing. Mod­ern roads, hotels, enter­tain­ment cen­ters have been built.

The main archi­tec­tur­al sights are con­cen­trat­ed in the cap­i­tal Ban­dar Seri Begawan. For­eign­ers are attract­ed by well-pre­served hous­es of the colo­nial peri­od, Islam­ic mosques, gov­ern­ment palaces.

The sun­ny beach­es of Brunei are cov­ered with gold­en sand and are well equipped. The coast­line stretch­es for 161 km.

The best beach­es are:

• Muara Beach,
• Tungku,
• Seras.

There are chang­ing cab­ins, chil­dren’s pools, rides, cafes. Tourists go water ski­ing, wind­surf­ing and kayak­ing. The coral reefs of Brunei attract divers from all over the world. Plung­ing into the water, peo­ple watch leop­ard shrimps, sea­hors­es, moray eels, bar­racu­d­as, study sunken ships and under­wa­ter rocks.

A trip to Brunei is not com­plete with­out a vis­it to the rain­forests. Lush jun­gle cov­ers 70% of the ter­ri­to­ry. There are var­i­ous hik­ing trails in the nation­al parks. On the way you can see rare birds, mon­keys, but­ter­flies, see local water­falls, fast rivers and lakes.

In Brunei, tourists are wait­ing for inter­est­ing excur­sions, muse­ums, enter­tain­ment. Cin­e­mas, indoor skat­ing rinks, and spas have opened their doors in shop­ping malls. And in city parks, water parks, play­grounds and carousels have been cre­at­ed for enter­tain­ment.

Architecture

Mosque of Omar Ali Saifuddin

The mosque in the cen­ter of the cap­i­tal is named after the Sul­tan of Brunei, Omar Ali Sai­fud­din. The com­plex, designed by an Ital­ian archi­tect, was built in a lagoon on the banks of the riv­er. The height of the mosque is 52 meters. Mar­ble minarets are dec­o­rat­ed with gold­en domes, the prayer hall is dec­o­rat­ed with arch­es, grace­ful columns, mosa­ic glass, and the floors are cov­ered with car­pets from Sau­di Ara­bia.

Eng­lish crys­tal chan­de­liers hang from the ceil­ings. Foun­tains are installed in the court­yard, flower beds are equipped, fer­tile gar­dens are plant­ed. The mosque is con­sid­ered one of the most beau­ti­ful in the Asia-Pacif­ic region.

James Asr Hassanal Bolkiah Mosque

In 1994, a majes­tic mosque was erect­ed in Ban­dar Seri Begawan with four minarets dec­o­rat­ed with blue mosaics. The gild­ed domes glow bright­ly in the sun, and in the evenings they are illu­mi­nat­ed by built-in lanterns. The rooms are dec­o­rat­ed with Ara­bic orna­ments, hand­made car­pets, mar­ble columns. Espe­cial­ly for the Sul­tan, an esca­la­tor is installed inside.

Today, this mosque is the tallest in Brunei. In the yard there is a swim­ming pool with a foun­tain for ablu­tion, an orchard, gaze­bos for relax­ation.

Sultan’s Palace

In Ban­dar Seri Begawan, the offi­cial res­i­dence of the Sul­tan ris­es on the banks of the riv­er. The huge mul­ti-storey palace in the Islam­ic style attracts with vault­ed roofs, gold­en domes, mar­ble columns. Inside are the per­son­al cham­bers of the ruler, the throne room, rooms for audi­ences, the office of the Prime Min­is­ter.

There are 7,000 Sul­tan’s cars in the garages, many of them cus­tom-made. Dur­ing the year the palace is closed to the pub­lic. Guid­ed tours are avail­able dur­ing the Islam­ic hol­i­day of Eid al-Fitr. In a three-day peri­od, 110 thou­sand peo­ple man­age to vis­it the res­i­dence.

royal regalia

The Palace of the Roy­al Regalia is a beau­ti­ful archi­tec­tur­al com­plex. The cen­tral build­ing is crowned with a mas­sive shiny dome with ori­en­tal orna­ments. Inside there is a muse­um that stores the roy­al regalia and exhibits used in the cel­e­bra­tion of the anniver­saries of the mon­archs.

Vis­i­tors are shown the cer­e­mo­ni­al dress of the Sul­tan, weapons for offi­cial cer­e­monies, a crown stud­ded with pre­cious stones. An impor­tant place is occu­pied by the gold­en char­i­ot, in which the ruler rode through the streets of the city in 1992 to cel­e­brate the Sil­ver Jubilee.

Interesting places

Brunei Museum

The Nation­al Muse­um in Ban­dar Seri Begawan intro­duces the his­to­ry of the Sul­tanate, the cus­toms and cul­ture of the local pop­u­la­tion. Numer­ous exhi­bi­tions are shown in the spa­cious man­sion. The depart­ment of ceram­ics, ancient weapons, archae­o­log­i­cal finds is pop­u­lar. Guests can see ancient trea­sures raised from sunken ships, armor instruct­ed with gems from the times of the Great Moghuls, nation­al clothes, rare copies of the Koran.

Tamu Kiangge

The Kiangge riv­er flows through the cap­i­tal, which is a trib­u­tary of the Brunei Riv­er. One of the largest mar­kets in the coun­try, Tamu Kiangge, is open on its shore. Trade comes from kiosks, stalls and direct­ly from motor boats moored off the coast.

Tourists buy local veg­eta­bles, fruits, fresh fish, edi­ble ferns, med­i­c­i­nal herbs, and spices. In small cof­fee hous­es in the fresh air, chefs pre­pare dish­es of nation­al cui­sine. Sou­venir and antique shops, flower tents work near­by.

Kampong Ayer

In the vicin­i­ty of the cap­i­tal there is a unique attrac­tion — Kam­pong Ayer. This is a tra­di­tion­al vil­lage on the Brunei Riv­er, built on stilts. The float­ing set­tle­ment was found­ed sev­er­al hun­dred years ago. Neat hous­es are con­nect­ed to each oth­er by con­crete and wood­en bridges. For those who wish, there is a water taxi.

In the vil­lage of Kam­pong Ayer, all the nec­es­sary infra­struc­ture has been built: schools, shops, mosques, mar­kets. Cozy bun­ga­lows, local restau­rants, sou­venir shops are equipped for tourists.

Nature and entertainment

Lake Lugu

Not far from Ban­dar Seri Begawan is Brunei’s hid­den gem, Lake Lugu. The pool of clear fresh water is sur­round­ed by hills with lush veg­e­ta­tion.

There are good beach­es along the coast. Tourists come here to sun­bathe, swim, fish, dive, row, kayak, snorkel. On the beach­es you can hire a sports instruc­tor and rent spe­cial equip­ment.

Public park at Bandar Seri Begawan

The embank­ment of the cap­i­tal is a pop­u­lar place for recre­ation. Paths for pedes­tri­ans and cyclists are laid near the shore, bench­es and lanterns are installed.

In 2017, the embank­ment was sur­round­ed by a coastal park with an orig­i­nal design. It has green lawns, flower beds, land­scape com­po­si­tions of trees and shrubs. In the evenings, all cor­ners of the park are bright­ly lit. Kiosks with local snacks and bicy­cle rentals are avail­able on site.

Vasai Bedanu

An hour’s dri­ve from the cap­i­tal, one of the nat­ur­al attrac­tions of the Sul­tanate, Vasai Bedanu, hid in a dense trop­i­cal for­est. This is a stun­ning water­fall that falls off a cliff into a pic­turesque lake. Falling water sparkles in the sun, shim­mers with dif­fer­ent col­ors of the rain­bow and looks very beau­ti­ful. You need to go through the for­est along a nar­row path to the water­fall.

Amusement park in Jerudon

Jerudon is home to the largest amuse­ment park in South­east Asia. It offers all kinds of attrac­tions for all ages. A large area is occu­pied by a water park with swim­ming pools, mul­ti-lev­el slides and labyrinths.

Among the green­ery, high-speed attrac­tions, a Fer­ris wheel, tra­di­tion­al carousels for kids, and play­grounds for active games were placed. Musi­cal con­certs and offi­cial events are held in the park. For guests, they show inter­est­ing per­for­mances and arrange fire­works.

Ulu Temburong National Park

In the east­ern part of Brunei is the Ulu Tem­burong Nation­al Park. The untouched jun­gle is the cen­ter of eco-tourism in the coun­try. Ferns, palm trees, figs, trop­i­cal flow­ers grow in the for­est. Gib­bons, pygmy squir­rels, vipers, horn­bills, black and yel­low giant but­ter­flies live on trees.

A sus­pen­sion bridge over the tops of trees is very pop­u­lar with guests of the park. The steel struc­ture ris­es up to 50 meters and pro­vides an excel­lent view of the sur­round­ings. The eas­i­est way to get to the park is by boat or boat.