Borneo travel guide & map

Information to help you prepare for your holiday or vacation to Borneo courtesy of Rough Guide.

About Borneo. The world's largest archipelago, Indonesia is made up of some 17,000 islands, 6,000 of which are inhabited. The largest and best known islands are Sumatra, Java, Bali, Kalimantan (part of the island of Borneo), Sulawesi and Irian Jaya (the western half of New Guinea). Straddling the equator, the islands are predominantly tropical, with a wet climate and richly dense rainforest. The vast majority of the population is Malay, half of whom are of the Javanese ethnic group, and with significant Chinese and Indian minorities, the islands have a richly varied religious, cultural, and artistic heritage.

The diversity of Borneo landscape is reflected in the variety of possible visitor activities – from surfing, diving and river voyages to trekking, climbing and walking in some of the many nature reserves and national parks. Almost any of the larger islands offers great diversity of interest to the visitor – on Borneo for example one can climb Mount Kinabulu, explore the rich jungle environment, encounter orangutan and sea turtle, and visit a traditional Iban longhouse to discover something of the people's lives and cultural traditions.

See Borneo for yourself, check out our Borneo holidays.