The historical legacy of Kota Kinabalu is quite like one would expect from a port city in the South China Sea, so ravaged by the avarice of conquest that its current incarnation bears little resemblance to the city’s initial origins. Lore, in fact, laughs somewhat at Kota Kinabalu; according to legend, the residents of the old city were so weary and familiar with pirates sacking their town that they jokingly referred to it as “Fire! Fire!” Known as Jesselton in those days, and by that name until 1968, 25 years after the city, an encampment for Australian POWs during the Second World War, was largely destroyed by Allied bombings that flushed out the Japanese. Rebuilt on the shores of the South China Sea over the last half-century, KK today is Borneo’s industrial and administrative center, the surging capital of Sabah province, and the gateway to some of the most exotic and fascinating adventure travel alternatives available in equatorial Asia.

Sprawled on its South China Sea shores just a few minutes outside the city center, the Sutera Harbour Resort, built on land that was actually reclaimed from the sea by developers, is the idyllic home base for exploring Malaysian Borneo. On 384 acres, this fully integrated lifestyle resort is far more than merely a hotel with an assortment of attached facilities—it is, in fact, a sort of ‘Pan-resort’; like Malaysia itself, a fusion of pursuits and amenities, as well as cultures, histories, and culinary traditions, reconfigured for the modern international traveler.

The far-reaching appeal is found first in the two accommodation options. The Pacific Sutera Hotel is the preferred business accommodation, a 500-room, 11-story tower with an open-air concept at its center, and two floors at the top featuring the hotel’s Pacific Club suites, where guests can take advantage of a discerning design standard meant to accommodate the guest who has brought their work to play, so to speak. A full range of business services, complimentary continental breakfast, and a private cocktail lounge enhances the experience for preferred guests of the Pacific. With views out over the golf course’s Garden Nine, or backing onto the South China Sea and the quintet of islands sitting like paradises just off the shore. Further to the model of the great business hotels of East Asia, the Pacific’s dining options offer inspired takes on the regional, and the international. Silk Garden, the hotel’s flagship restaurant, offers an informed compilation of Chinese dishes, exquisite and elegant in their style and complexity, and the traditional breakfast dim sum on Sunday and holiday mornings. Also found at the Pacific Sutera, keeping with its theme as the urban, corporate accommodation option at Sutera Harbour Resort, is KK’s, an underground club that boasts live entertainment every night, and Café Boleh, an all-hours coffee shop offering contemporary cuisine and, of course, whatever your caffeinated drink of choice.

Across the property, navigable by a series of coastal causeways and pathways that pass by the Marina Club, is the Magellan Sutera Hotel, a 456-room complex that conjures more of a classic, leisurely Malaysian feel in its design and amenities. Inspired in its architecture by the classic timber façade of the ancient Malaysian longhouse design, the massive main lobby and its attached restaurants, bars, and meeting rooms fall beneath an impressive open-air, modern rendition of the homespun safe haven. Stretching from the doors of the front lobby out to the cascading infinity edge pools that seem to spill out the back into Magellan Bay and the South China Sea, the longhouse cloaks the entire Magellan resort in a classic luxury that befits the setting. Indeed, the famed explorer who saw Malaysian Borneo with his own eyes nearly five centuries ago may have been able to imagine a Borneo in the future to be enjoyed by visitors arriving behind him. Rooms at the Magellan, clad in dark-stained teak and adorned with gorgeous local artifacts and inspired textiles, conjure a beautiful ethnic theme that blends perfectly with the tropical surroundings. Included in the 456-room complex is the special Magellan Club, oversized accommodations that offer a host of perks for the privileged guest; private check-in, broadband Internet access, complimentary pressing and shoe shine services, a fresh fruit platter replenished daily, and breakfast and cocktail service in the private lounge.

Also contained within the Magellan complex are a host of exceptional restaurants as well. As testament to the explorer for whom the hotel is named, the Magellan features a pair of Iberian-themed restaurants stacked atop one another. On the ground floor, boasting views of the sea, is Al Fresco’s, a casual Mediterranean eatery where pastas, pizzas, and paninis, are best enjoyed in this open-air eatery as the fat sun sinks into the South China Sea, preferably with a bottle of red from their impressive wine list. Upstairs, the glass-enclosed Ferdinand’s offers an upscale take on classic Italian fare. Accompanied by an extensive wine list and a cigar divan, culinary innovations here authentically summon the traditions of a culture half a world away; a classic Caprese salad of buffalo mozzarella, ripe Roma tomatoes, fresh basil, and the best olive oil to start, perhaps, followed by a fragrant take on the classic osso busco. Downing these timeless dishes with a Valpolicella from the cellar, one is forgiven if they mistake the South China for the Adriatic or the Mediterranean .

Able to transport its guests to another world, Sutera Harbour’s top cuisine choice is still its most traditional. With an emphasis on classic Malay and Indian culinary customs, still veiled in obscurity compared to many other South Asian cuisines, the Spice Island restaurant, located on the top floor of the Marina Club, tables the eclectic fusion creations of chef Zabidi Ibrahim in a beautifully nostalgic dining room. Plucked from the Andaman Resort in Langkawi, off Peninsular Malaysia, Ibrahim’s commitment to Malay traditions is resolute, making him the ideal guide for one of the more adventurous culinary treks available anywhere in the world.

And Spice Island, to put it simply, is a microcosm of precisely what the Sutera Harbour Resort achieves in its offerings. The Golf and Marina Club, with 27 holes of golf, fitness center, nightly films in its own theater, an indoor bowling alley, and much more, lets guests of the resort enjoy a range of facilities exclusive to Sutera club members and their guests, entrenching that casual country club feel with the amenities and service of a five-star luxury resort. But to fully experience Sabah and the great treasures of the province, the irony is that one needs to pass back through the Sutera gates, to truly understand the mysticism and wonder that attracted explorers, adventurers, and spice traders as far back as the 14th century. For day trips, Sutera Harbour Resort may have no equal. Where else can guests enjoy world-class snorkeling, summit Mount Kinabalu, the highest peak in Southeast Asia, explore an orangutan sanctuary, watch the migration patterns of giant sea turtles, and tread through some of the world’s most pristine rainforest. For the nature enthusiast, the golfer, and the languid sun worshipper, the sun always sets too soon at Sutera, where the pink-hued South China Sea signals the end of an exciting day, and foretells the coming of another.