Malaysia is the easiest country on this route to do yourself: the buses run on time, Grab works everywhere and everyone speaks English. So on the peninsula you book very little ahead. The exceptions are the evenings that are hard to reach without a tour, like the fireflies outside Kuala Lumpur. Borneo is a different story. For Bako, the Kinabatangan and the rivers around Kota Kinabalu a tour genuinely saves time, because the proboscis monkeys and the river are a long way out and hard to reach without your own wheels.
Kuala Lumpur
Four tours, and two of them you can just as easily do yourself. The Batu Caves are a Komuter ride from KL Sentral for about €0.50, so the three and a half hour half day tour is mainly for anyone who doesn't fancy figuring out the train or wants picking up at the hostel. The Petronas Towers e-ticket gets you an hour up top, on a time slot you choose in advance, but the free view from KLCC Park is still the best of the evening. If you book one thing here, book the fireflies: eight hours, a little boat on the river at Kuala Selangor, and not something you can sort out without your own transport. Do the two and a half hour street food tour on your first night. After that you know exactly what to order on Jalan Alor.
Kuala Lumpur: fireflies and blue tears at Kuala Selangor
Kuala Lumpur: Batu Caves half day tour with optional pickup
Petronas Twin Towers: e-ticket for the skybridge and observation deck
Kuala Lumpur: evening street food tour
Melaka
One tour, and in Melaka that is all you need: you walk the old town in a morning. The two and a half hour walking tour runs on tips, so you decide what it was worth. The difference from walking it yourself is the stories behind the facades: Portuguese, Dutch, British and the Peranakan families, all within a few hundred metres. Do it on your first morning and you see the red square with different eyes for the rest of your stay. The river cruise and a ride in a trishaw dripping with flashing lights you sort out on the spot.
Melaka: tip based guided walking tour of the Unesco city
Cameron Highlands
One tour, and it is exactly the one you want here. Four hours in the back of an old Land Rover: the Mossy Forest, the BOH tea plantation and a strawberry farm, without having to tackle the narrow mountain road up Gunung Brinchang yourself. That road is the real reason to book: the cloud forest sits high above Tanah Rata, with no bus going up. The tea plantation you can also do on your own, and the jungle trails around Tanah Rata start free from your hostel door. When you book, ask whether the Mossy Forest entry is included.
Cameron Highlands: half day Mossy Forest tour by Land Rover
Penang
Two food tours with the same idea, and you only need one. Penang Plates is the classic: four hours through Little India and Chinatown, more than fifteen tastings and over a thousand glowing reviews. Good Morning Penang is the same formula for the morning, with the dishes George Town eats for brunch. Morning person? Take that one. Otherwise Plates. The Penang Hill, Kek Lok Si and asam laksa tour comes as a half or a full day, and it is exactly the afternoon we would plan anyway. You can do it just as well yourself with the bus to Air Itam and the funicular, so book it mainly if you want the story behind the temple.
Penang: Penang Hill, Kek Lok Si and an asam laksa tasting
Penang Plates: food tour with more than 15 tastings
Good Morning Penang: food tour with more than 15 tastings
Langkawi
The Kilim mangroves twice, two ways. The boat trip takes about five hours with pickup and drop off and is the easy option: a guide, a boat and the whole maze of limestone rocks and creeks. The kayak trip, four to six hours, is slower and quieter, and that is the charm for us: no engine, so you hear the forest. On either one, ask whether they feed the eagles. We would pick a trip where you watch them hunt. Island hopping and the SkyCab you sort out yourself: the island boats leave Cenang every morning, and the cable car is an easy scooter ride.
Langkawi: Kilim mangrove boat trip with pickup
Langkawi: kayaking through the Kilim River mangroves
Kuching
Three tours that never overlap, so the real question is what you want to arrange yourself. Bako is the day where a tour makes the biggest difference: seven hours with transport, the boat and a guide who spots the proboscis monkeys in the trees long before you do. Semenggoh takes three hours and works just as well by city bus or Grab; the tour is handy if you want to be sure you make feeding time. The four hour walking tour with the sampan and lunch is best on your first day, so you know the old town straight away and where you want to eat for the rest of the week. Only doing one? Make it Bako.
Kuching: day tour to the wildlife of Bako
Kuching: orangutan feeding time at Semenggoh
Kuching: walking tour with sampan boat ride and lunch
Kota Kinabalu
Four tours, and each fills a different part of the day. Sapi and Manukan (seven hours) is the only one you can easily do yourself: the boats leave from Jesselton Point and you pay per island. The tour is easy if you want lunch and snorkel gear taken care of. The Bongawan river cruise runs eight hours, from the afternoon until after dark, and is the pick if you are skipping Sandakan: this is your shot at proboscis monkeys and fireflies. Mari Mari (five hours) and the cooking class (three hours) fit together in one day, or on the rest day after Mount Kinabalu. Room for just one? The Bongawan, every time.
Tunku Abdul Rahman: snorkelling at Sapi and Manukan with lunch
Bongawan river cruise: proboscis monkeys and fireflies
Kota Kinabalu: Mari Mari Cultural Village with guide and lunch
Kota Kinabalu: traditional Sabah cooking class
Sepilok
One tour, and whether you need it depends on where you sleep. Stay in Sepilok itself and you walk to the rehabilitation centre and the bear sanctuary opposite and do the lot on your own. This six hour day tour is made for anyone sleeping in Sandakan. It is a private tour with your own driver and guide: you get picked up, you see the orangutans and the sun bears, and you get Labuk Bay on top, a feeding spot for wild proboscis monkeys on the coast that is a mission to reach on your own. Heading to the Kinabatangan afterwards? You will see proboscis monkeys in the wild there too, so then the tour is mainly a handy way to fit everything into one day.
Sepilok: day tour with orangutans, sun bears and Labuk Bay
Kinabatangan
Just one tour here, because on the Kinabatangan you don't book separate trips, you book a stay. This three day, two night tour does what a lodge package does: transport from Sandakan, a bed on the river and the trips on the water. The difference is convenience: one booking, instead of emailing lodges and comparing packages side by side. Want to choose between Sukau and Bilit yourself, or sleep in a dorm? Then book straight with a lodge. Either way, two nights is the right length: that gets you at least one morning and one evening on the water.
Sandakan: 3 days on the Kinabatangan, the wild heart of Borneo
Semporna
One tour, and it is the day almost everyone in Semporna does: up Bohey Dulang, then snorkelling at Mantabuan and an afternoon on the white sand of Sibuan. Reckon on seven to seven and a half hours, lunch included, and you choose between snorkelling and diving. Every agency by the jetty sells this trip too, so booking ahead mainly saves you the hunt if you arrive late at night and want to be on the water the next morning. Diving Sipadan isn't on this list: it needs a permit that goes through the dive shops, so you book that directly with a dive shop.
