Telok Melano Beach
Sarawak

letters spelling out the name Telok Melano

Telok Melano Beach is one of the best beaches in Sarawak. It is a wide stretch of golden sand fringed with coconut palms and other tropical trees and is overlooked by jungle-clad hills. It is clean and has few visitors, especially during weekdays. Until 2019 it was only accessible by boat but now can be reached by car in around two hours from Kuching.

Telok Melano is at the far western tip of Sarawak and is only 2km from the Indonesian border. There is a border post here but I don't think it is possible yet to cross over into Indonesia (as at August 2026).

kilometre zero marker

Telok Melano is literally the end of the road, or rather the beginning. As the above road market shows it is kilometre zero of the Pan Borneo Highway which runs for over 2,000km to the other end of Sarawak and beyond into Brunei and Sabah. There are no roads beyond Telok Melano, just a hiking trail up to the Tanjung Datu National Park.

Telok Melano is a small village with a population of around 300 with a police post, a school, a few home-stays and basic eating places. Following the opening of the road the village's facilities have been upgraded with some snack kiosks, a new food court (finished but not yet opened), new toilets and a new mosque.

rental quad bikes lined up on the beachQuad bikes are available for hire.
wide sandy beach and calm seaCalm waves at low tide. I was informed that this stretch of coastline is not prone to crocodiles so I risked a wallow in the warm, shallow water.

Tanjung Datu National Park

jungle clad hill marks the start of Tanjung Datu N.P.The jungle-clad hill at the end of Telok Melano beach marks the start of Tanjung Datu National Park. There is a trail from Telok Melano to Tanjung Datu National Park. It will take 2-3 hours to reach the Park HQ. Alternatively you can arrange for a boat to take you there. During the monsoon season from Nov to Feb the seas can be rough and there are unlikely to be boats available.

Telok Milano is the jumping-off point to Tanjung Datu NP, one of the smallest and least visited of Sarawak's National Parks because it is not easy to get to. I will write about this Park in another post but those people who make the effort to get there can enjoy stunning deserted beaches, four hiking trails and a variety of wildlife including various monkeys, monitor lizards, bearded pigs, deer and hornbills. But the highlight for many will be the chance to see Green Turtles and Olive Ridley turtles laying eggs on the nesting beaches which are protected under the Park's turtle conservation programme.

Accommodation within the Park itself is limited and basic with just 4 forest huts and no canteen so visitors have to bring and carry their own food and drink. Some visitors prefer instead to base themselves at Telok Melano and stay in one of the village's home-stays such as Hornbill Homestay,
Melano Cottage or Fanorama Homestay (they are all marked on the map below). I have not stayed in any of them so am unable to vouch for them.

Mount Kuwai

view of Telok Melano from the summit of Mount Kuwai

On my last trip I stayed at the nearby Mount Kuwai Retreat which I can recommend and it has the added bonus of easy access to Mount Kuwai hiking trails. From the summit of Mt. Kuwai you can get a great view of Telok Melano beach.

How To Get to Telok Melano Beach

With your own car it is an easy drive, just two hours from Kuching and mostly dual carriageway all the way.

The exact location is marked on this map:

If you are a visitor from overseas and don't want to rent a car but would like to visit Tanjung Datu National Park the easiest way is to book a tour through a licensed operator such as Borneo Adventure Tours.

Nearby Attractions

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AUTHOR BIO

the author

David (the one on the left) is the writer behind Malaysia Traveller, sharing first-hand travel advice from over five decades of living and travelling across Asia and the Middle East. Based in Malaysia since 2009 and now in Kuching, he has published over 790 pages on this website, personally visited every place he covers, and uses only his own photos. Readers can learn more on his About Me page. He also shares updates on Facebook and YouTube. He loves uncovering overlooked places that even some Malaysians have never visited.