What does Brunei cost? Four days with Temburong

The totals

Each total covers three hotel nights, every meal and drink the tours do not supply, bottled water, the airport runs and town taxis, the water taxi to Kampong Ayer on the budget level, museum tickets, the guided Temburong day with its park admission, lunch and return car, two tourist SIMs and a 10% buffer for snacks and tips. That is about BND 110 / 170 / 190 per person a day. Each total is the exact sum of its lines, rounded once, so the rounded lines below can differ from it by a few dollars.

Brunei dollars (BND) are at par with Singapore dollars under the Brunei Darussalam Central Bank's currency arrangement. At the European Central Bank's reference rates of 30 October 2026, EUR 1 is BND 1.43 and GBP 1 is about BND 1.71, so the mid-range total is about EUR 970 or GBP 810 for two.

The trip behind the numbers

Two adults share one room for four days and three nights, outside Ramadan, using local prices read on 1 November 2026. The model arrives after breakfast but before lunch on day 1 and leaves after lunch but before dinner on day 4, with both airport taxi rides between 06:00 and 18:00. Each person has three breakfasts, four lunches and three dinners. Day 1: arrive at Brunei International Airport (BWN), check in and walk round the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque and its lagoon. Day 2: Jame' 'Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque, the Royal Regalia and Malay Technology museums and Kampong Ayer, the water village. Day 3: Ulu Temburong, by road over the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Bridge, longboat upriver and canopy walk. Day 4: lunch, then the airport. The Temburong day includes lunch on day 3, and at mid-range and comfort the guided city day includes lunch on day 2.

Put the city day between Sunday and Wednesday: BorneoGuide's BG103 excludes inside visits to Jame' 'Asr on Thursdays and Fridays. On Fridays the mosque is closed to visitors, both museums are closed and shops and restaurants shut from midday to 2 pm for prayers; the Malay Technology Museum publishes no Saturday hours. During Ramadan, whose dates move each year, restaurants serve takeaway or delivery only in fasting hours, so these totals assume ordinary weeks. Our first-trip guide has the entry steps, the alcohol rules and the visiting hours.

Badi'ah Hotel on Jalan Tutong lists nett rates for two adults: standard from BND 98 per night, superior from BND 115 and executive deluxe from BND 160, each with two free bottles of mineral water. Every level buys breakfast out. Comfort buys a bigger room rather than a different hotel: the executive deluxe is a 41 m² king room, against 25 m² for the standard and 30 m² for the superior; the capital's larger hotels publish no room rates online. Bottled water beyond those is counted at about BND 1 a person a day, an estimate at the price of the cheapest drink on MasterChef's menu. The levels change the room, the menus, the airport run and the city day. Temburong is guided at every level: Freme's day on the budget level, BorneoGuide's at mid-range and comfort.

Budget: about BND 890 for two

Use a standard room and explore the city on your own, with Badi'ah's free airport shuttle, MasterChef's local menu as the meal basis, a water taxi across to Kampong Ayer and back, and Freme's Temburong day.

• Room, BND 294. Three nights at the standard-room starting rate of BND 98 nett for two adults.
• Food and water, about BND 94. MasterChef's posted menu gives roti kosong cheese at BND 1.40, teh O at BND 1, chicken biryani at BND 5, chicken mee goreng at BND 4.50 and iced tea at BND 1.20. Each person has three breakfasts of roti and tea (BND 2.40), three lunches of biryani and iced tea (BND 6.20) and three dinners of noodles and iced tea (BND 5.70), and the Temburong day supplies the fourth lunch. Gadong night market, where some dishes start at BND 1, can stand in for one of the dinners. Bottled water adds about BND 1 a person a day.
• Getting around, about BND 67. Badi'ah Hotel's free airport shuttle, on request, covers both airport runs. Four daytime city rides of about 5 km cost about BND 6.70 each on the meter (BND 3.50 for the first kilometre plus BND 0.20 per further 250 metres), and two evening rides about BND 10 each with the 50% night supplement. The water taxi to Kampong Ayer and back is counted at BND 5 per person each way, the top of Brunei Tourism's BND 2–5 a ride: BND 20 for two.
• Temburong and tickets, BND 326. Freme's FRL16-1 costs BND 155 per non-resident adult, minimum two, with hotel pick-up, transport, entrance tickets, a licensed guide and lunch at its lodge: BND 310 for two. Royal Regalia is BND 5 and Malay Technology BND 3 per non-resident adult, BND 16 for both of you.
• SIMs, BND 30. Two DST Easi Tourist SIMs at BND 15 each.

Mid-range: about BND 1,390 for two

A superior room and BG103 for the city day, whose lunch, boat and water-village refreshments are included.

• Room, BND 345. Three nights at Badi'ah's superior starting rate of BND 115 nett for two adults.
• Food and water, about BND 115. Breakfast is local, at MasterChef: roti kosong with cheese at BND 1.40, roti pisang, the banana version, at BND 1.50 and teh O at BND 1. Seven Sporks lists chicken-and-rice plates at BND 6 and beef-and-rice plates at BND 8. Each person has three roti breakfasts, two chicken lunches and three beef dinners, with a BND 1.20 iced drink at lunch and dinner at MasterChef's price: about BND 54 each. BG103 and the Temburong day supply the other two lunches. Bottled water adds about BND 1 a person a day.
• Getting around, about BND 67. BND 20 from the airport, BND 20 back and four daytime city rides at about BND 6.70. BG103 includes hotel pick-up, and the Temburong car is in the tour line.
• Guided days and tickets, BND 706. BorneoGuide's Brunei Essentials day (BG103) costs from BND 145 per person, minimum two, about seven hours, with hotel pick-up, the morning market, Jame' 'Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque, a photo stop at the Royal Palace, both museums, lunch, a boat round Kampong Ayer with tea in a water-village home and the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque: BND 290 for two. Its inclusions do not list museum tickets, so BND 16 for two is counted on top, and the Temburong day adds BND 400.

Comfort: about BND 1,550 for two

The same two guided days in Badi'ah's executive deluxe room, a 41 m² king room, with the dearer plates on the menus. For two:

The executive deluxe room is BND 160 nett per night for two adults. Each person has three BND 3.90 roti breakfasts at MasterChef and two lunches and three dinners of Seven Sporks' BND 8 beef or salmon rice, with a BND 1.20 iced drink at MasterChef's price: about BND 58 each, plus about BND 1 a day for bottled water. The tours supply the other two lunches.

The Temburong day, and the cheaper way to book it

Temburong is the eastern district, cut off from the rest of Brunei by a strip of Malaysia, and Ulu Temburong National Park covers 46,210 ha of rainforest. A day there means a longboat (temuai) up the river, a climb to a canopy walk about 50 metres above the ground and, when the river and the weather allow, a waterfall. Go only with a licensed operator: there is no public transport from BSB.

The mid-range and comfort totals use BorneoGuide's Ulu Temburong day (SEV02) from Sumbiling Eco Village, an eco lodge in an Iban community on the Temburong River: BND 150 per person, minimum two, about five hours from the 09:00 meeting at the lodge, with the park guide, entrance fee, lunch, light refreshments and free-flow water at SEV. Its return car from BSB costs BND 100 per vehicle for up to three people, and the operator estimates about 1.5 hours by road, so the day costs BND 400 for two.

Freme Travel Services sells a second day, Explore Temburong + Canopy Tower Visit (FRL16-1), for BND 155 per non-resident adult, minimum two, about seven hours. It collects you from your hotel at 07:30, and the price includes a licensed English- or Malay-speaking guide, all entrance tickets and transport, a buoyancy vest and bottled water; lunch is served at its Freme Rainforest Lodge. For two it costs BND 310, about BND 90 less than BorneoGuide's day with its car, and the budget level uses it; at the other levels it would save about BND 100 with the buffer.

Two nights without Temburong

For three days and two nights in Bandar Seri Begawan without Temburong, arriving before lunch and leaving after lunch, the same prices give the totals that our first-trip guide and our Bandar Seri Begawan guide use. Each person has two breakfasts, three lunches and two dinners, with the guided day's lunch replacing one of them at mid-range and comfort. As in the four-day model, the budget level takes the hotel's free airport shuttle.

Brunei is also a common stop between Sabah and Sarawak, by road from Miri or by ferry from Labuan; the Brunei from Sabah and Sarawak itinerary prices that route with its border crossings.

The flight from London and the total with it

Royal Brunei Airlines' London–BWN page, read on 1 November 2026, showed November economy-return examples of GBP 740–856, including tax and surcharges. Other dates can cost more, so allow about GBP 750–900 per person, about BND 1,280–1,540 each at the ECB's 30 October 2026 rates. With the flight, the four days cost:

Ways to spend less, or more

Seeing the city on your own is the main saving: the budget level already takes Badi'ah's free airport shuttle and Freme's Temburong day, and at the other two levels the shuttle would save the BND 40 of airport taxis. Public buses cost about BND 1 a ride and run from 06:00 to 20:00, and the Moovit app shows the routes. For dinner, Gadong night market (16:00-23:00) sells some dishes from BND 1; our Brunei food guide covers what to order there and where to find ambuyat, the national dish.

The most common extra on this route is BorneoGuide's Proboscis Monkey River Safari: about two hours by open boat past Kampong Ayer into the mangroves, with hotel pick-up, from BND 95 per person, minimum two, so BND 190 for two on top of any level. Walking round the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque's lagoon and along the waterfront costs nothing. Entry adds nothing for UK, Irish, EU and EFTA passports, which need no visa for up to 90 days; Australians pay BND 20 for a single-entry visa on arrival.

Spending more mostly means a second guided day or a bigger room, since there is no bar bill: alcohol is not sold in Brunei. A rental car costs BND 60-100 a day on Brunei Tourism's figures, and Dart, the local ride-hailing app, replaces Grab and Uber, which do not operate in Brunei. Visiting for National Day on 23 February or the Sultan's birthday on 15 July? Our festivals guide covers the dates and what closes.