By plane
Malaysia Airlines (http://www.malaysiaairlin...) and budget airlines AirAsia (http://www.airasia.com) link Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tawau several times a day.
MASWings (http://www.maswings.com.my), operates the rural air service, linking Kota Kinabalu, Kudat, Lahad Datu, Sandakan and Tawau. Flights use Fokkers and turboprop aircraft. MASWings took over the rural air services network from FlyAsian Express on October 1, 2007, which in turn took the service over from Malaysia Airlines 14 months before that.
By bus
Long distance express buses operate between major cities in Sabah. Most of these are air-conditioned and quite comfortable. There are also non-aircon stage buses running between towns which stop to pick-up and let down passengers along the way. They may be cheaper but take forever to get anywhere.
A lot of short-distance inter-town travel in Sabah is also done by minibuses and minivans. These are either small buses or vans which are converted to take in passeners. They charge the same fare as buses but carry fewer passengers. Most operate in the morning and will only leave when they are full. But once they get going, the journey can be quite fast. You can make long distance journeys with minibuses and minivans but you'll have to change along the way.
By road
Sabah's road network is not as developed as that in Peninsular Malaysia and there are large areas of the interior, such as the Kinabatangan River basin, which are not connected by road. The main road most useful to travellers are those running along the West Coast from the Sabah-Sarawak border at Sindumin through Sipitang, Beaufort and Papar to Kota Kinabalu called Route A2 and northwards from Kota Kinabalu to Kota Belud and ending at Kudat near the northern tip of Sabah Route A1. The main road into the West Coast interior runs from Kota Kinabalu to Tambunan, Keningau and Tenom.
The main road to the East Coast Route A4 branches off Route A1 near Tuaran, about 30km north of Kota Kinabalu. It passes the foot of Mount Kinabalu and Ranau right through to Sandakan. The main road to Tawau and the southeastern parts of Sabah Route A5 branches off from Route A4 about 55km west of Sandakan or 285km from Kota Kinabalu.
A road is being constructed from Keningau through the isolated Pensiangan and Kalabakan districts to Tawau at the southeastern corner of Sabah. Once completed, the road will enable those travelling from Kota Kinabalu to Tawau to cut travelling time and distances significantly without needing to use the KK-Sandakan road.