The Empire Brunei
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Review
Character and identity
Originally built as a royal guesthouse, The Empire Brunei sprawls along a private stretch of Borneo's northwestern coast, its gilded domes, Italian marble and crystal chandeliers signalling the regal lineage. The grounds are vast: five pools (including an Olympic-sized lagoon and a glass-walled indoor pool), a white-sand beach, a Jack Nicklaus championship golf course playable day or night, tennis, a cinema and an eight-lane bowling alley. Rooms start at a generous 645 square feet with soaking tubs, complimentary minibars and lagoon or garden views. Six restaurants cover Asian and Mediterranean ground, with lagoon-facing Pantai best at sunset.
Who's it for
Best for:
Families and active travellers who want a self-contained resort with serious facilities: golf, multiple pools, a kids' club pool, kayaking, nature trails and a cinema all on site. Couples drawn to ornate, palatial interiors and South China Sea sunsets, and anyone who values seclusion over a buzzy scene, will settle in easily.
Should look elsewhere:
Design minimalists will find the gilded, damask-and-chandelier register heavy. Travellers chasing nightlife, shopping or a walkable urban setting should look further afield, as will those who prefer a tighter, boutique-scale property over a sprawling estate with extensive grounds to traverse.
Bottom line
The pull here is scale and seclusion: a former royal guesthouse with a private beach, a Nicklaus golf course and enough on-site diversions to fill a week without leaving. Book a sea-view suite for the wall-to-wall ocean windows, bring the family if you have one, and plan around sunset at Pantai.