The best things to do in Sibu are eat at the Central Market in the morning, climb the seven-storey pagoda at Tua Pek Kong temple for the river view, and graze the night market after dark. That is the short list, and it is a short list on purpose. Sibu is Sarawak’s third-largest town, after Kuching and Miri, and a working river town in every way that matters, so the honest verdict is that half a day to a full day covers the sights, and the real reason to come is the food and the boats, not the attractions.
If you have read our Sibu travel guide, you already know the shape of the place. This piece is the to-do list: what is worth your time once you have arrived, in roughly the order I would do it.
TL;DR
- Central Market is the highlight, reputedly Malaysia’s largest indoor market. Go before 10am when the Iban produce traders downstairs are busy.
- Tua Pek Kong temple and its seven-storey pagoda give the best view in town: the brown Rajang, the boats, the rooftops. Free, about 20 minutes.
- The night market (pasar malam) near the town centre is where Sibu relaxes. Foochow snacks, grilled food, cheap eats from early evening.
- The swan statues and the Rajang esplanade are worth a slow walk at dusk. Sibu calls itself Swan City; the statues are the only reason you will see why, because there are no actual swans.
- Bukit Aup Jubilee Garden and Rejang Park are the green breathers, a short Grab ride out of the centre.
- Wisma Sanyan, the tall tower you cannot miss, is a shopping mall. Useful as a landmark and an air-conditioned lunch stop, not a sight.
What is Sibu famous for?
Sibu is famous for two things, and neither of them is sightseeing. The first is Foochow food, kampua mee and kompia above all, which we cover in what to eat in Sibu. The second is the river. Sibu sits about 60km up the Rajang, Malaysia’s longest river, and for most of its history it was the port where timber came downstream and supplies and people went up. The express boats to Kapit and Belaga still leave from here. That is the town’s identity: a trading post and a transit hub, strongly Foochow-Chinese, built for work rather than for visitors.
Locals will also tell you Sibu is “Swan City.” The swan is the town’s symbol, you will see statues of them along the waterfront, and the connection traces back to Foochow heritage rather than to any actual swans on the Rajang. There are none. It is silt-brown river, not a swan lake.
What is the best thing to do in Sibu: the Central Market?
Yes. If you do one thing in Sibu, make it the Sibu Central Market in the morning. Local tourism sources describe it as the largest indoor market in Malaysia, a claim worth treating as exactly that, a claim, but the scale is real either way and so is the fact that it is a working market, not a tourist set-piece.
The upstairs floor is hawker stalls where you sit and eat. Downstairs earns the trip: Iban traders in from the surrounding countryside selling jungle ferns like midin and paku, river fish you will not recognise, dabai when it is in season, and bundles of herbs sold by the handful. Go between roughly 7am and 10am when it is fullest. Entry is free. Give it an hour. For my money this is the most interesting hour anywhere in Sibu.
Is Tua Pek Kong temple and the pagoda worth it?
Worth it, and quick. Tua Pek Kong is a Chinese temple on the riverfront, and the reason to go is the seven-storey pagoda attached to it, added in the 1980s. Climb it. From the top you get the best view in town: the wide, fast, coffee-coloured sweep of the Rajang, the express boats coming and going, and the low spread of the town behind. Entry is free, though you may need to ask for the pagoda to be unlocked when it is quiet.
This is a 20 to 30 minute stop, not a half-day. The temple itself is active and modest, the climb is the point, and once you have the view you have what you came for.
What is the Sibu night market like?
The Sibu night market, the pasar malam, is where the town actually loosens up. From early evening the streets near the town centre fill with stalls, heavy on Foochow snacks, grilled meat, kompia, cut fruit, and cheap plates of noodles. It runs most evenings and gets busiest after dark.
Come hungry and skip dinner beforehand, because this is dinner. The last time I went it was rammed, packed shoulder to shoulder as we’d say back in Manchester, and it is genuinely the liveliest Sibu gets. Unlike a lot of organised “cultural night markets” elsewhere, this one is run for the people who live here. Prices are local, a few ringgit per snack, and nobody is performing for a tour group.
Are the swan statues and the riverfront worth seeing?
Worth a walk, with managed expectations. Sibu brands itself Swan City, and the most photographed version of that is the swan statues along the Rajang esplanade, including a large one near the waterfront that locals treat as the town’s symbol. A slow stroll here at dusk is pleasant and good for getting your bearings.
Here is the straight version, though. The esplanade is a paved walk along an industrial river. The Rajang at Sibu is wide, fast, and the colour of milky coffee from all the silt it carries, the waterfront is a working one with barges, jetties, and the express-boat terminal, and the air carries diesel and river mud. I walked it expecting something like the landscaped, café-lined promenade Kuching has built along its river, and that is not what Sibu is. The swans are charming. The river they sit beside is doing a job.
Where can you find green space: Bukit Aup and Rejang Park?
Two spots, both a short Grab ride from the centre. Bukit Aup Jubilee Garden is a landscaped park around a small hill on the edge of town, with paths, a suspension-bridge walk, and a short climb to a lookout. It is where Sibu families go in the cooler late afternoon, and it is the closest thing to a proper nature outing within easy reach of the centre. Free to enter; bring water and mosquito repellent.
Rejang Park is more a residential neighbourhood than a green park, better known these days as a food area, so go for the kopitiams rather than the scenery. If you want greenery and a walk, Bukit Aup is the one to choose. Neither is a destination you would fly in for, but both break up an afternoon if you have run through the town centre and still have daylight.
What about Wisma Sanyan, the tall building?
Wisma Sanyan is the tower you will spot from almost anywhere in Sibu. It was Sarawak’s tallest building until 2019, and for a town this size it is a genuine landmark. The catch is that it is a shopping mall. You go up for the shops, the air conditioning, and a sit-down lunch out of the heat, not for a view. Treat it as a navigation aid and a cool-down stop. Useful, not a sight.
How long do you need in Sibu, and what is the catch?
A half-day to a full day. Honestly. Here is a realistic order for one good day:
| Time | What to do | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| 7:00 to 8:30am | Kampua mee breakfast, then Central Market | 1.5 hrs |
| 8:30 to 9:30am | Tua Pek Kong temple and the pagoda climb | 1 hr |
| 9:30 to 11:00am | Riverfront esplanade and the swan statues | 1.5 hrs |
| Late afternoon | Bukit Aup Jubilee Garden | 1.5 hrs |
| From 6:00pm | Night market for dinner | 2 hrs |
That is a full, pleasant day, and you will notice the gap in the middle. It is there because Sibu does not have enough formal attractions to fill an afternoon.
This is the catch, and I would rather say it plainly than pad the list. Sibu is a working commercial river town with limited tourist sights, so most visitors run out of things to do within a day, there is little English once you step off the main drag, and the real reason to stop is the food and the boat connections up the Rajang, not the attractions. Stretching a visit to two days only makes sense if you are using Sibu as the staging post it was built to be, pushing further upriver to Kanowit, Song, or Kapit. As a standalone sightseeing destination, one day is the honest number, and anyone selling you three is selling.
So is Sibu worth a trip?
Go if you want to eat well and see the Foochow, river-trading side of Sarawak that Kuching only hints at. Do the Central Market at eight, climb the pagoda, walk off breakfast along the esplanade, take an hour at Bukit Aup, and let the night market be dinner. That is a complete day, and a good one. If you want a town that keeps you busy for a long weekend, Sibu on its own will not.
What sticks with me is standing in the downstairs market at eight in the morning, working out that the bundles of fern in front of me had come downriver that day and would be gone by noon. An Iban trader weighing out midin by the handful, a Foochow uncle stacking kompia two stalls over, both of them haggling across the counter in a town that runs on the river behind them. That hour is the trip. For the rest, it is a half-day of sights and a very good lunch.
Last updated: June 2026. Attractions, market hours, and opening details checked June 2026; confirm temple and park access locally before you go.
Keep exploring Kuching Insider: the full Sibu travel guide, what to eat in Sibu, where to stay in Sibu, and our Discovering Sarawak hub.