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Visit Batu Caves on a Day Trip from Kuala Lumpur
If you’re planning out your Malaysia itinerary, it’s worth setting aside a day to explore Batu Caves. This complex of limestone caves is one of the country’s most famous places and is also an important Hindu shrine. It’s an easy day trip from Kuala Lumpur.
At Batu Caves, you can climb a tough staircase hewn into a mountain to see the Temple Cave. Experience an Indian epic as you walk amid colorful statues at the Ramayana Cave. And observe otherworldly cave-dwelling animals in the Dark Cave.
Read on for a detailed overview of how to tour the Batu Caves in Malaysia, when to go, and what you can see and do elsewhere in the country if you have more time.
How to Get to Kuala Lumpur and Batu Caves
Most visitors coming to Malaysia from another country will arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the main international airport in the country. It’s located about 45 kilometers (28 miles) to the south of Kuala Lumpur itself.
You’ll need to arrange transport from the airport to the downtown area where most of the lodging and the top sightseeing attractions are. A convenient way to do this is with KLIA Ekspres. You can buy an express rail ticket from them and be at KL Sentral (the main railway station in Malaysia) in about 35-40 minutes.
It’s about 13 kilometers from Kuala Lumpur to Batu Caves in Selangor. You can get there easily and affordably by taking an Uber, which should charge you only a few dollars.
If you prefer to take public transport, KTM Komuter trains also go to Batu Caves station from KL Sentral. The ride takes 30 minutes and runs every 15-30 minutes. Personally, I wouldn’t bother when you can just take an Uber.
What to Expect at Batu Caves
The Batu Caves complex is one of Malaysia’s most renowned attractions. It actually consists of three separate caves within walking distance of one another, all located on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.
You’ll have plenty of company. This is a very popular destination for Hindu worshippers, particularly in late January and February, when the Hindu festival of Thaipusam takes place. Hundreds of thousands of people descend on the caves during that time frame. So if you don’t like crowds, now you know when not to go.
Cost of Batu Caves
Entry to the main Temple Cave is free of charge. You need to buy entry tickets for Ramayana Cave and Dark Cave, however. Expect to pay around RM5 for a ticket to Ramayana Cave. A guided tour of Dark Cave costs RM35.
Temple Cave
Once you arrive at the cave complex, you’ll see a giant golden statue of a Hindu god named Lord Murugan. You can’t miss it—it’s nearly 43 meters tall and is the largest such statue of him in the world.
Just beyond the statue is a 272-step staircase leading to the Temple Cave.
What else can you see here? Monkeys. Lots of monkeys. Many visitors feed these macaques bananas, nuts, and other snacks, and vendors do sell such food items at the site. If you buy any, the monkeys will approach you for handouts.
Watch your belongings. The macaques have been known to steal things right out of visitors’ handbags and backpacks.
A note of caution: Feeding the monkeys also may be harmful to the animals in the long run; it creates a dependency on humans, the food sometimes results in an unbalanced diet, and the monkeys end up getting much less exercise than they should. Monkeys are also vulnerable to human diseases.
At the entrance to the main cave, a sign instructs visitors to dress modestly. The sign was not consistently enforced. Visitors may also be encouraged to bring up a single brick or a pail of sand, possibly to aid construction efforts.
The climb up the staircase is strenuous during hot and humid weather, and the heat and humidity do linger into December.
At the top, you’ll see Hindu temples and many colorful statues and murals with Hindu themes. The main chamber is partly open to the sky.
Descend the staircase and walk past a large pond filled with various fish.
Ramayana Cave
Keep walking and you’ll come upon the Ramayana Temple at the end of the path. Out front you’ll see a series of golden horses and a 4-armed blue-skinned god. Also in the area is an even bigger green statue of Lord Hanuman Murti, the monkey god (very appropriate for the area).
Inside Ramayana Cave, you’ll see a variety of brightly colored statues illustrating scenes from the Indian epic Ramayana.
A highlight is the giant reclining statue of a sleeping Kumbhakarna. It looks a bit like a scene out of Gulliver’s Travels.
At the top of the stairs you’ll see a giant stalagmite.
Exit Ramayana Cave and you’ll see various stalls selling delectable snacks. You can also get a fresh coconut for a few RM.
Dark Cave
Climb 204 steps to the Dark Cave and pay for your entry ticket to go on the next 45-minute guided tour.
The Dark Cave is fascinating. You’ll don a helmet to shield your head from bat droppings and take a flashlight to illuminate the often pitch-black surroundings.
The tour takes you about 800 meters into a 2-kilometer cave, much of it sealed off for scientific and research purposes.
The cave is home to a variety of creatures, some of whom thrive on large deposits of bat guano. Animals you may see inside the cave include bats, birds, cave roaches, flatworms, long-legged crickets, snakes, spiny millipedes, and trapdoor spiders.
Toward the end of your cave tour, you’ll enter the Great Chamber, which is partly open to the sky. Large piles of mossy rocks are dimly illuminated here.
Wrap up your tour and exit the cave. You can take an Uber back to your hotel.
What to Do After You’ve Seen Batu Caves
If you’d like to know more about what to do in Malaysia after you’ve seen Batu Caves, you can choose from among many other tourist attractions in and around Malaysia.
You could visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Melaka (also known as Malacca), with its stunning mosque set on the water, house museums, and historic Dutch and Portuguese buildings.
The futuristic city of Putrajaya makes for another fun day trip. It’s the administrative hub of the country and has intriguing architecture seemingly out of a sci-fi movie alongside more traditional-looking mosques.
If you have more time in Southeast Asia, you may want to consider the micro country of Brunei, which has a remarkable rainforest and lavish buildings. Also consider Vietnam’s scenic Halong Bay or hiking through the rice terraces of Sapa.