A location that you should definitely not miss when visiting Kuala Lumpur is Batu Caves on the very border of the city.

Around the 325 metre high rock massif you will find a number of Hindu temples, statues and shrines.

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Colourful stairs and a golden statue

Batu Caves, this is actually a cave complex with a long and tedious staircase leading to it. Even before you start climbing the 275 steps, with monkeys trying to steal something to eat as you climb, you'll be amazed by the golden statue of the god Murugan.

After climbing the staircase, you will find yourself in the Batu Caves themselves, where there is another Hindu temple, where they also raise chickens and peacocks.

If you have exposed knees, you can rent a sarung at the entrance for a small fee around 5 myr, but in reality no one wears clothes on site.

Before the imaginary peak, you can also visit the "mysterious cave" hiding the rarest spider discovered in 1923 by zoologist H.C. Abraham and named Liphistius batuensis. Unfortunately, it is dark in the cave and it is not allowed to take photos with flash. For a 45-minute guided visit, you'll pay perhaps an absurd 35 ringgit per person.

Down further below the staircase is a large area with more temples and a large building with lots of souvenir shops, tourist restaurants and mini-markets.

But it's not just the golden statue of the god Murugan and Batu Caves that you should visit here.

Entrance fees and opening hours

The cave complex and the adjacent temples (except Ramayana Cave, see below) are open daily from 7am-9pm.

Admission is free.

Ramayana Cave

Overlooked by many travellers , Ramayana Cave is located just past the exit of the train station - as you leave the last gate, look sharply to the left.

A large statue of Kumbhakarna, brother of Ravana, greets you outside the cave entrance.

In the cave itself, then see the beautifully decorated and colourful diorama of the Indian Hindu epic Ramayana.

Climb to the very top of the cave where the lingam (stalagmite), the symbol of Shiva, is located in the shrine.

Entrance fees and opening hours

You can visit the Ramyana Cave daily from 8:00 am to 9:00 pm.

The entrance fee is 15 myr and you can pay by card or cash.

How to get there

The KTM Blue Line 1 trains run to Batu Caves, but only once an hour. There may be 2 trains per hour in the morning and afternoon.

The journey time from KL Sentral is 26 minutes and the fare to KL Sentral costs about 2,50 myr.

You can pay directly at the turnstile with your own credit card.

Of course, Batu Caves can also be easily reached by taxi and especially via the Grab mobile app which most tourists use.

The price to the city centre is between 30 myr and 40 myr.

However, we recommend using the train, especially in the afternoon after about 3pm, when it can take up to 3 times longer to get to the centre by car than by train due to traffic jams.

Detailed information on how to get around the city can be found in the Transport chapter.

Accommodation at Batu Caves

For many tourists visiting Kuala Lumpur for even just 1 or 2 days, the Batu Caves are a major destination and in this case it can be worth staying near them.

However, there are no big hotels in the area, so you can only stay in local very cheap hotels from 20 usd.

We would recommend for example the decently rated The Concept Hotel KL ****.

Our tips for visiting

• Allow at least 1 hour, but more like 1.5 hours to explore the main caves and Ramayana Cave
• it is polite to cover your knees, but realistically the dress-code is absolutely not required or checked on site
• there are monkeys everywhere on site who like to steal food but are otherwise not aggressive
• allow plenty of room on your journey from the centre - the train has long intervals and you can take a very long time on the Grab because of the queues

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