Whilst standing inside a cave, the smell of incense lingers from the Hindu temple to my right. A troop of monkeys linger on the cave wall to my left and the sun seeps into the cave from the hole in the roof. I’m just 13kms from the heart of Kuala Lumpur in the Batu Caves. Inside the Batu Cave is one of the most famous Hindu shrines outside of India.
The limestone forming the Batu Caves in Malaysia is suggested to be 400 million years old. The entrances to a few caves were used as shelter by the indigenous Temuan people. Now it shelters flocks of tourists every day from the Kuala Lumpur changeable weather.
The 272 concrete steps up to the Batu Caves, KL does nothing to put off all the tourists. The beauty of the Hindu shrine does nothing to put off some of these visitors from dropping their rubbish. The place really was littered. It was so sad to see some of the monkeys chewing on the plastic carrier bags.
However once taking some time to let the next influx of crowds pass and taking the time to stand at peace in front of the shrine whilst Hindus hold a service, you could feel the uniqueness of the Batu Caves. The limestone hill also houses a number of other caves and shrines.
You can also rock climb here as the Batu Caves have over 160 climbing routes. It is free to do if you have your own equipment.
Since visiting the caves in 2017, the steps up to the Batu caves in Malaysia have been painted making the whole experience a more colourful one. On my return to Kuala Lumpur at the beginning of 2019, I revisited the caves. The litter was a lot less and the photos were even better. Check out the difference in the photos below:
Have you visited any shrines in amazing places? Where have you been in Kuala Lumpur? Please comment below. Don’t forget to subscribe (It’s free!) to my blog for more posts like this and interesting travel tips.
Tips for Visiting Batu Caves
1/ The caves are free to enter but some of the surrounding caves and shrines vary in price to enter.
2/ Do not enter with food, or if you do, keep an eye out for the monkey who will do a grab and run for anything they fancy.
3/ The best way to get to the Batu Caves is by train. It is clearly marked at stations around KL Sentral and costs RM4 for a return. You can also take bus 11/11d from Bangkok Bank terminus or U6 from Titiwangsa.
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Monkeys!! In many villages in India, they are quite a nuisance. Some are sly enough to pick up your food bags, wear your specs and only return them when bribed! 😀 The Caves look wonderful! Haven’t been to this place but visiting a hindu temple outside India would be interesting!
Monkeys can sure be wiley creatures! Thankfully posts like this can really give someone a heads up! We always travel with the kids and like to stay at least arm’s length away. LOL! Once, in Gibraltar we saw monkeys who were quite used to people having snacks on them. They were brave and would come right up to you and get things out of your pockets! Thanks to a blogger like you we had read about this and kept all food out of the way.
Wow this is so cool… Maybe except for the monkeys! Lol I’m def not a fan of monkeys bold enough to steal my stuff! Looks like a definite must do if we ever make it to KL
I haven’t visited Kuala Lumpur but love to go there one day. Visiting Batu Caves sounds so interesting. However, it’s sad to see that monkey is chewing on the plastic carrier bags 🙁
Thanks for sharing this! we are planning to go to KL next year and really want to see the Batu Caves. It is really nice seeing your pictures of it. I was kind of wondering how steep the steps were as we have a two year old. Nice to see a picture of the steps to be able to work out if he could handle it or not.
There are so many places in Southeast Asia that I have wanted to visit and just not been able to make it yet. I now have to add another to my list, although I may need to get in better shape if I’m going to make it up all those steps. It’s always odd to me how some of the most beautiful natural places can be so close to a major metropolis.
This place looks quite divine. I have visited Malaysia twice and that too for week long vacations and still haven’t been to this place. I am scared of monkeys and had to skip Ubud Monkey forest as well.
I’ve been wanting to go to Kuala Lumpur for so long! The Batu Caves sound such a spiritual place, I hope I can visit this Shrine too one day.