Batu Caves
Two hundred and seventy-two rainbow steps under a forty-two-metre golden statue, inside a limestone cave.
Duration
1 hr – 2 hrs
Difficulty
●●○○○
Best time
Before 9am
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The main cave is a four-hundred-million-year-old limestone cavity, turned into a shrine to Murugan in 1891. The golden statue guarding the stairs is forty-two metres tall and dates from 2006; the two hundred and seventy-two steps were repainted in gradient colours in 2018.
At the top the cave opens into a hall a hundred metres high, open to the sky, with temples built straight onto the rock. In January or February, the Thaipusam festival brings over a million people here in two days.
Getting there
KTM Komuter line from KL Sentral, Batu Caves terminus, half an hour. The train sets you down at the foot of the steps.
Hours
6am – 9pm, every day of the year
What to bring
- Covering clothes
- Walking shoes
- Headlamp
Rules on site
Knees must be covered; a sarong can be hired at the entrance. The macaques take plastic bags, bottles and hand-held phones: do not eat anything on the steps.
Checked on 28 August 2026 at Time Travel Turtle — Batu Caves guide