Visiting Batu Caves with the kids was top of our list for our visit to Kuala Lumpur. The caves are one of Malaysia’s biggest tourist attractions and the most popular Hindu shrine outside of India. Hindu pilgrims from all around the world flock to visit the site and climb the steps to honour Lord Murugan, the God of War in a shrine within the temple cave.
Read on for the run down on what to expect when visiting Batu Caves with kids, and how to plan for the best visit!
About Batu Caves
The name ‘Batu’ takes its meaning from the Malay word meaning ‘rock’. This is fitting, as the complex is a huge limestone hill known for its famous caves and cave temples. The hill is located just outside of Kuala Lumpur in Gombak District.
The most iconic (and most photographed) image of Batu Caves is the impressive golden statue of Lord Murugan, standing tall at 43 metres high (140 feet) from the base of the stairs.
- Fact: The structure is the tallest Lord Murugan statue in the world.
However, there is much more to see. Batu Caves is actually made up of fives caves, including three main caves:
- Ramayana Cave
- Cave Villa and
- Temple Cave (the main Batu Cave).
Visiting the main Temple Cave involves climbing the 272 steps past the statue of Lord Murugan to enter at the top. This cave serves as the main Hindu temple devoted to Lord Murugan.
From there you can enter the second cave and see the original temple from 1890. The roof has collapsed inside this space and you can see the sky up above.
Quick tips for visiting Batu Caves with kids
The caves is a great travel experience with kids and one they will remember for years to come. (I know, because I remember visiting with my family as a child myself!). Here are a few tips to make the experience easy.
1. Get there early
This goes for most visits in travel (and most mornings with children to be fair!). Aim to get there early to be able to explore before the heat of the day and without the crowds that roll in soon after morning. The quietist time of day is before 09:00am when tour buses begin to arrive.
- Note: There is no shade on the steps up to the caves during the middle and hottest part of the day. It’s a good idea to head there early. And, if you are really keen you can arrive for sunrise…
2. Explore on your own
It is possible to do an optional guided tour of the caves. These tours were advertised in our guesthouse for $35 per person including pick up and return from your accomodation. However, we found visiting Batu Caves with the kids easy to explore on our own.
- Tip: Without a tour our visit cost us less than $20 USD for all of us including transport there and a drink and snack at the site afterwards.
The kids (ok, and us too) took our time to climb to the top of the steps, so it was great not to be rushed for this. Other than that, we enjoyed wandering around the Temple Cave at the top and admiring the brightly coloured shrines inside.
One highlight of our visit was before we even got inside the site. Batu Caves is known in Malaysia for being the focal point of the Hindu festival of Thaipusam. This takes place each year sometime in March, and we were visiting a few weeks before this so the entire area was in the process of being set up for the festival. Although we didn’t know this at the time, we found locals to be very friendly and happy to explain to us what was going on.
During the festival and leading up to the date, pilgrims visit the site in order to bring offerings to Lord Murugan. We saw lots of devotees dressed in yellow; the traditional Hindu colour of knowledge and learning. Pilgrims were having their heads shaved and hair cut before carrying containers of milk up the 272 steps to the temple at the top of the caves.
3. Dress appropriately
Batu Caves is a religious Hindu site, and like all religious sites and temples there is an expected dress code. For adults, it is not appropriate to wear anything short or revealing. Checking is rigorous at the base of the stairs.
- Women: A long dress, skirt or trousers is expected. Make sure your shoulders are covered by the time you enter the temple. If you do arrive without the appropriate clothing you can rent a sarong but the entrance to Batu Caves for 5 MYR (less than $1USD).
- Men: Shorts or trousers and a t-shirt is fine. A long-sleeved shirt is not required, however a singlet or sleeveless top may be concerning.
- Kids: Visiting Batu Caves with kids, there aren’t strict restrictions on what they wear. Respectful clothing is appropriate.
4. Mind the monkeys
A good one to know before you go… And especially if visiting with kids. You will be greeted by cheeky looking monkeys as soon as you near the stairs up to the caves. There are literally packs of monkeys that have made the Batu Caves home. Take care of anything small you or the kids are carrying. The monkeys have a notorious reputation and can try to snatch things out of your hands.
However, as long as you don’t feed the monkeys or eat something in front of them, they are generally harmless. We did see one that had snatched an apple from an unsuspecting tourist!
5. Support local enterprise
There are a number of souvenir shops and small restaurants and cafes inside the site complex. Especially considering the free cost of entry to Batu Caves, it is nice to be able to support local enterprise and buy something at the site.
If you aren’t after a souvenir, there are plenty of small cafes and stands selling cold coconuts to drink or local snacks. There is also an optional donation box at the entrance to the main temples.
- Note: Don’t buy something to eat and then climb the steps carrying it… Remember the monkeys!
Practical info and things to know before visiting Batu Caves with kids
- Cost of Admission (Main Cave): Entry to the Batu Caves is free.
- Admission to Other Caves: Cave Villa RM 15, Ramayana Cave RM 5.
- Opening Hours: Batu Caves are open daily from 7:00am – 7:00pm.
- Time Needed: Plan to allow around 2 hours to explore Batu Caves with kids. (You can always stay for longer, but we found that was suffice for their attention span and patience in the growing heat of the morning).
Getting there. (Navigating to Batu Caves with kids!).
The Batu Caves site is less than 15km from the centre of Kuala Lumpur. We found it easiest to book a Grab (Southeast Asias popular version of Uber) taxi from our hostel in Bukit Bintang. The cost of a Grab taxi from central KL should be around 25 – 40 MYR.
This is not the most budget way of getting there, but if you are visiting Batu Caves with kids I would recommend this as the most straightforward.
By taxi, the journey is about 30 minutes.
Using public transport is a cheaper option. You can take the KTM Komuter Train from Kuala Lumpur Sentral Station all the way to Batu Caves Komuter station. Trains leave KL Sentral station every half hour. The journey is about 35 minutes by train, with the first train departing KL Sentral to Batu Caves at 06:45 am.
- Tip: If you don’t have data on your phone to order a Grab back to your hotel, there is a taxi stand and taxis that hang around outside the main entrance to the site.
Other things to do in Kuala Lumpur
- Petronas Towers: Malaysias tallest towers were officially the tallest in the world from 1998 to 2004 when they were surpassed by Taipei 101.
- Water parks and playgrounds (near Petronas Towers): We only discovered this on our third day in Kuala Lumpur and I wish we’d found it earlier! Incredible playgrounds that will entertain the kids for hours and please the parents (entrance to the park is free).
- KLCC Aquarium: Huge, modern state-of-the-art aquarium near the water parks and playgrounds of Petronas Towers. Tickets cost MYR69 for adults, MYR39 for kids. Details on the aquarium website here.
- Chinatown and Little India: Ancient Chinese and Indian markets, with temples and street food galore.
- Petrosains Discovery Centre: This is a huge interactive science and discovery centre on the fourth floor of the Petronas Towers.
- Kidzania: An ‘edutainment’ centre for kids where they can try their hand at over 90 different types of jobs. Kids can have a go pretending to be a pilot, surgeon, secret agent, lawyer, firefighter and more. Check out the KidZania website here.
Where we stayed in Kuala Lumpur before visiting Batu Caves with kids
- Kuala Lumpur: Orange Pekoe Guesthouse [awesome location; spacious room. Tea/coffee, breakfast, filtered drinking water; really friendly staff; very affordable rates for the centre of town!].
We really enjoyed the neighbourhood of Bukit Bintang. Giant modern skyscrapers and malls were juxtaposed against architecture from the traditional eras of Indian, Malay, and Chinese heritage of Kuala Lumpur. It was a great place to base ourselves for a few days and it felt like a safe spot to explore Kuala Lumpur with the kids.
More about travel planning for Malaysia and beyond…
These are the companies we use while traveling fulltime as a family and that we would recommend to anyone planning and booking travel.
- Booking.com – The best all-around accommodation booking site that constantly provides the cheapest and lowest rates. They have the widest selection of budget accommodation and it’s easy to filter and sort into price and availability with all the extras you are looking for personally.
- Skyscanner– This is by far our favourite flight search engine. They are able to search small websites and budget airlines that larger search sites often miss. We book all our flights through Skyscanner.
- GetYourGuide– Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace for tours and excursions offered all around the world including everything from walking tours, to street-food tours, cooking classes, desert safari’s and more!
- SafetyWing – A global travel insurance that covers people from all over the world while outside their home country. You can buy it short or longterm; and even if you are out of the country.
- World Nomads – Travel insurance tailored for longterm travel and nomads (including those who have already left home).
Read more about travel in Asia
- Our Sri Lanka itinerary: Markets, buses, trains and beaches (on a budget).
- Sigiriya, Pidurangala and Dambulla: Climbing Sri Lanka’s big rocks with kids.
- Taiwan with kids: A complete Travel Guide.
- Visiting Busan’s Jagalchi Market, South Korea.
- Hong Kong: Mount Davis (accidentally) and the Monster Building.
- Pakistan with kids: A complete guide to travel in Pakistan.
- How to use a squat toilet: Everything you didn’t want to ask…
- Our complete packing list for travel in India.
