Gua Tempurung: Natural Cave System In Ipoh

If you’re in Ipoh, we highly recommend that you take a few hours to explore Gua Tempurung. It’s a big cave system with its own underground river. And as long as you can handle some stairs, it’s very much worth exploring.

There are 4 main tours available here. Tours 1 and 2 are the dry tours where you won’t have to wade through any water. If you’re interested in these, keep on reading and we’ll share more!

Entrance Fees

There are entrance fees to enter the cave. Choose the tour you want and pay for it in cash at the counter in front of the cave entrance.

We took Tour 2 which cost us RM12 each.

Take note that if you’re interested in any of the wet tours, you need to get tickets before 10:30am. They will not accept any more participants for the wet tours after 10:30am. For dry tours, the last admittance is at 4pm.

If you have inquiries about bookings for Gua Tempurung, this is the WhatsApp number (+6014-220 4142) to contact.

Note: Tickets apply to kids above 4 and below 12 years old. And seniors are categorized as 60 years old and above.

Tour 1

If you’re taking Tour 2, you will be using the same walkway as for Tour 1 which starts from the entrance of the cave.

Once inside, we were very impressed by the size of the cavern – mind you, we’ve been here before years ago, but it’s still a marvel to see in person!

The walkway takes you over part of the underground river and the stairs will lead you up to Platform 1 (Mr. Bat). We were initially giddy from the height but got over it after a while.

Platform 2 (Echo-Echo) is when the stairway dips down and up again where Platform 3 (Golden Flowstone) is.

Tour 1 officially ends at Platform 3. But we didn’t see any staff or barriers here so we don’t think they can control who paid for Tour 1 or Tour 2. We didn’t have to show our tickets to anyone at all during our visit to Gua Tempurung.

Tour 2

We continued past Platform 3 by going up some stairs and following the walkway, stopping occasional to check out the cool rock formations. We did see some small bats flit by as well. There seem to be many roosting high up in the cave ceiling.

Platform 4 (Wind Tunnel) is right before the opening of the wind tunnel. It’s not really a tunnel but it is more closed off than the previous sections of the cave. It felt quieter here because there was no water passing through or dripping from the ceiling. We did feel a slight breeze while going through this section. Very refreshing after climbing all the stairs back in Tour 1.

We went through the wind tunnel and back out to a more open area. There was one point where the stairs brought you right under the ceiling. If you’re tall, you will have to duck a bit to get through without bumping your head. It’s only a short stretch though, and you will soon reach the final platform, Platform 5 (Top Of The World).

Platform 5 is where Tour 2 ends. There is a locked gate here that blocks access to a steep staircase. If you take either Tour 3 or Tour 4, you will have to use this intimidating staircase.

Going Back

Since we could not progress further, the only way back was through the way we had come. This journey was a lot quicker since we already knew the way and had our fill of photo-taking already.

Overall, we spent slightly less than an hour in the cave.

What To Bring

You don’t need to have a headlamp, or hardhat if you’re going for Tours 1 and 2. The cave is quite well lit, and we did not need to use a flashlight for any part of our exploration.

Safety helmets are provided if you’re doing Tours 3 and 4. If you go for Tours 3 or 4, there is a staff that will follow you and act as a guide.

So, if you’re just doing Tour 1 or Tour 2 (aka the dry tours), all you will need are comfortable walking shoes (we don’t recommend flip-flops), a small bottle of water, a tripod if you really want to take photos of the darker areas, and maybe a small towel to wipe off sweat.

Facilities

There is a café, souvenir shop, prayer rooms and toilets divided by gender before the cave entrance.

The toilets are spacious, brightly lit, and have multiple cubicles with space to change or take a quick shower using the bidet taps if you wish. This is a huge improvement from the simple, mosquito-infested huts that used to serve as toilets and changing facilities years ago.

As for parking, there are 2 options. Before the visitor facilities or further up the road to the back. We parked at the front since there was still space. The car park at the back was only visible from the cave entrance and it is much bigger.

Note: You don’t have to pay to use either the toilets or the car park.

Conclusion

Gua Tempurung is one of our favorite attractions in Ipoh. If you’ve never been to a cave before, this will be an eye-opening experience to remember. Especially if you go for the wet tours!

Tasik Cermin

Another natural beauty that we think worth visiting is Tasik Cermin or Mirror Lake. There are actually two lakes now and rather than just paying for the entrance fees, we really recommend that you go for the boat tours. They are short but insightful.

Kek Look Tong

For anyone with mobility issues, there’s still an impressive cave that you can visit much more easily. And that’s the main prayer hall over at Kek Look Tong.