The Beautiful Jenolan Caves – A Must when Traveling to the Blue Mountains

Beautiful Jenolan Caves Australia

At a stately 340 million years, the Jenolan Cave network is the oldest open cave system in the world and are absolutely spectacular. Located in the beautiful Blue Mountains World Heritage Area the Jenolan Caves are only a couple of hours drive from Sydney and make a great day or overnight excursion. The vast cave network has over 40 km (25 Miles) of multi-level passages offering easy site seeing walks, educational and historical tours to active adventure caving.

The Beautiful Jenolan Caves – A Must when Traveling to the Blue Mountains

By far the best caves in Australia are the Jenolan Caves in the blue Mountains should be one of the top ten natural wonders of the world.

The question is, what cave is right for you

1) The Aladdin’s Cave Adventure:

This cave allows you to squeeze and climb your way through winding, ancient passageways with only your headlamp to light the way. Emerge into massive chambers as you follow your guide into the depths of the earth. Enhance your understanding of this ancient environment as you explore the lower chambers of this cave that shows some of the most beautiful formations of any of the Jenolan Caves adventure tours, extraordinary in color and decoration.

Age: Minimum - 12 years
Fitness: You need to be fit and the tour requires some flexibility and agility.
Note: This tour is a challenge, contact us for further details.  

2) The Lucas Cave:

Probably the most popular cave because it is the best general cave, offering the highest and widest chambers as well as a glimpse of the underground river. It is home to the famous Broken Column and boasts a wide range of the beautiful cave formations. The highest chamber is the Cathedral (54 meters/177 feet) This cave is also the scene of many weddings and Concerts as the Cathedral Chamber has arguably the best acoustics of any performance space in the world. The acoustical properties of this massive chamber have been utilized by The Vienna Boys Choir and Dame Joan Sutherland. You will need to walk several flights of stairs to get to the Lucas cave but less strenuous inside.

Duration: 1½ hours
Steps: 910
Fitness level: Average
Note: You walk several flights of stairs to get to the Lucas cave but once you are inside, the walk becomes less strenuous.  

Lucas cave

3) The Orient Cave (Show Cave):

The Orient Cave is said by many to be the most beautiful cave in the world. As you move through one breathtaking chamber to one even more highly decorated, you will be awestruck. Recently the Orient Cave was fitted out with the latest lighting technology enabling you to see areas and dimensions as you have never seen them before. The system uses minimal power and also minimizes heat output thus conserving the sensitive cave environment.

Duration: 1½ hours
Steps: 358
Fitness level: Average  

4) The Temple of Baal (Show Cave):

A beautiful caves, recently transformed with a state-of-the-art light and sound show highlighting the cave's features while eliminating  environment damage to the caves fragile structure. The cave reveals two massive chambers, one 42 metres high (45 ft) and is filled with breathtaking formations such as the 9 meter (10 foot) long Angel's Wing shawl - one of the largest in the world with arguably one of the best displays of gravity-defying helictites (have a curving or angular form that looks as if they were grown in zero gravity)

Duration: 1½ hours
Fitness level: Average
Steps: 288
Minimum Age: 6 years  

Temple of Baar

5) River Cave – An Underworld Labyrinth:

This exciting cave rewards you with a sense of achievement as its many astonishing formations and features make the effort worthwhile. The underground Styx River, which appears as pools of clear blue water, also includes the ‘Pool of Reflections’ , this is a deep, illuminated underground lake, whose almost motionless surface produces spectacular reflections. You will see the massive 'Queen Esther's Chamber', the magnificent shawls  such as the ‘Giant Shawl’, and many famous formations, including the ‘Minaret’ (a spectacular stalagmite), ‘Grand Column’ (biggest column in the system) and the ‘Queen's Canopy’.

Fitness level: Strenuous
Steps:1298
Duration: 2 Hours

River Cave Jenolan

6) Mammoth Adventure - An Adrenalin Experience: 

Mammoth Cave is the most extensive in Jenolan complex and you will be underground for 6 hours and it involves extensive climbing, crawling, squeezes scrambling, and cave ladder work. Muddy, wet and slippery are the key words but the beautiful large caverns and the underground Lower River make it worthwhile. This Adventure is about leaving commercial well lit show cave route and following your experienced guide to the depths of the earth. These wild, untouched areas will enhance your understanding of this magnificence of this ancient environment. Absolute breathtaking beauty is the reward because concealed deep underground is a labyrinth of caverns decorated in beautiful calcite crystals - stalactites, stalagmites, columns and shawls, underground river system. You will be blown away.

Age: Minimum age - 16 years.
Fitness: Very and requires flexibility, agility and previous caving experience.
Note: Not suitable for claustrophobics. 

Adventure caving in Jenolan

If you are interested in Caving in Australia contact our friendly Travel Designers and they will incorporate an adventure into your itinerary.

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Brent Narbey
By
Brent Narbey
: 18 Apr 2013 (Last updated: 8 Mar 2022)

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