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When visiting the Blue Mountains you might want a break from the many hikes in the area and venture out a little farther into the west. There are a number of trips you can go for, but if you’re looking for a complete change from the stunning and expansive landscape why not go underground? The Jenolan Caves are truly a spectacular sight that will blow your mind.
The Trip to Jenolan Caves
The trip to the caves is about two hours of winding roads from Katoomba, through the mountains and stunning landscapes.
Seeing as the tour is by bus, this truly is a real test of the bus drivers driving skills. Especially the last half hour when the bus makes its way up the mountain by way of a narrow little road that does not go straight for more than a few meters before there is another impossible corner that challenges the drivers wits.
If you like a little excitement and fear in your life, you really can’t go wrong with this one. Mind you, it is not for those faint of heart!
The Jenolan Caves
Once you get there, you can relax. There is a really cute little settlement in the middle of nowhere in those mountains. There are a couple of places to get a drink or something to eat when you get hungry.
Incredibly there are over 300 caves here, however only 10 of them are open to the public as ‘show caves’. Each cave takes around 1 to 2 hours to see. For the really adventurous there are 3 ‘adventure caves’ – which take from 2 hours to all day to experience. Or you could take part in a self-guided tour of 2 ‘twilight’ caves, a ‘ghost’ tour (available 2 evenings each week) or underground concerts (most Saturday afternoons).
The caves have a lot of steps up, and not enough down again, so don’t expect a relaxing stroll through the caves, because you’ll be disappointed. But it really is worth it. The caves are millions of years old and there are beautiful sculptures that were created by Mother Nature herself.
There is also a cave that still has rivers flowing through it, a real recommendation! You can actually see how the caves are created.
Apart from the caves there are several bushwalks you can also do here.
All in all I had a fantastic afternoon but I could easily have spent more time. If you do want to spend a bit more time here (recommended!) then accommodation is available. All budgets are catered for from backpacker dorms to luxury guest rooms!
There are several different companies that operate tours to Jenolan Caves so come and have a chat with the staff at Nomads Sydney and we can tell you all about them.
Main image: By Toby Hudson (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
