The Tiger Cave Temple is a Buddhist temple in the northeast region of Krabi. It is known for it’s tiger paw prints in the cave, it’s tall Buddha statues and the strenuous flight of stairs to reach the summit. The foundation of the temple dates back to 1975 when a Vipassana monk named Jumnean Seelasettho (Ajahn Jumnean) went to meditate in the cave.

During his meditation, he witnessed tigers roaming around the cave. This discovery led to naming the temple Wat Tham Suea ‘The Tiger Cave Temple’. Another legend says that an actual huge tiger used to live and roam the cave. The naming of the temple also comes from discoveries of a tiger paw prints on the cave walls, and also the bulge of the cave resembling a tiger’s paw.

You can read more on the temples history here!

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ABOUT THE TIGER CAVE TEMPLE IN KRABI:

• Entrance is FREE.
• The temple is open from 8am to 5pm everyday.
• It’s a 15 minute drive from Ao Nang Beach, Krabi.
• The stairs walk can take between 30 minutes – 1 hour depending on how fast you can walk.
• You can wear pretty much anything you want when walking the stairs and visiting the cave temple.
• There are monkies everywhere so make sure you watch out for your belongings. They love stealing things!
• Make sure you wear comfortable walking shoes for climbing the stairs. [/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0px 0 0 0″][/two_third_last]

There are 1,237 steps that you have to climb in order to reach the summit of the temple. Quite a strenuous walk but worth it once you reach the top for amazing views of Krabi from above. Along the climbing of the stairs you get to witness very naughty monkies who love stealing food and any small belongings they can get their hands on. We witnessed mothers having their babies milk stolen from their backpacks and people having their sunglasses stolen. Some of the steps vary in size with most of the steps being 30cm high so make sure you watch your step as the steps change size every so often.

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I wasn’t feeling too great the day we visited the Tiger Cave with a weird sense of sickness hanging around for quite a few days as we visited Krabi so I didn’t get all the way to the top before heading back down but my parents took some pictures for me and filled me in on what was at the top and everything else, whilst I stayed at the bottom waiting around and feeling very queasy. I got pooped on by a bird and a lovely Chinese lady told me it was supposedly good luck even though I didn’t feel very lucky and gave me a wet wipe to help clean it up.

Are you looking for something else to do in Thailand? Why not check out my guide on Bangkok. 

Are you planning on visiting Krabi soon? Let me know in the comments below.