Wat Tham Sua, Krabi

Wat Tham Sua, also known in English as Tiger Cave Temple, is a temple 5 km from Krabi Town inside a long shallow limestone cave, surrounded by natural forest. Wat Tham Sua, one of the south's most famous meditation centres, takes its name from a stone formation nearby which resembles a tiger's claw. Today, about 250 monks and nuns live in the temple compound.

I have visited Wat Tham Sua a couple of times with members of AsiaExplorers, whenever I explore the sights along the coast of South Thailand. Wat Tham Sua is away from the main tourist destinations such as Phuket and Ko Samui. As such, not many tourists from outside Thailand knows about it. In a way, that is good, as it keeps the place pristine.

Two flights of staircases wind up the limestone cliffs of Wat Tham Sua, the first one leads with 1,200 steps to the top of the mountain offering a superb 360 degree view definitely worth a try. The pillars of the staircase indicates how many steps you have already climbed. A family of monkeys lives around the stairs. Arriving at the top, you will be rewarded with the incredible view and a huge sitting Buddha, a golden pagoda and few other small constructions. The second one (only 130 steps!) leads into a valley where the monks live in simple huts.

Riddled with cave systems, the whole area of Wat Tham Sua has revealed many archeological findings including stone tools, pottery shards, and unfired clay holy images, dating from prehistoric times. The temple also runs a meditation centre.

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

Map of Roads in Penang

Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.

Disclaimer

Please use the information on this page as guidance only. The author endeavours to update the information on this page from time to time, but regrets any inaccuracies if there be any.

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.