Tiger Cave Temple (Wat Tham Suea)

From the cave temple to the summit

Main temple and Tiger Cave

The working monastery at the foot of the hill, built around the cave that gives the temple its name, where rock formations look like tiger paw prints. Shoes come off before the shrine areas, and some halls display human skeletons and skulls.

Kuan Yin pagoda

A tall Chinese-style pagoda with a large Kuan Yin statue stands in the grounds. The easier forest walk starts beside it.

Forest valley walk

About 90 steps up and 90 back down take you into a valley of very large trees, small cave shrines and the monks' meditation huts. The steps take about ten minutes, and nothing on this side involves the summit climb.

The 1,260-step stairway

The summit stairs start separately in the main grounds. They are concrete, uneven and steep, with some risers more than 30 cm high, and macaques hang around the lower flights. Most people take 30–60 minutes up and nearly as long down.

Summit

A golden Buddha and a 360-degree view over Krabi's karst country from about 278 m. There is a free drinking-water tap at the top, so one bottle you can refill is enough.

The stairway is what people come for. About 1,260 concrete steps climb the hill behind the monastery to a golden Buddha and a 360-degree view over Krabi's karst country from roughly 278 m. The sign at the bottom still says 1,237, the count before the stairs were rebuilt. Some risers come close to knee height, most people take 30 to 60 minutes up and nearly as long down, and the descent is the part your legs remember. There's a drinking-water tap at the top, so one bottle you can refill is enough.

If the climb isn't for you, the temple at the foot of the hill still earns the trip. Wat Tham Suea is a working forest monastery, founded in 1975 around the cave whose rock marks look like a tiger's paw prints, and a much shorter path of under 200 steps beside the Kuan Yin pagoda leads into a valley of huge trees, cave shrines and monks' huts. Macaques hang around the lower steps and the car park and grab loose bags and bottles, so zip food away and don't feed them.

The temple keeps 06:00 to 18:00 hours, and recent visitors report a ฿50 cash charge for foreign visitors at the entrance. Cover your shoulders and knees, since this is a working monastery, and borrow a sarong at the base if you need one. Shoes come off at the summit shrine and inside the halls. I'd start at opening or in the last two hours before close, because the midday heat is what turns most climbers back. It's about 15 minutes from Krabi Town by Grab or a ฿50 songthaew, and 25 to 30 minutes from Ao Nang, where a one-way taxi runs ฿500 to ฿600.