Tham Khao Bandai-it Cave Temple in Phetchaburi

Description and is it worth a visit

Another, no less exciting than Tham Khao Luang Cave, cave temple monastery is located next to Phetchaburi is on a hillside a couple of kilometers from the city center. For some reason Khao Bandai-it Temple is less well-known and less popular with tourists than Khao Luang, but in vain. This place may not be as spectacular as the view of the huge vault of the Khao Luang Cave, but it is definitely more ambitious and interesting. Another advantage is just the unpopularity of this place, so almost certainly you will find yourself here alone. This is used by rare tourists from among the admirers of oriental traditions, meditating in the deserted and quiet halls of caves.

The whole complex includes a temple building (viharn, there are several of them here at once); several ancient (at least in appearance) stupas; a large, still unfinished, statue of a giant sitting Buddha on top of a hill; a museum of some famous monk in the main viharn of the complex (what this monk became famous for, we could not find out). It will take almost an hour to inspect everything here. You can save a little time if you do not climb the mountain to the unfinished statue of the sitting Buddha. There is really nothing to do upstairs yet, the construction of the statue has obviously been delayed, but in this case you will be left without a view of the surrounding expanses and the city.

As for the caves themselves, they are not so easy to find. The entrance to them is almost not marked in any way, and you will have to look for it or ask around a few local visitors or guests. For a reference point, from the parking lot in front of the main vihar you need to go to the side of the Buddha on the hill, and look for an inconspicuous entrance. You can see what it looks like in our photos below.

The caves are quite long, consist of many rooms filled with Buddha statues. Some of the rooms are designed for meditation. And in one of the branches live bats. But don't worry, it's hard to get lost here, besides the caves are well lit.

There is also a whole flock of monkeys living in the temple, be careful with them (see how to behave with monkeys, precautions).

🕐 Working hours

In the daytime.

💵Entrance fee / ticket price

Admission is free, donations are welcome. At the entrance to the temple there is a shop with religious paraphernalia, where you can buy something, thereby donating to the needs of the temple.

🚶 How to get there

The temple is located 2 kilometers from the city center (temple on the map). A trip here by minibus will cost 100 baht. There is free parking for rented vehicles.