Gunung Mulu National Park

Looking from inside Lang Cave to the mouth

Gunung Mulu National Park is probably Sarawak's number one natural attraction. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site including the world's biggest caves, trekking (including the famous Pinnacles trail), canopy walks, and pristine rainforest.

There is so much more to Gunung Mulu National Park but the majority of visitors will usually want to concentrate on the vast and impressive caves and the park's management and tour operators are geared up to provide safe and well-organised packages to see the caves.

Typical Mulu Caves Package

Many tour operators offer 3 day / 2 night packages or longer which come complete with airport transfers to and from Mulu airport, hotel accommodation, meals, guided cave tours and hikes, longboat trip etc. These can be private tours or part of a group. All you have to arrange yourself are the flights to Mulu airport (beware of unforeseen flight cancellations - see below).

Plenty of unusual insects here!

3D2N Mulu Caves Package

This is the summary of a package which my wife and I took in June 2026:

Day 1 Upon arrival at Mulu Airport we were met by our guide and transferred to Mulu Marriott Resort & Spa for check-in. Since it was already midday we just dropped off our bags in the room, met in the lobby and transferred to Mulu National Park Headquarters where we registered and had a quick lunch at their canteen. Then we hiked on a 3km plank walk through the jungle to reach Deer Cave and Lang Cave (their entrances are only 110 meters apart). Deer Cave is one of the world's largest cave passages. After exploring the caves we proceeded to the bat observatory platform from where we had a good view of clouds of bats emerging from the cave mouth around 5pm to begin their nightly feeding (It is estimated that there are three million Wrinkle Lipped bats here and they consume 16 tons of mosquitoes every night. Thank goodness for bats)!
After we had seen enough bats we returned to Park HQ via the same 3km boardwalk to catch our transfer back to the hotel for a shower and dinner.

Day 2 After breakfast the guide took us by longboat to Batu Bungan, a settlement of the Penan community where we could try hitting a target with blowpipes and browse the modest selection of handicraft products on sale. Then we continued the journey by longboat to Wind Cave and Clearwater Cave.This was followed by a picnic lunch and an opportunity to bathe in the clear and refreshing Melinau River. Then back to the Marriott by longboat for free time, dinner and overnight.

Day 3 Breakfast then free until time for transfer to Mulu Airport. Other optional activities for the free leisure periods include the Canopy Skywalk, Night Walk, Waterfall Walk, more Jungle Trails or just make use of the hotel's swimming pool or spa.

We paid RM1,249 per person for this package. If this sounds expensive, you could book all the cave tours and activities and accommodation through the National Park itself which would probably work out cheaper.

The Pinnacles Climb and Gunung Mulu Summit Climb

These are more extreme hikes for the fit and adventurous traveller.

Pinnacles is offered as a 3 day trip involving a boat ride for 1-2 hours and a 9km hike to Camp 5, a basic forest shelter accommodating up to 38 people. The following day is a 5 hour ascent to the viewpoint including near vertical rope sections and ladders. The views are spectacular and worth the effort but sadly I think I am probably too old now to take on this extreme climb. Those interested can book the Pinnacle Climb package through the Gunung Mulu National Park official website at a cost of Rm 465 per person which includes the compulsory licensed guide.

Even more challenging is the Gunung Mulu Summit climb which is offered as a 4 tortuous Days/3 Nights expedition covering 24 km up to the top of Mt. Mulu at 2,377 meters, starting from Park HQ which is only 40m above sea level. It is described as more challenging than Mt. Kinabalu and more strenuous than Mt. Kilimanjaro and involves three nights of very basic shelters and toilet facilities, It costs RM 660 per person including compulsory guide. and advance booking is required.

Accommodation

For those travellers who don't want to splash out on the Marriott Mulu Resort there are alternatives.

The Park HQ has accommodation to suit all budgets:

Some very smart -looking Deluxe Garden Bungalows
Longhouse Suites & Family Rooms
Rainforst Lodge
Hostel Beds

See the Park's website for details and bookings.

What to Bring

Bring plastic raincoat or poncho, sturdy trekking shoes with good grips, torch light, insect repellent, swim wear and trunks if you intend to swim in the river, water bottle, cash.

How To Get to Gunung Mulu National Park

The park is not accessible by road and requires a short 30 minute flight from Miri to Mulu. Alternatively there are direct flights from Kuching (90 minutes) or Kota Kinabalu (55 minutes).

Mulu is a small laid back airport and is not really equipped to handle flights in all weathers. Flight cancellations are common if the airport is shrouded in rain clouds and visibility is poor.

On our flight we had almost reached Mulu when the captain announced that we were unable to land and we would be returning to Miri. We had to wait until the next day and try again.

Tourists are advised to allow some flexibility in their schedules and have a 'Plan B' in case of such flight cancellations.

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AUTHOR BIO

David (the one on the left) is the writer behind Malaysia Traveller, sharing first-hand travel advice from over five decades of living and travelling across Asia and the Middle East. Based in Malaysia since 2009 and now in Kuching, he has published over 790 pages on this website, personally visited every place he covers, and uses only his own photos. Readers can learn more on his About Me page. He also shares updates on Facebook and YouTube. He loves uncovering overlooked places that even some Malaysians have never visited.