The Yarrangobilly Caves are six limestone caves deep in Kosciuszko National Park along the Snowy Mountains Highway, one of the most beautiful drives we have done in all of Australia. Kosciuszko National Park is the largest national park in New South Wales.
I first visited Australia in 2019 on a solo backpacking trip. Now, seven years later, I'm back in Australia, living full-time in a campervan, a 2018 Mercedes Sprinter, with my partner and exploring the country, with a plan of "driving the lap" (completing the entire perimeter of the country).With the freedom of our campervan, we're trying to hit the lesser known spots and go slower.
Kosciuzko National Park, its caves and the Snowy Mountains are southwest of Canberra. The Wiradjuri, Wolgalu, Ngunnawal and Monaro Ngarigo peoples have lived on this land for over 9,000 years as well as being a traditional gathering place for many other groups, evidenced by the more than 1,000 recorded archaeological sites in the park.
The first Europeans arrived in the 1820s and worked in cattle grazing, mining and rural industries alongside Aboriginals. In 1906, much of the present day national park, including the Yarrangobilly Caves, was preserved in small reserves under the Crown Lands Alienation Act of 1861. Grazing was banned from 1938 due to cattle's negative impacts on the soil. Kosciuszko became a state park in 1944 after many years as a popular outdoor destination for hiking, fishing and skiing. It became a national park in 1967 when the National Parks and Wildlife Service was created.
I have written a complete guide to roadtripping the Snowy Mountains Highway and exploring Kosciuszko National Park including how to get there, how to get around, where to stay, where to eat and all the best stops along the way.
COMING SOON → Check out my complete guide to roadtripping the Snowy Mountains Highway!
This guide focuses on our visit to the Yarrangobilly Caves, a collection of six limestone caves in Kosciuszko National Park:
Every single spot (and more) that I mention in all my blog posts about Australia can be found in my Australia | Ultimate Map!
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Each pin includes exact locations, images, detailed information, the ability to open and save the spot in your Google Maps and a link to my relevant blog post to read more.
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For information on how to get to Kosciuszko National Park, check out my complete guide to roadtripping the Snowy Mountains (coming soon!). Below I have outlined the specific information for reaching the Yarrangobilly Caves:
By flight: The closest major airport is in Canberra, Australia's capital city, a drive of about three hours. There is no public transport connecting Canberra Airport directly with Yarrangobilly Caves.
→ Check out my guide to visiting Canberra!
By car: If you're driving around the country, as we are in our campervan, then the easiest way to get to the Yarrangobilly Caves is with your own wheels.
→ If you don't have your own car, you can rent one in Canberra or Sydney.
You might want to start in Sydney as your base for renting a campervan to explore Australia.
→ Rent a campervan in Sydney with Apollo, Camplify, Indie or Juicy.
Vehicle access to Kosciuszko National Park at the time of writing was $4 (if you don't have an NSW All Parks Annual Pass).
By guided tour: From Jindabyne, a town south of the Snowy Mountains, there are two different guided tours available to the Yarrangobilly Caves with Snow Connect or Snow Link. Jindabyne is two hours from the Yarrangobilly Caves.
You can get to Jindabyne a few ways. From Canberra, it's a two-hour drive or coach trip; from Sydney, it's a five-hour drive or coach trip. Greyhound, FlixBus or NSW TrainLink all connect from Sydney via Canberra to Jindabyne.
Driving the Snowy Mountains Highway
The Yarrangobilly Caves are six large limestone caves in Kosciuszko National Park. They are estimated to be around two million years old made of 440 million-year-old limestone.
- Jillabenan Cave - smallest, oldest, easy with wheelchair accessible
- Jersey Cave - filled with stalagmites and stalactites
- North Glory Cave - full of crystals
- South Glory Cave - largest with massive chambers
- Castle Cave - dark, underground caverns
Only South Glory Cave can be visited on your own. The rest require a guided tour.
All caves have a ticket price which can be purchased individually or you can choose two- or three-cave passes. At the time of writing, South Glory Cave was $22 per adult. The other five guided caves were $26 per adult. The guided caves often run on specific schedules from the Visitor Centre.
→ Book guided tours of the Yarrangobilly Caves.
There is also a 27°C thermal pool which you can hike to and soak in after exploring the caves.
We only visited South Glory Cave as a self-guided tour and so my photos and guide will focus on that cave for the rest of this blog post.
When: year-round
Where: hike begins from the Glory Cave parking lot near the Visitor's Centre in Kosciuszko National Park
Difficulty: easy, but make sure you bring a flashlight and be ready to climb stairs
Length: from the Glory Cave parking lot, we did a loop hike of 1.5km which took us just under an hour including lots of stops for photos and oggling at the cave
Directions: from the Glory Cave parking lot, follow the signs for South Glory Cave about 500m down a gravel path. It's very well marked all the way to the cave and then you follow the single file, one-way path up through the cave. The trail ends at the parking lot.
→ Check out my exact route on Strava!
Bathrooms: yes, at the Visitor's Centre
First sighting of South Glory Cave
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Hi! I’m Jana, a Dutch-German-British-Canadian with a dream of seeing every country in the world. I am a storyteller, photographer and adventurer passionate about documenting and sharing my travels.
