सिद्ध गुफा

Siddha Gufa - Sidda Guffa - Suddah Gufa

Useful Information

Location:	Bimal Nagar, Prithvi Hwy. Tanahun district. 30 minutes walk from Bimal bazaar along Prithvi Highway. 133 km from Kathmandu. (27.948305, 84.419043)
Open:	All year daily 10-17. [2025]
Fee:	Adults NPR 100, Guide NPR 100. [2025]
Classification:	Karst Cave Caves With a View
Light:	helmet and head lamp provided
Dimension:	L=758 m, VR=105 m, A=580 m asl.
Guided tours:	V=12,000/a [2008]
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Siddha Gufa, Bimal Nagar, Prithvi Hwy.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1989	according to local lore it was discovered by a woman who was collecting 'herbs'.
1990	explored by Herbert Daniel Gebauer and survey of 313 m and VR=45 m.
1991	explored and surveyed by Herbert Daniel Gebauer and Georg Bäumler.
1992	explored and surveyed by Bruno Ducluzaux, Pascal Schenker and Durga Bahadur Thapa.
1998	Gábor Csorba, Gy. Laszlo, G. Ronkay and L. Rongkay from the Hungarian Museum (Budapest) collect bats in the cave.
06-MAR-2008	First Siddha Gufa Festival.

Description

सिद्ध गुफा (Siddha Gufa, Sidda Gufa, Suddah Guffa, Suddah Cave) means Monk Cave and is said to be the largest cave in Nepal. That’s the nonsensical marketing bable which is so common in Asia, "it’s the second-longest cave in Nepal and the longest in the World" nonsense. Also, they have difficulties with the difference between longest, largest and biggest. Actually it has a vertical range of 105 m and was thus the deepest cave in Nepal and the entire Himalaya in 2018. The cave was discovered 1989 by a woman who was collecting 'herbs'. It seems the local Durga Bahadur Thapa and four others had a look at the cave but never published a report. It was explored in 1990 and 1991 by German speleologists and in 1998 the bats were explored by Hungarian scientists. They found vespertillionid great evening bats for the first time in Nepal.

Since 2008 it has been pushed as a tourist attraction in order to draw foreign tourists. A staircase was built up the rather steep hillside, there is a sort of gate with blue pillars in front of the entrance and a paved trail into the cave. This is definitely a cave with a view, as it is only 500 m from the highway but 200 m higher. Since 2008 an annual five-day long Siddha Gufa Festival is organized to make the cave more popular. The result were some 12.000 foreign visitors in the cave in the same year.

This is as close to an actual show cave as possible in nepal. Nevertheless, we strongly recommend to wear good walking shoes, have your own headlamp, reserve lamp, and some water. For the hike, sun protection is quite necessary.