Gunung Mulu is Sarawak's first UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the few big-name parks in Asia where the entry fee is almost an afterthought. A Malaysian pays RM15 for a pass that lasts five days. The money goes on the guided tours, which you cannot skip because the caves are closed to anyone without a park guide, and on getting there, because the road from Miri is still being built.
Everything below comes from mulupark.com, the official site of Borsarmulu Park Management Sdn Bhd, which runs the park, read on 22 September 2026 and rechecked on 2 November 2026, when every tour price, the pass and the room rates were unchanged. The room rates are stated as valid to 31 December 2026, so check again if you are travelling in 2027. The tour prices are per person and include the guide, and where stated the boat. They are the same for Malaysians and foreigners; only the park pass has a MyKad rate.
How to choose what to book
Think of Mulu's activities in three tiers.
- The show caves and walks (RM35 to RM70) are mostly on plankwalks or lit paths and need only reasonable fitness. Deer and Lang Caves, Clearwater and Wind Caves, Fastlane, the Canopy Walk and the Night Walk sit here. Almost everyone does the first three.
- Adventure caving (RM160 to RM258) means helmets, headlamps and unlit passages. Lagang and Racer are intermediate, for age 12 and up; Clearwater Connection is advanced, for 16 and up, and requires proof of previous wild-cave experience.
- The multi-day climbs (RM465 and RM660) are the Pinnacles and the Summit of Gunung Mulu itself. Both need a minimum group of three, advance booking and real fitness.
One in-between option is Kuala Litut and Camp 5, RM215 a person with one night at camp, plus the RM10 Camp 5 fee: a 90-minute longboat and a 9km walk on what the park calls an easy, well-trodden path, for a minimum of three and dependent on the weather. It gets you deep into the park without the Pinnacles climb.
Two things to know before booking anything. The park's cancellation policy is strict: a 50% fee applies to any tour you cancel within 24 hours of departure, and there is no refund once you have left the Park Office, whether the tour stops early for fitness, water levels, sickness or any other reason. And from June to September the park asks visitors to book guides and rooms in advance, because once they are full it cannot help.
What a trip actually costs
A Malaysian couple on a classic three-night trip, doing Deer and Lang, Clearwater and Winds, the Canopy Walk and the Night Walk: RM30 in park passes and RM390 in tours, RM420 in all. Add three nights in a Rainforest Lodge room at the park headquarters (RM370 a night for two) and the total is RM1,530, before flights and food.
The same couple on a budget, two nights in the park's 14-bed hostel at RM80 a bed, doing only Deer and Lang and Clearwater and Winds: RM30 in passes, RM210 in tours and RM320 in beds, RM560 before flights. The bat exodus costs nothing either way.
A foreign couple on the classic trip pays RM60 for passes, so RM1,560, plus RM10 a room a night in Tourism Tax, which the park adds for foreign guests.
Accommodation at Park HQ includes a set breakfast, so the food bill is mainly lunch and dinner at the café, open from 7.30am with last orders at 8.30pm. Cooking is not allowed in HQ rooms. A child under 6 sharing a private room on the existing beds pays RM29 for breakfast only, with a maximum of two children per room. Check-in is 2pm and check-out is 10am.
Flights are the swing factor. AirBorneo's homepage advertised Mulu from RM219 on 2 November, but it does not say from which city or whether that is one way, so price your own dates before adding it to the totals above.
Getting there, and the things that catch people out
Mulu can realistically only be reached by air. The park's own page lists daily flights from Miri (30 minutes), Kuching (1 hour 20 minutes) and Kota Kinabalu (55 minutes), and sends you to AirBorneo for the current schedule (some of its text still says MASwings, whose network AirBorneo took over on 1 January 2026). Heavy rain occasionally cancels flights, so the park advises a flexible itinerary, especially on the way out. Do not book a tight connection home.
A road is coming, but not soon enough to plan around. Phase 1 of the RM3.8 billion Miri, Marudi and Mulu road broke ground in Marudi on 13 April 2026. The Deputy Premier put the current Miri to Mulu journey at about nine hours, and the Premier has named 2029 for completion. Until it opens, plan on flying.
The park's own list is blunt: no banks, no pharmacy, no shopping centres. Bring enough cash for tours booked at headquarters, the park's café and the snack kiosk at the bat observatory. Filming or flying a drone, even for personal use, needs a separate permit from the Sarawak Forestry Corporation in Kuching.
The accommodation page currently lists Wi-Fi as not available, and the packing list recommends a Digi or Tone wow SIM for 4G. That list also still says no mask, no tour, so pack one. Summit trekkers need gas cartridges, which cannot go on the plane, so ask the Mulu Gallery, which sells basic groceries for camp cooking, before you fly. Book the room you mean to use, too: if you arrive and decide to stay elsewhere, the park requires you to pay the full booking before you can join any Park tour.
Be wary of closure notices that reach you through a forward. The park's homepage carries a Fraud Alert showing a fake Notice of Trail Closure dated 14 June 2026, which claimed flooding had closed Deer Cave, Clearwater Cave, adventure caving and the Pinnacles and Summit trails. Confirm any closure with the park office before changing your plans.
The conservation fees introduced on 1 February 2026 apply on top of everything else: RM20 a visitor for anyone accompanied by a freelance guide or tour operator, an extra RM10 sustainability fee for every visitor to Camp 5, and RM15 for the Summit and Headhunters Trail.
The Pinnacles fine print
A Malaysian adult joining a group of three pays RM490 for the climb: the RM15 pass, RM465 and the RM10 Camp 5 fee, before food, nights at HQ and flights. Stopping at Clearwater on the way is an optional RM30. The tour page also has a line further down reading RM451 per person against that RM465 headline, so budget the higher figure.
The RM465 depends on the group. The park tries to put you with others but does not guarantee it. As the only participant, the page gives a cost of RM1,057; for two people it gives RM1,205, without saying whether that is per person or for the pair, so ask. If your group is under three, the park accepts cancellations without penalty.
- Cancelling: no fee if you cancel no later than the morning of the day before. Switching to another guide or agency after you reach Mulu costs RM200.
- Refunds: none once the climb begins, whatever stops you. If the Park Guide officially cancels for unsafe weather, you get back the RM168 guide fee, plus RM60 for one night if you choose not to stay the second.
- Porters: RM150 a person a day for up to 17kg. For an overnight porter, you also pay the park RM15 entrance and RM11 a night on the porter's behalf.
- Rescue: RM200 per rescuer per hour when the guide calls one. The park says a team can take more than 6 hours to reach a patient and can exceed 20 people, so 20 rescuers for those 6 hours alone would be RM24,000. Ask your travel insurer whether that is covered before you go.
- What to carry: at least 3 litres of water, food for three days, a headlamp, gloves and flexible grip shoes. The park rates Adidas Kampung rubber shoes as the best for most climbers, and sells them and gloves at the Mulu Gallery.
How to pick
With one full day, do Clearwater and Winds in the morning and Deer and Lang in the afternoon, timed so you are at the observatory when the bats leave. With two, add the Canopy Walk at 7am and the Night Walk. Only commit to the Pinnacles if you are genuinely fit and comfortable on ladders at height: the park calls it an extreme climb, not a trek, and says most injuries happen to people who underestimated it.
