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Thinking of Our Many Friends in Lockdown
If you had a booking with us, but can't visit due to the restrictions, our friendly team will happily transfer your booking to another time, or provide you with a voucher (valid for 3 years) or process a refund if you have already pre-purchased an experience. Give us a call on 1300 76 33 11, so that our team can help.

If you live in an area that is locked down due to COVID-19, we are so sorry that we can't take your bookings right now. But our thoughts are with you. In the meantime, we hope this fortnightly news gives you holiday ideas for when restrictions are lifted.

Although we are in the Blue Mountains, we are so far west that we are part of the Oberon Council area. Therefore, we are not in lockdown - but we can assure you that we are taking every COVID precaution.

Currently, 4 of our spectacular caves are open daily for guided tours. We offer decadent High Tea daily and leisurely lunch in Chisolm's Restaurant on weekends. Our Caves Cafe is also open daily. We accept Dine & Discover vouchers. Best of all, our accommodation is open, including the iconic Caves House hotel. It's a special place for a complete getaway - stay for a night or longer!

If you don't live in a locked-down area, we can take your booking now. (Pre-booking is absolutely mandatory for all activities, except the Cafe.)  

See you soon.

Start a Family Tradition - Yulefest (Christmas in July) 
Traditions are important. Start a new, fun tradition with your family.  Experience Yulefest (Christmas in July) at Jenolan Caves' own Chisolm's Restaurant (upstairs in historic Caves House) - delicious Christmas dinner, open fire, Santa, presents for your kids, huge Christmas tree, cocktails and chocolates.

From our Yulefest menu, order festive dishes such as "Turkey, smoked ham and pistachio roulade, roast potatoes, brussel sprouts and brocolini mornay". There are yummy vegetarian options such as  "Mushroom and gorgonzola arancini with Cleopatra sauce". Desserts include delights such as "Traditional Christmas pudding with brandy butter and custard" and "Nesselrode pudding with spiced apricot compote"! See the tempting menu here.

Right next to Chisolm's, Jeremiah's Bar will be open too, offering a huge array of wines, beers and spirits.

Come for a memorable evening, or you can even make a weekend of it - stay overnight, with Yulefest dinner, brekky and 2 cave tours - a total getaway.

Yulefest is a Blue Mountains tradition, with all the old world charm you expect. At Jenolan, it's on every Friday and Saturday evening throughout July.

Bookings are absolutely essential. To use your Dine & Discover voucher, phone to book, on 02 6359 3900. If not using a voucher, book and prepay online - easy!

Find out more about Yulefest at Jenolan Caves
Book online and prepay for an evening of Yulefest
Book online and prepay for an overnight Yulefest package

'Eat, Dream, Explore' - Give in to Temptation!
Book in Time for Yulefest
Take advantage of our NEW ‘Eat, Dream, Explore' package, which includes:
  1. accommodation in either the historic Caves House (where no 2 rooms are the same) or the relaxed, motel-style Mountain Lodge, plus
     
  2. two cave tours (either the Orient and Chifley caves or the Temple of Baal and Chifley caves) where we give you a 50% discount on your second cave tour, plus
     
  3. either a 2-course or 3-course dinner, in elegant Chisolm's Restaurant, built in 1926.
     
  4. Full & Hot Jenolan Country Breakfast including bacon, eggs, sausages, mushrooms, toast, juice, tea or coffee.
This package is available every night, and also throughout Yulefest (Christmas in July) which will be every Friday and Saturday night throughout July.

Things to Remember Before Visiting Jenolan!
Drivers Must Take a Different Route
Part of Jenolan Caves Road is closed (from Duckmaloi Road to Jenolan Caves). So, Edith Road is now the only road into Jenolan. If you are driving from the direction of Sydney, we have some maps and directions.
 
Pre-Booking is Mandatory.
Whether you book a tour, high tea, Chisolm’s weekend lunch or accommodation, pre-booking is absolutely mandatory. To access Jenolan, you must have a valid ticket.

Parking
When you park in our upper car park, you will be greeted by our concierge service. Our concierge will check your ticket and direct you to the caves and hotel. You can take the lovely walk (approx. 500m) down to Caves House, passed one of our most photographed formations (Carlotta’s Arch) and there’s a great view of the landscape and Caves House as you walk down. The walk down takes around 15 minutes.

Shuttle Bus Service
Or we can drive you down to the caves and hotel on our complimentary shuttle bus service. While you wait for the little bus, you can buy a coffee from our carpark coffee pop-up, or browse our pop-up gift shop. We are in the process of updating fittings in our little buses, to take child seats and baby capsules.

Still Have Your Free Dine & Discover Vouchers?
Have you heard the great news that the NSW government has extended Dine & Discover until the end of August?

So, if you haven't used your free vouchers, book one of our experiences now.

You can put your DINE & DISCOVER vouchers towards our cave tours, decadent high tea, and leisurely Chisolm’s weekend lunch.

Also, we have put together some cave combos, especially for Dine & Discover. If you pay full price for a cave tour, you can use your voucher to pay for a 2nd cave tour. This applies to specific caves only. Find out more here.

And you can use your free vouchers in our cafe. Find out more here.

This was No Ordinary Boy!
Seventy-two years ago, in July 1949, a 10-year-old boy came to visit Jenolan Caves with his parents, his sister and some family friends. They explored the Elder Cave and the Lucas Cave and they stayed the night in Caves House. Jenolan was extremely popular with families and the boy was a boarder at The Scots School in nearby Bathurst. But this was no ordinary boy.

Recently, in November, 2020, one of his paintings, became Australia’s most expensive painting ever sold at auction - $6.136 million.

LEARN ALL ABOUT BRETT WHITELEY HERE

The Magical Cave Dreamtime Creation Story
NAIDOC Week ran from July 4 to 11. Its theme was, 'Heal Country'. It called for all of us to seek greater protections for lands, waters, Aboriginal sacred sites and cultural heritage, and protections for Country that is more than a place but inherent to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples identity.

NAIDOC week encourages everyone to embrace First Nations cultural knowledge and understanding of Country as part of Australia's national heritage and equally, to respect the culture and values of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders, as they do the cultures and values of all Australians.

NAIDOC Week also reminded us of Jenolan's connection with indigenous people. Gundungurra people's knowledge of the caves goes back a long way, and there is a dreamtime creation story about how the whole countryside around Jenolan came into being. It's an epic story of an almighty struggle between two ancestral creator spirits, one a giant eel-like creature, Gurangatch, an incarnation of the ancestral rainbow serpent, and the other, a large quoll, Mirrangan. Intrigued?

READ THE WHOLE MAGICAL STORY HERE.

More reading

How 1898 Launched an Exciting New Era in Tourism
Harry Curzon Smith was not simply in the right place, at the right time. His outstanding nose for business won him the right to participate in a crucial stage - the launch of a new era of tourism in the Blue Mountains and the Central West. From 1898, and for the next 30 years, the NSW Government invested in Jenolan Caves, to turn it into an overwhelmingly popular mountain retreat for the well-to-do, as part of a general strategy to bring more jobs, growth and general prosperity to the whole region.

How did this fellow, who started out as a soda water salesman, come to be the very successful and wealthy lessee of the brand new Caves House?

FIND OUT HERE
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