The tiny tourist village of Jenolan Caves is located amongst the spectacular Blue Mountains, approximately 175 kilometres west of Sydney. Standing within the Jenolan Caves Karst Conservation Reserve the village and caves attract a staggering 250,000 visitors a year making this one of the most popular attractions within the Blue Mountains which forms part of the U.N.E.S.C.O. World Heritage Area listed as the ‘Greater Blue Mountains Area’. The village is dominated by the historic ‘Jenolan Caves House’ which provides visitors to this isolated area with accommodation and refreshments. The ‘Jenolan Caves House’ was originally designed and constructed in 1897 as a resort and retreat for the wealthy, although today this heritage listed building provides a hotel/motel complex, self-contained cottages, restaurant, bar and cafe to all local and overseas visitors alike. The extensive Jenolan Cave system was discovered by Europeans around 1835 and is comprised of over 40 kilometres of multi-level passages with up to 11 ‘show caves’ easily accessible to paying visitors. The complete system is considered to be the largest and oldest discovered open cave network in the world.
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