Tiger Cave is a Pallava rock-cut monument 3 kilometres north of the main Mahabalipuram complex at the coastal hamlet of Saluvankuppam. The centrepiece is a natural rock outcropping carved with a ring of eleven yali (mythical animal) heads around a central shrine niche — the effect is of a stage set framing a performance space open to the sea.
The site is quieter and less visited than the monuments in the main town, which gives it a contemplative atmosphere that the busier sites lack. The beach at Saluvankuppam is clean and generally uncrowded. A short distance inland from Tiger Cave, excavations have revealed the remains of an earlier brick temple beneath the 7th-century rock-cut work — pushing the site's occupation back even further.