# Guadix

More than two thousand inhabited caves surround the cathedral of Guadix. You can walk through them, visit them inside and sleep in them, at 18 or 20 degrees all year.

Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/andalusia/guadix · Revisado: 2026-11-13

## Why does Guadix live in caves?

Guadix lies in a basin north of Sierra Nevada, surrounded by clay hills that water and wind have cut into ridges and ravines. That clay can be dug and insulates against cold and heat. That is why, since the end of the 15th century, after the Castilian conquest, a good part of the city lives underground: the town council counts more than 2,000 inhabited cave homes, forming an arc around the old town and covering more ground than it does.

From the street you see only the whitewashed façade and, above it, the white chimney that ventilates each cave. Inside, the temperature stays between 18 and 20 degrees all year. The cave quarter can be walked on foot and for free, with two viewpoints, and at the Cuevas de Guadix Interpretation Centre you see what one was like inside. Below, the monumental city: the cathedral, begun in 1492, and the Alcazaba and the Roman theatre, remains of Roman Acci and Andalusi Wadi-As.

## What is it like to sleep in a cave?

Quiet, dark and temperate. The clay cuts out the noise from outside and keeps the temperature: in July you sleep cool and in January you don't walk into a freezing house. Even so, the three caves we recommend have heating, and two of them a fireplace or wood stove. Natural light enters through the façade, so the rooms at the back barely get any. They are complete apartments, with bathroom, kitchen and living room inside, not hotel rooms.

There are two ways to do it. Within the city, the Cuevas Pedro Antonio de Alarcón put you about 500 metres from the cathedral, to have dinner in the centre and walk back. In the countryside, the Casas Cueva del Tío Tobas, in Alcudia de Guadix, have views of Sierra Nevada and a restaurant in a cave, and the Cuevas Hammam Abuelo José, in El Bejarín, add Arab baths in the same complex. All three accept dogs, with different conditions.

## How many days do I need?

A day covers the cathedral in the morning and the cave quarter in the afternoon, with sunset from the Cerro de la Bala viewpoint. With two nights you can leave Guadix: the Gorafe dolmens and desert, about 35 minutes away, take a long half day, and the La Calahorra castle, with its Renaissance marble courtyard, opens Friday to Sunday with a free guided visit by reservation.

## How do I get there?

By car, Guadix is about 54 km from Granada along the A-92, about 50 minutes. There is also a train from Granada and Almería: the station is about 2 km from the centre. For Gorafe, La Calahorra and the caves in the countryside you need a car.

## Dónde está
- Zonas: Unusual places to stay in Spain
- Cerca: Sierra Nevada (Pradollano) (a 32.6 km), La Alpujarra (a 43.7 km), Sierra de Cazorla (a 69.1 km), Úbeda and Baeza (a 81.3 km)

## Qué hacer
- **Cave Quarter of Guadix and its viewpoints** (1 h 30 · All ages; slopes and earth stretches · Self-guided · free): What it is
The town council calls Guadix the European capital of caves: it has more than 2,000 inhabited underground homes, forming an arc from east to west around the old town and taking up more land than it does. It is not an open-air museum. These are homes with neighbours and the comforts of any house, and the only things that show on the hillside are the whitewashed façade and, above, the white chimney that ventilates each cave.
The caves were dug into the clay hills, from the ceiling downwards. The cave digger first opened an entrance room, the portal, and from it the other rooms. Air flows between the door, the window and the chimney, and the clay keeps the inside between 18 and 20 degrees all year. According to the town council, this habitat grew after the Christian conquest and was a refuge for those left outside the city.
The walk

Plaza de la Ermita Nueva. It is the heart of the quarter. Here in the early 20th century worked the priest Pedro Poveda, now a saint, and a relief by José Campoamor shows him surrounded by the neighbourhood children. Next to it is the Guadix Caves Interpretation Centre.
Cave church of the Ermita Nueva. A church dug into the clay, with the altar, arch and pulpit carved into the earth and a painting of the Virgen de Gracia from the late 17th century. According to the municipal timetable, it opens Monday to Saturday from 11:00 to 14:00 and from 17:30 to 20:00, and on Sundays from 11:00 to 14:00.
Padre Poveda viewpoint. A few steps from the square, it looks out over a sea of chimneys.
Cerro de la Bala viewpoint. Higher up, in the same quarter. From here you see at once the caves, the Alcazaba and the tower of the cathedral, and behind, the clay cliffs.

Getting there
From the cathedral you walk up in about 15 or 20 minutes, passing under the Alcazaba. The quarter's paths follow the natural tracks of the hills: there are slopes, steps and stretches of earth, so with a pushchair it is awkward.
When to go
Late in the afternoon, when the low sun turns the hills red and the white chimneys stand out more. In summer avoid midday: there is no shade in the street.
- **Guadix Caves Interpretation Centre (Cave Museum)** (45 min · All ages · Desde 5 € adult): What it is
It is the most direct way to see inside a Guadix cave without bothering anyone. The town council runs this centre in several original cave dwellings in the quarter, on the Plaza del Padre Poveda. The main one is the house of the Cruz Úbeda family, who lived in it from 1928 to 1980 and which is preserved today for visits.
The tour explains where the troglodyte habitat comes from, how a cave was dug and how it was lived in: the kitchen with its chimney, the bedrooms without doors, separated with curtains so the air could flow, the stable and the trades of the quarter. According to the Granada Geopark, the exhibition also reviews the region's other cave quarters. It is guided by the figure of Pedro, a master cave digger.
Before you go: check it is open
The municipal monuments timetable from October 2025 to March 2026 listed the Cave Museum as temporarily closed, and we have found no official notice of reopening. The council's tourism page publishes this timetable: Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 to 14:00 and from 16:00 to 18:00; Mondays, closed. Call 958 665 569 beforehand or ask at the tourist office.
Price
€5 general admission and €4 reduced, according to the town council. Groups of more than 25 people pay €2.05 per person.
Very close
On the same Plaza de la Ermita Nueva is the cave house that Pedro Poveda rented in 1902, for 4.50 pesetas a month, to meet the neighbours: an entrance room, a kitchen with a chimney, a stable and a bedroom, with its well and its yard. And a few steps away, the cave church of the Ermita Nueva and the Padre Poveda viewpoint, part of the walk through the cave quarter.
With children
It is a short, concrete visit, and children are surprised to see a whole house inside a hill. Allow three quarters of an hour.
- **Cathedral of the Incarnation and its tower** (1 h 30 · All ages; the tower by spiral staircase · Desde 7 € adult (cathedral and videomapping; with tower, €9)): What it is
The Cathedral of the Incarnation was begun in 1492, when Pope Innocent VIII returned its bishopric to Guadix after the Castilian conquest, and was not finished until well into the 18th century. That is why, walking from the foot to the head, you pass from the Gothic of the first church to the Renaissance and Baroque of the extensions. It occupies the site of the old main mosque, itself built on a Visigothic cathedral. The diocese claims to be the first on the peninsula: tradition places here Saint Torquatus, who would have founded the bishopric of Acci in the 1st century.
What you see
The visit includes the church, with the choir, retrochoir, chapels, high altar and dome, the exhibition rooms and La Piedad, on whose marble a videomapping is projected in sessions every half hour. The ticket with the tower adds the climb by spiral staircases, the bell-ringer's house, the belfry and the panoramic views over Guadix, before going up to the cave quarter.
Opening hours
From 1 April to 30 September: Monday to Thursday, 11:00 to 14:30 and 16:00 to 19:00; Friday and Saturday, 11:00 to 19:00; Sunday, 15:00 to 18:30. From 1 October to 31 March the Monday to Thursday afternoon changes to 16:00 to 18:00, and on Sunday it closes at 18:00. Last entry is one hour before closing, and the tower closes an hour and a half before. Sunday hours depend on the length of worship, and on feast days and Holy Week there are special hours that the cathedral publishes on its website.
Monday to Saturday, from 9:00 to 9:45, you can enter freely.
Prices
Cathedral and videomapping, €7 (reduced, €6). With the tower, €9 (reduced, €8). Tower only, €5. Guided visit to cathedral and tower, €12, on Fridays at 16:00 and Saturdays at 12:00 and 16:00. Tickets are bought on the cathedral's website.
How to enter
The visit door is next to the Portada de San Torcuato, on Paseo de la Catedral. Flash photography and video recording are not allowed. For any query, the phone is 692 574 671.
- **Dolmens and desert of Gorafe** (4 h · All ages; open-air routes · Routes on your own): What it is
Gorafe holds one of the largest concentrations of dolmens in Europe: more than 240 Neolithic tombs spread over ten or eleven necropolises, depending on the source, along the edges of the River Gor ravine. A dolmen is a tomb of stone slabs set upright with another slab on top, originally covered by a mound of earth. Here there are many sizes and shapes, and the landscape around them is as striking as they are: the clay and sand badlands in reddish and pinkish tones that locally are called the Gorafe desert.
The Megalithic Park was created in 1998 to protect them. In 2011 the Megalithism Interpretation Centre was added, an underground building of more than 600 m² whose design imitates a tomb, with a chamber and corridor. It explains who raised the dolmens, when and how they lived.
The routes
There are three prepared routes on which you see more than sixty burials: Llano de Olivares, those of Conquín and those of Majadillos. They run through the necropolises on the edges of the ravine, in the open air and with the badlands in view. Nearby are also what the town council points out as landmarks of the municipality:

Petroglyphs of the Cerro de la Mina. Five stones engraved about 4,500 years ago, the oldest in the province, with dancing human figures and depictions of the sun and moon.
Los Algarves. A 12th-century Almohad fortress carved into a vertical wall more than 100 metres high, with a cistern, silo and dovecote cut into the rock.

Hours, price and how to get there
The Geopark gives 616 94 46 05 as the park's phone; neither the town council nor the Geopark publishes the interpretation centre's hours or price, so call before you go. From Guadix, by the A-92N and the turn-off to Gorafe, it is about 33 km and a little under 40 minutes by car.
When to go
In spring and autumn. In summer, at midday, the open-air routes become hard: set out early or go late, when the low light lights up the desert's colours. Gorafe is also a Starlight Foundation-certified Star Park, where astronomical observations are organised.
- **Alcazaba and Roman theatre of Acci** (1 h 15 · All ages · Desde 2.6 € adult, guided visit to the theatre): What it is
Guadix was the Roman Julia Gemella Acci and the Andalusian Wadi-As, and these two visits touch those two cities. The Alcazaba, the old Muslim fortress, crowns the old town behind the cathedral, on the edge where the cave quarter begins. The Roman theatre is a few metres lower down, on Avenida Mariana Pineda, next to the Paseo de la Catedral.
The Alcazaba, from outside
The Alcazaba is being restored and the town council only allows it to be seen from outside. Walk round it from Calle Puerta Alta and, above all, look at it from opposite: from the Cerro de la Bala viewpoint, in the cave quarter, you see its walls and the cathedral tower together, with the caves at your feet.
The Roman theatre, with a guide
The theatre of Acci is visited with a guide on Sundays at 10:00. You must book beforehand at the tourist office, on 958 66 28 04, which is also where tickets are collected. According to the municipal timetable published for winter 2025–2026, it costs €2.60 for adults, €1.55 for pensioners and €2.05 per person in a group; under-14s don't pay. Confirm the day and price when you book, because the timetable is updated each season.
How to combine it
The two visits and the cathedral are a few minutes' walk from each other. A Sunday works like this: Roman theatre at 10:00, a walk to the Alcazaba and up to the cave quarter before lunch. The cathedral opens on Sundays in the afternoon only.
- **La Calahorra Castle** (1 h 30 · All ages · Free, by reservation): What it is
From outside it is a military fortress: a square plan, thick walls and four cylindrical towers on top of a hill, with Sierra Nevada behind. Inside it hides one of the first Renaissance buildings in Spanish civil architecture. It was ordered built in the early 16th century by Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar y Mendoza, first Marquis of Zenete, on the remains of an Andalusian fortress. For the interior he brought materials, techniques and artists from Italy, such as the Genoese Michele Carlone. At the centre is a square courtyard of two galleries, with Corinthian columns and a Carrara marble balustrade.
For years it was barely possible to visit. The Granada Provincial Council bought it in July 2025 and opened it to the public in September that year; by October 2026 it had already received more than 30,000 visitors.
How to visit
Only with a guided visit and compulsory prior booking, in the castle's online ticket shop (shop.articketing.com). According to the Council, more than 600 free tickets are offered each week for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday visits. The timetable published by the Guadix town council is Friday and Saturday from 10:00 to 14:00 and from 15:00 to 19:00, and Sunday from 10:00 to 14:00 and from 15:00 to 17:00.
On Friday mornings there is a shuttle to the castle for people with reduced mobility. Since summer 2026 there is also a tactile model designed for people with visual impairment.
Getting there
La Calahorra is about 18 km from Guadix on the A-92 towards Almería, about 20 minutes by car, at the foot of the mountains in the Marquesado del Zenete. The castle is at the top of the hill, above the village; ask when you book where to leave the car.
When to go
In winter and spring, with the snowy range behind, the view from the hill is at its best. Book days ahead if you go at the weekend.

## Dónde comer
- **Restaurante Vinoteca El Refugio** (Restaurant, Guadix, €€). Qué pedir: a board of local cheeses with a Guadix-region wine by the glass, and a dish from the menu of the day
- **Tío Tobas Restaurant** (Restaurant, Alcudia de Guadix). Qué pedir: the suckling lamb chops or the wood-fired pork ribs, with artichokes with anchovy alioli to start and fig tart for dessert

## Consejos

### Go up to the quarter late in the day
With the low sun, the hills turn red and the white chimneys stand out. At midday there is no shade.

### Pay for the cathedral tower
It is €2 more and from the top you understand how the city is laid out before climbing to the caves.

### Book what is not free
La Calahorra and the Roman theatre can only be visited by reservation, and the theatre only on Sunday at 10:00.

### Call the Cave Museum first
The last published municipal timetable listed it as temporarily closed.

## Preguntas frecuentes

### Can you visit the Guadix cave quarter for free?
Yes. The streets and the Padre Poveda and Cerro de la Bala viewpoints are freely accessible. Only the interpretation centre charges admission.

### Is it cold to sleep in a cave?
No. The Guadix caves stay between 18 and 20 degrees all year, and the accommodation ones have heating.

### Can you go inside the cave houses?
They are private homes. To see one from the inside, go to the Cuevas de Guadix Interpretation Centre or the cave church of the Ermita Nueva, or sleep in one.

### How much does a night in a cave cost?
In November 2026, from €69 in Guadix for one person, from €80 in El Bejarín and from €85 in Alcudia de Guadix for two, according to each accommodation's website.

### Can you go to Guadix without a car?
Yes, by train from Granada or Almería, and the centre and the cave quarter are covered on foot. For Gorafe and La Calahorra you need a car.

### Do the caves accept dogs?
The three we recommend accept them: Tío Tobas charges €10 a day, Abuelo José €30 for the first two days and €10 for the following ones, and Pedro Antonio does not publish conditions.