Jameos del Agua

Useful Information

photography — Jameos del Agua. Public Domain.

Location:	LZ 204, Parcela 109, Carretera Arrieta - Órzola S/N, 35542 Punta Mujeres. Lanzarote, Canaria. North-east side of the island, along LZ-1. (29.157294, -13.431477)
Open:	Site: all year daily 10-18, last entry 17:15. Restaurant: all year daily 12:15-15:45. Gallery Bar: all year daily 10-17:30. Vista Lago Bar: all year daily 10-16:45. Casa de Los Volcanes: all year daily 11-18. [2023]
Fee:	Adults EUR 9, Children (7-12) EUR 4.50, Children (0-6) free. [2023]
Classification:	lava tube, Cave House Cave and Karst Museums Cave Restaurant
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	L=6 km.
Guided tours:	self guided, D=2 h.
Photography:	allowed, no flash
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Jameos del Agua, LZ 204, Parcela 109, Carretera Arrieta - Órzola S/N, 35542 Punta Mujeres, Tel: +34-901-20-03-00.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1966	first opened to the public.
1977	opening of the cultural center and the auditorium.
1993	the whole island of Lanzarote is designated a Biosphere reserve by UNESCO.
19-DEC-1994	declared a Sitio de Interés Científico (site of scientific interest).
2001	concert hall closed for renovation.
15-FEB-2009	concert hall reopened.

Description

The Jameos del Agua (Cave of the Water) is the lowest part of the lava tube Cueva de Los Verdes, closest to the shore. The term Jameo is of Guanche origin and means cave or abyss. The Cueva de Los Verdes has about 20 jameos lined up like pearls on a string along the underground course of the tube. The lava flow originated from an eruption of the La Corona Volcano. The site is called Jameos del Agua because of the huge underground lake it contains, the plural is because there are actually three jameos, the Jameo Chico, the Jameo Grande and the Jameo Redondo aka Jameo la Cazuela. The swimming pool and the stairs through the garden down to the salt water lake is located in the Jameo Grande.

The cave was developed by the Cabildo de Lanzarote (island government) as its first Centro de Arte, Cultura y Turismo (Centre of Art, Culture and Tourism, CACT). It was realized after plans by the local hero César Manrique. He was an architect, environmentalist, and artist, and created a unique combination of nature, art, and architecture, which is portrayed in documentaries and used as a location for movies. The works were carried out by Jésus Soto and Luis Morales. The plan of the government was to create a cultural center. The result is a unique location, which is a major tourist destination. It has a restaurant, gardens, a turquoise swimming pool, a museum and an auditorium. We listed it not as a show cave, as this is actually not a show cave, there are no tours, and it’s more like a cave house. Nevertheless, it’s a good possibility to see the inside of a lava tube, and as the visit is self-guided, you can spend as much time as you like for sightseeing and probably taking a few pictures.

The Jameos del Agua is entered on a stone spiral staircase into the bar-restaurant in the Jameo Chico. A 100 m long path through a 13 m wide passage and across the lake leads to the Jameo Grande. This is the main jameo, the collapsed entrance, which was transformed into a garden with tropical plants and a turquoise-coloured pool. Although intended as a swimming pool by Manrique, it is not used for swimming any more.

On the far side of the Jameo the lava tube continues. Here is the location of the Auditorium, the underground concert hall seating 600 people. The concert hall has been renovated for several years, to apply modern security standards and is now reopened. The acoustics is excellent, and the auditorium is regularly used for concerts, especially for the prestigious Festival of Visual Music of Lanzarote.

The site also contains the Casa de Los Volcanes (Museum of Vulcanology). It explains the geologic processes which formed the Canarian Islands and this cave. A part of the museum is dedicated to the history of the museum and the UNESCO Global Geopark of Lanzarote and Chinijo Archipelago. Less scientific is the exhibition on planetary analogues, places on Earth that resemble other planets in the solar system. And there is the César Manrique room, which is dedicated exclusively to the Lanzarote artist and his work. It was created in collaboration with the César Manrique Foundation.

The underground lake contains a troglobiont squat lobster (Munidopsis polymorpha) which also lives in the sea below 2,000 m. They are called jameito in resemblance to the name of the cave or cangrejo ciego (blind crab). They are the official symbol of the island and used in various promotional campaigns. The 7 m deep cave lake is home to 77 endemic species of great scientific interest, the reason why the site was declared a site of scientific interest in 1997. The level of the lake is connected with the tides, and it actually contains seawater. At high tide, the water level rises so high that it floods the access corridor. Visitors have to take off their shoes to pass. There is no cave connecting the sea and the lake, but the lava tube continued once further and the lowest end was flooded by the rising sea level. The tube collapsed and the debris with its many cracks and crevices allows the seawater to flow into the cavern.