Guadix Cave Houses

The cave houses at Guadix are common housings for centuries. The flanks of the mountains were used to carve caverns horizontally into the rock, which were then closed by a wall. Such houses consist only of one single facade, the rest is inside the cave. Sometimes the cave houses were surrounded by small buildings in front of them, or probably an enclosed patio.

The cave houses were a traditional architecture in the whole area, in the Andalusian Provinces of Granada and Almería, but most of the houses are found around Guadix, almost 2,000 different cave houses were counted. But the cave houses were abandoned in the mid 20th century, as many people moved into the cities, or found the caves to be uncomfortable or simply old-fashioned. But this area of Spain is rather hot and semi arid, the days are very hot, the nights may become cold. As a result the modern houses needed an air conditioning, which consumed a lot of energy, in contrary to the caves which maintained 18 °C all year.

At the end of the 20th century the continual increase in tourism, especially the wish to offer exceptional overnight opportunities resulted in the renovation of some cave houses. They were converted into hotels, holiday flats and restaurants. As a result the locals also re-discovered the cave house, especially the enormous opportunities in reducing the energy costs. With the increase in energy cost during the last decade the number of people who decide to move into a cave house increases too. Today more than 5,000 people again live in caves. This makes the area around Guadix the largest inhabited cave region in Europe.

There are certain hotspots, towns where there are numerous cave houses. One of them is the Barrio de Santiago in Guadix, which is in the southern part of the city. The others are Rioja in Almería, Gorafe, Benalúa de Guadix, and Baza in Granada, the Barrio Nuevo east of Huéscar, and Sacromonte in Granada city. The latter is a separate topic due to the connection with flamenco.

If you intend to book such a hotel be aware that the natural air condition of the cave typically results in a lack of a real air condition or heating system. People in Mediterranean countries tend to live outside, and when you go inside only for sleeping there is no need for heating, 18 °C is quite comfortable. However, if it is bad weather and you spend time inside, you will enjoy a open fireplace if available.

The number of underground hotels and holiday flats is overwhelming. As we don't even have opening hours and prices for most of them, we have decided to only list well-documented hotels and simply record all the others in the following table. Most of the sites do not have a webpage, but they are generally listed on at least one popular hotel portals, like booking.com. The main goal of this table is to show you how many private flats exist, the list is obviously incomplete.

Name	Address	Location	Link
La Cueva de Guadix	Camino de Lugros 23, 18500 Guadix, Tel: +34-656-32-72-94. E-mail:	OpenStreetMap	La Cueva de Guadix (visited: 04-MAR-2026)
Cueva "El Jaraíz"	Calle Ermita Nueva 34, 18500 Guadix, Tel: +34-637-95-03-78.	OpenStreetMap	no website
Cueva Almendro	Calle Fuente Mejías 109, 18500 Guadix, Tel: +34-958-95-10-17.	OpenStreetMap	Cueva Almendro (visited: 04-MAR-2026)
Casa Cueva Picoesquina	Calle Fuente Mejías 43, 18500 Guadix, Tel: +34-609-35-32-45.	OpenStreetMap	Casas Cueva Picoesquina (visited: 04-MAR-2026)
Casa Cueva Los Mosaicos	Cta. los Madrileños 2, 18500 Guadix, Tel: +34-616-60-67-92.	OpenStreetMap	no website
Cuevas Abuelo Ventura - Hotel	Camino de Lugros 20, BAJO, 18500 Guadix, Tel: +34-958-56-36-89.	OpenStreetMap	no website
Cuevas Cortijo Gachas	Camino de Guadix, 18500 Guadix, Tel: +34-647-75-74-24. E-mail:	OpenStreetMap	CUEVAS CORTIJO GACHAS (visited: 04-MAR-2026)
Cueva "La Kililla"	Calle Ermita Nueva 43, 18500 Guadix, Tel: +34-625-74-67-56.	OpenStreetMap	no website
Cueva la Higuera	Calle Hermanos Varón, 33, 18500 Guadix, Tel: +34-610-49-21-89.	OpenStreetMap	no website
Casa Cueva "La Ermita"	18500 Guadix, Tel: +34-611-76-50-56.	OpenStreetMap	La Ermita Cave (visited: 04-MAR-2026)
El Rincón	Calle Hermanos Varón 79, 18500 Guadix	OpenStreetMap	no website
Cueva El Rincón de la Calma	Cuesta los Madrileños, 18500 Guadix	OpenStreetMap	no website
Cuevas Abuelo Ventura - Hotel	Cam. de Lugros 20, BAJO, 18500 Guadix, Tel: +34-958-56-36-89.	OpenStreetMap	no website
Cueva de Manuela	Calle Fuente Mejías 65, 18500 Guadix, Tel: +34-654-51-01-14.	OpenStreetMap	Manuela's Cave (visited: 04-MAR-2026)
Cueva Tradicional el Capricho - Hotel	Calle Ermita Nueva 54, 18500 Guadix, Tel: +34-958-66-07-16.	OpenStreetMap	Cueva Tradicional El capricho (visited: 04-MAR-2026)
Cuevas de María	Calle Ermita Nueva, 52, 18500 Guadix, Tel: +34-958-66-07-16.	OpenStreetMap	Cuevas de María (visited: 04-MAR-2026)
Cueva El Zagal (مغارة الإكسجال)	Calle Ermita Nueva, 57, 18500 Guadix, Tel: +34-675-95-67-83.	OpenStreetMap	no website
Cueva Alegría	Calle Fuente Mejías, 115, 18500 Guadix, Tel: +34-636-09-30-00.	OpenStreetMap	no website
Casa Cueva "Las Rosas"	Calle Cuatro Veredas, 92, 80, 18500 Guadix, Tel: +34-644-75-53-14.	OpenStreetMap	no website
Cueva Barranco del Armero	Calle Barranco del Armero, 18500 Guadix.	OpenStreetMap	no website
Cueva Abuelo Juan	Calle Barranco del Armero 6, 18500 Guadix, Tel: +34-637-95-03-78.	OpenStreetMap	no website
Cueva Ramón	Calle Fuente Mejías 77, 18500 Guadix.	OpenStreetMap	no website

Literature

Carlos Asenjo Sedano (1983): Las cuevas de Guadix, Temas de nuestra Andalucía; 59, Granada:Caja General de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad,D.L 1983 [16]p.: fot.col.; 27 cm. online