May 6, 2025, 9:34 am | Read time: 3 minutes
The city of Guadix in the Andalusian province of Granada is unofficially known as the “Cave Capital of Europe.” Since the 15th century, more than 2,000 habitable caves have been created here, and many residents still live in them today. Once primarily a refuge for the poor, these caves are now not only the city’s biggest tourist attraction but also serve as an exemplary model for sustainable building practices.
It is not very common for a city’s biggest tourist attraction to be underground. But that’s exactly the case in the Andalusian city of Guadix in the Spanish province of Granada. Here, thousands of people have been living in self-built cave dwellings since the 15th century. While these might initially sound like claustrophobic spaces, they offer not only surprising comfort but also ideal protection from all weather conditions. To understand why people built these unusual homes, one must look at Spanish history.
This takes us back to 1452, when, according to the official site of the city of Guadix, the first cave homes were created. At that time, the Spanish were reclaiming Andalusia from the Moors, who had ruled there for centuries. Many sought a suitable hiding place from the new rulers without having to leave the province of Granada entirely and permanently. In the mountainous region of Guadix, they found the ideal conditions to carve out their — likely very primitive at the time — cave dwellings. These were literally hewn directly into the rock.
A Cave Church
The later inhabitants took advantage of the relatively soft clay hills around Guadix. With the simplest tools and sometimes their bare hands, they dug their caves into the earth. The individual “architect” decided how many rooms to create. Starting from an entrance portal, the other rooms were added, and a vertical hole was drilled into the ceiling for a chimney. The white-painted chimneys, which protrude from the hills like small watchtowers, are now the landmark of the cave district, which stretches in an arc from east to west around the city.
Some residents of the Guadix caves even built underground stables for their livestock. A particularly notable grotto is the cave church “Ermita de Gracia” (roughly “Hermitage of Grace”), where masses are still held regularly. Destroyed during the Spanish Civil War, the city rebuilt it in 1944. Since 1964, an above-ground church has been added due to space constraints. Originally a refuge for refugees, the cave district was still largely a home for the city’s poorest population at the beginning of the 20th century. A priest named Padre Pedro Poveda took care of these souls.
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He built a school for the children of the “cave people” and taught the women simple crafts to help them earn a living. It was also during this time that the perception of the cave dwellings began to change. Early visitors to Guadix increasingly viewed the unusual accommodations as romantic, making them a significant tourism factor. Due to their ecological construction from clay, they are considered model examples of sustainable building. A cave home maintains a temperature between 64 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit year-round due to its structure. The clay insulation protects residents from all weather conditions.
Anyone who wants to see the caves of Guadix with their own eyes has the opportunity to do so year-round. In addition to the official cave museum, visitors can also see the underground church and the former house of Padre Poveda, which is also carved into the rock. Please note that some attractions charge admission and have different opening hours. All information can be found on the official website. For those who want to get even closer to these unusual accommodations, there are “rental caves” available on well-known platforms, some even with swimming pools. Today, about 4,500 people still live permanently in the more than 2,000 caves of Guadix.