Guadix

Moors, outlaws and expelled populations occupying caves, carrying pickaxes and candles. That was the realityunromantic, from Guadix. The rural escape chic It would take three centuries to arrive. Visiting the streets and hills is free, of course; spending the night there is something else. In Granada, Andalusia, going down the A-92, next to the Zalabí Valley and at more than 900 meters above sea level, there is a town that looks like something out of Star Wars. Guadix, “the town of the cave houses”, is actually a city that converted flight, poverty and climatic rigor into bioclimatic architecture. And, centuries later, in designer troglottourism. An entire neighborhood underground. Around Guadix, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, there are more than 2,000 homes excavated in red clay hills. “European Capital of Caves“, says the press of a neighborhood that was born around 1550 around the Maese Pedro Fountain and San Marcos Street. In fact, more than 4,500 Accitani live in this neighborhood alone. It is a landscape of hills literally emptied from the inside, whitewashed facades and chimneys that are lime fumaroles and appear like periscopes. And, to top it all off, an interior temperature that remains around 20 degrees all year round. It takes approximately three months for outside air to “seep” into the walls, which softens extreme winters and summers. And of course, this comfort and acoustic insulation has made this architecture passive. forward the letter one of the most requested tourist places in Spain. Today you will get on a tourist train and sleep in a cave house for prices ranging from 60-70 euros to more than 120 euros per night, depending on whims and jacuzzi. Your cave, my Airbnb. Airbnb and aggregators like cozycozy list the “hammam cave”, “la Tita del Pan cave” or “Casa Cueva Los Mosaicos”, with jacuzzis, swimming pools and outstanding ratings. 9.5 on Booking and 4.2 out of 5 on Airbnb. The region is sold under the premise of sleeping like a Neanderthal, but with Wi-Fi and a hot tub. Today, live in one of these caves It’s not easy. Renting it is something else: tourist trains, interpretation centers and guided routes are part of this troglottourism, under the coordinates of sustainability and introspective experience. What were once medieval shanties today stand as beautiful enclaves that defy the harsh climate. It was always there. Guadix has always been a territory of soft land and natural shelters, used since the Bronze Age. Archaeological studies identify human occupations that they used these bad lands or gullies on the edge and bed of the Guadix river to protect themselves from the elements. During the Middle Ages, this landscape intersects with the Nasrid front and, after the capture of the city by the Catholic Monarchs, it becomes a place of refuge: after the expulsions of 1570 and 1609, the hypothesis places the origin of the great neighborhood towards the end of the 15th century, when Moors, outlaws and populations expelled from the medina clandestinely occupied these caves and perfected, with pick and shovel, the technique of excavating entire hills following the knowledge of the builders. The Accitan historian Carlos Javier Garrido emphasizes that this refuge of persecuted people was also a social response to a city dominated by oligarchies. A silent rebellion. Confiscation and new rules. In 1920, the neighborhood housed 60% of the city’s population. It was not until the 1950s when massive excavations expanded and inaugurated new cave houses, already intended as normal homes in another neighborhood. The traces of the Civil War are also notable: the town was left without a hermitage. There is a lot to see, in any case: the Cathedral of La Encarnación, the Palace of the Marquises of Villaverde or the Islamic citadel itself, from the 11th century, added to the Ermita Nueva, in nuclear white and a chapel completely carved under rock. With the arrival of national roads bordering the mountains, electricity, television and emigration, local families converted these old nested slopes into a “summer house” to escape the heat. It was then that the neighborhood began to be seen from the outside more as a picturesque landscape than as a space of marginality. Progress arrived and the BOE. Until recently, in urban terms, cave houses lived in a limbo: they were housing, but they did not fit into the standard categories of the regulations. The new Law to Promote the Sustainability of the Territory of Andalusia (LISTA) and its regulations dedicate for the first time an entire title to the troglodytic habitat, defining what a cave is, what a cave neighborhood is and what a “troglodytic municipality” is (Article 421). The standard establishes minimum conditions of safety, health and habitability: water and sanitation services, minimum surface area of ​​30 m², sufficient ventilation, adequate drainage of rainwater and guarantees of stability of the excavated land. General management plans are now required to indicate measures for their protection, conservation and improvement, from maintaining the outer layer of soil to preserving natural rain drainage channels. See the caves. He average itinerary It includes a panoramic view of the center, the Roman Theatre, the Arab wall, the Alcazaba, the historic and Jewish neighborhoods and, finally, a stop of about 45 minutes in the troglodyte area to visit viewpoints, a unique cave church and the Caves Interpretation Center. Of course, whoever makes a reservation rules over whoever shows up randomly: visits to the cave neighborhood fill up, especially in the mornings and on weekends. The train usually operates with departures every 40–60 minutes in the morning schedule. The tour takes about 75 minutes, with recorded comments in several languages. He Interpretation Center It reopened in April 2026 with new hours: Monday to Saturday it is open from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and from 4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., and on Sundays until 2:30 p.m. To sleep under the hill. The other experience is to literally spend the night underground. A night as a couple usually costs around 110 euros per … Read more