Caves of Nerja

What makes it special

Five halls make up the public route, a small part of the whole cave. You meet them in order: the Vestíbulo, the Belén, the Cascada or Ballet, the Fantasmas and the Cataclismo. The first two, near the entrance, are the rooms people lived in during the Palaeolithic.

The Fantasmas hall takes its name from the shadows some of its rocks throw. Watch for the nooks and side passages beside the path, which you can see but not enter.

In the Cataclismo, the last hall, a great column where a stalactite and a stalagmite joined stands 32 metres high. Around it lie pillars that broke in an earthquake about 800,000 years ago.

The prehistoric paintings are in galleries you cannot enter, closed for conservation, so you will not see them on the route.

Visiting

Download the cave's free audio guide app and your language before you arrive, because there is no signal underground. Bring earphones too, so you can listen and take photos at once. Arrive before the time on your ticket: entry is in timed groups, and online ticket holders go in by their own entrance.

Past the door the path goes down, then runs one way to the Cataclismo at the bottom and climbs back out. You walk at your group's pace and cannot overtake the group ahead. Two rest areas with benches break the walk.

Back outside, step into the virtual reality room, included with your cave ticket, which shows the parts of the cave the route does not reach, the rock art among them. Then cross to the Detunda botanical garden, entered from the cave grounds, with plants from the mountains of Málaga and Granada.

Guided or on your own

The app is the only commentary for independent visitors, because guided groups are sold only to agencies and associations of ten or more. It runs in many languages, English and Spanish among them.

The tracks run longer than you will stand at each stop, so start each one as you arrive and skip ahead when the group moves on. Without the app the walk still works, but you lose the names and stories along the route.

Tips

Book online in advance at any time of year, since even October has sold-out days. Tickets are also sold at the box office, but buying online avoids the queue there.

At the marked photo points, frame a person beside a formation to show the scale. Inside it stays around 19C, so a light layer is plenty.

Afterwards, take the path that starts behind the ticket office up the hill above the cave; after 30 to 40 minutes you reach a view over the sea. Or eat at the large restaurant beside the entrance, which has wide views over the coast.