Discovered in 1959, the Nerja Caves are now one of the biggest tourist attractions in Spain visited by hundreds of thousands each year. One of the most beautiful cave complexes in Europe, look especially for the 32m high column in Cataclysm Hall which was formed by an estimated 1,000 billion drops of water. There are two natural entrances to the cave system and a third entrance was created in 1960 to allow easy access for tourists.

The Caves of Nerja lie on the outskirts of Nerja near the village of Maro and are served by a regular bus service or not too far to walk if you´re fit and energetic. If you are here in July, try to get tickets for the annual festival when famous national and international artists perform in this beautiful underground setting and in May you can celabrate San Isidro on the 15th of May. The Caves of Nerja are open 10am till 2pm and 4pm till 6.30pm (8pm in July/August).

If you’ve visited the caves don’t forget to try the restaurant, is has a large terrace with fantastic views of the sea, Maro village and to Nerja. Its also a very popular function for wedding receptions and is used in May for the San Isidro fiesta which is a 2 or 3 day festival where almost the whole town crowds to the large car park and garden area to dance and listen to Spanish music.

On 12th January 1959 when Francisco Navas Montesinos, Miguel Muñoz Zorrilla, Manuel Muñoz Zorrilla, José Luis Barbero de Miguel and José Torres Cárdenas, young inhabitants of Maro, decided to go bat hunting to a well known in that time as las Minas del Cementerio de Maro, where large flocks of bats used to go out of the well at dusk. These young people decided to go back there on the next day with some tools to enable them to break the stalactites. One of this five young boys went though the narrow chimney where he found the caves.