The part that is conditioned for the visit is a third part of the cave. It takes about 45 minutes to travel and you enter through spectacular galleries over 40 meters high. The Cave of Nerja has two other parts, the Galleries and the New Galleries, which are not open to the public but can be visited in small groups with the speleology group. In the latter is where most of the cave paintings are.
The Cave of Nerja was discovered in the 50s of the last century by a group of local children. Soon its value as a monument was seen and thus opened to the public as early as 1960. The cave is the result of a process that began 225 million years ago. The rain was filtering through the cracks of the limestone of the area forming the cavity. At first, underground waters passed through the interior, but after earth movements, the water level dropped and the cave remained as we can see it now.
During the month of July an International Festival of Music and Dance is celebrated in its interior where, over the years, first figures of flamenco, lyric, dance and classical music have passed. La Cueva de Nerja has a fantastic acoustics that has been exploited for it almost since its discovery.
Situation, prices and schedules of the Cave of Nerja
The cave of Nerja is located at the exit of the town and 50kms from Malaga and 85kms from Granada. Open every day of the year except January 1 and May 15. During the fall and winter (October 1 to March 30) the schedules are as follows.
The general visit is from 10:00 to 13:00 and the guided tours are from 1:00 pm and from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm every half hour. At 14:00 and at 18:30 there are exclusive visits.
General admission costs € 9 for children up to 12 years € 5 and children under 6 years are free. There is a ticket combined with the museum that costs € 11.
The caves maintain a more or less stable temperature throughout the year so do not get too warm. We bought the tickets in our accommodation as they offered us a combined ticket for a cave and a museum for € 7 instead of the € 11 that was available at the box office.
