Fundación Cueva de Nerja — Attraction in Nerja

Descending the first steps of the Caves of Nerja, the air shifts — cool, damp, almost ancestral. Just minutes from the coast, this subterranean sanctuary welcomes visitors with excellent external facilities — parking, restrooms 🚻, a restaurant, and a souvenir shop. Yet once inside, the experience changes: there is no accessibility for those with reduced mobility, and the route demands the effort of steep stairways. In narrower passages the atmosphere may feel slightly claustrophobic, though the monumental chambers restore breath with their soaring scale and solemn silence. Silence, indeed, forms part of the magic — until a school excursion bursts through with laughter and hurried footsteps, briefly breaking the spell.

Historically, the caves are a time capsule. Evidence of human presence stretches back more than 40,000 years, and the discovery of seal paintings — among the oldest in Europe — gives the site extraordinary significance. Every wall seems to guard secrets of the earliest inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula, offering a rare window into a distant past.

Geologically, the spectacle is hypnotic: colossal stalactites and stalagmites shape entire stone landscapes. The central column, rising 32 metres high, equals a ten-storey building — a natural sculpture carved by water over millennia.

Nerja is not merely a visit. It is a crossing...

The cave is big, but the lighting is low, so you won’t be able to see some parts of it clearly. Even the areas I did see weren’t lit well enough. When we entered, a woman took our photo—we were a couple. At the exit, another woman tried to sell us that photo for 8 euros. It felt like a scam, since I assumed the photo was taken for some security purpose. I never asked for it, and they just put you in an uncomfortable position, similar to the street scammers you might encounter in Paris or other touristy places. She kept saying “money, dinero, euro” while making a hand gesture asking for money. She works there, but it felt like she had just been picked up from the street—completely unprofessional. The cave itself is good overall, but the staff are unprofessional and money-thirsty. The organization responsible for it is supposedly a non-profit organization, but to me, it felt more like a scamming organization. This is why I am giving it a low rating. In the photos I took, I used night mode and long exposure—this is why they look brighter than how the cave actually appears. Total visit time was 22 minutes...

Based on the gathered reviews, we decided to purchase our ticket slots online in advance to avoid the long queue at entrance. We were here on a public holiday Monday at 12pm slot and it was quite crowded of mainly families with kids. The entire walk was about an approximate 35-mins journey as there were people ahead and we made picture-taking pitstops along the way. The temperature inside the cave was about 10° cooler than outside so it's perfect during summer weather like these. It was overall a great experience, the caves were very well maintained and traffic was well managed. One thing to note is that if you are driving, there are 2-levels available for parking however do note that it's not free i.e. €2 per entry and you would need to pay at the exit (only accept €1 or €2 coins, no loose coins). We didn't notice any mention of price and thought it was free parking but was lucky that during our exit, there weren't many cars and was able to reverse our car while looking for coins to exit. We changed our coins from the cafeteria which was quite a walking distance but seemed to be the...