Do you fancy an affordable home in southern Spain with natural heating regulation and a great night’s sleep guaranteed? Maybe you should consider a cave home.
Built into the sides of the cliff faces – yes, just like the Flintstones’ Bedrock - in the Granada province of Andalusia, are around 20,000 cave homes. Many of them are clustered around Lake Negratin, Baza and Galera, around 60-90 minutes from the coast. You can find tiny ones that are little more than two rooms, comfortable family homes passed down through generations, modernised and/or chic holiday rentals and also hotel-size cave complexes. Many have whitewashed walls with wooden beamed ceilings, solid doors and terracotta floors.
“They are the most popular type of holiday lettings property in the province of Granada,” says Nick Wachter of Rusticom, Colours of Andalucia, an agent that specialises in this type of home, alongside other types of property. “This region is one of the few areas in the world where cave houses cover the local landscape and offer travellers from all over the world the opportunity to experience true cave living,” he adds.
You can find them on Airbnb from around £35 per night, and the area is a great base from which to explore Almeria, the Costa del Sol, Cordoba or the city of Granada, of course. But like any homes, pick your location carefully – some can be in very remote situations.
Wachter says that cave living means you have several rooms hewn into the limestone hillside that maintain a fairly constant temperature all year round of approx 18 - 23 degrees centigrade. “There is no need for air conditioning and very little demand for heating in the cave rooms – or sound proofing. They also appeal to those who like the idea of living in an ecological, low-cost way.” Some cave homes are only partial cave homes: although from the outside many look like a conventional buildings, they are in part cave with a lean-to or extension, with gardens, terraces, plunge pools and even WIFI!
There are some stunning larger examples (see below) with a network of spacious living rooms and even multiple floor with staircases.
So what is their history?
As you might expect they go back to the Phoenicians, and then ‘boomed’ during the Moorish period when used to store grain and animals. Abandoned during the 1960s when the farming industry collapsed, they then became repopulated again when the Spanish property boom began in the 1990s.
Today they are inhabited by a mix of international buyers – especially the British – and locals, some owned as holiday homes, others as full-time in working communities. They come with the same utilities as conventional homes, and the only thing you need to beware of is that they are maintained if they are not built in saltpetre soil (damp can be an issue). Of course not everyone likes the lack of natural light in many.
So how much do they cost to buy?
Prices start at under €50,000 and tend to remain pretty consistent – they are not subject to normal market forces but they are a limited quantity (you cannot build a new one). To extend requires permission. Yes, you can get a mortgage for a cave home.
“The average cost for a three-bedroom home is around €85,000 to €110,000 says Watchter, who says the feeling of being cocooned gives one a great night’s sleep. Galera is one of the prettiest cave villages and near there you can find a four-bedroom, two-bath property – with off-road parking and a terrace – at €110,000. There’s also a three-bedroom one nearby for €83,000.
