Aside from standing out as one of the coastal resorts on southern Spain’s Costa del Sol to retain much of its traditional charm and avoid the fate of becoming littered with high-rise concrete buildings, Nerja has another very special claim to fame.  Just three kilometres from its town centre is where you will find the spectacular Caves of Nerja, or Cueva de Nerja.

Discovered by a group of schoolboys who were hunting for bats in 1959, the caves proved to be an important find indeed, as they not only offered up proof of man’s existence in the area more than 20,000 years previously, but also contain the only known examples of cave paintings dating back to the Upper Palaeolithic era, somewhere between 10,000 and 50,000 years ago.  Although what is known as the Show Gallery was opened up to the public the year after its discovery, the Upper and New Galleries were not discovered until 1960 and 1969 respectively.  Even now, only the various ‘halls’ which go to make up the Show Gallery are fully open to the public, although some of the other chambers and caverns can be explored by over 14 year-olds joining a speleological group, details of which are available by calling or visiting the Caves.

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