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The Nerja Cave It is the most visited karst formation in Andalusia, and what makes it unique is not just its size: it harbours Palaeolithic rock art and the one listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s tallest column, 32 metres long.
Here is the opening times, the price and the full procedure for obtaining a free ticket, which does exist but is subject to very specific conditions and runs out every day.
The cave opens every day of the year with the exception of four dates, and it is divided into two periods:
A note regarding opening times: The official information is not entirely consistent. The 2026 pricing page states that it will open at 9:15, whilst other pages on the same site continue to display the 9:30. As the first session of the day is the one with free admission, it’s best to confirm this the day before.
Closing days: 1 and 6 January, 15 May and 25 December.
The A standard adult ticket costs €15. There are reduced fares for children, people aged 65 and over, students, large families, young people with a European Youth Card, and people with disabilities, and the Children aged 5 and under get in for free.
What you need to know is What’s included in the ticket price, because it’s more than meets the eye:
Tickets can be bought at the box office or on the official website. During the peak season, with over a thousand visitors a day in July and August, the mid-morning slots sell out one or two days in advance.
Yes, but there are strict conditions that you need to be fully aware of, because this is the part where most people fall short:
And two important limitations: Free admission does not include the Virtual Reality Room or a visit to the Nerja Museum, which are paid-for. The audio guide is still free if you download it onto your mobile.
In practice, the 60 places available for one of Andalusia’s most visited monuments sell out in a matter of minutes, so if you’re interested in this option, make sure you’re at your computer at the exact time.
Check the latest opening times and admission prices on the cave’s official website
The sightseeing tour passes through the Lower Galleries and passes through these rooms:
At the end of the route there is a exhibition on prehistory featuring archaeological artefacts and reproductions of cave paintings. The The original paintings are not included in the tour: they are in areas reserved for research.
If you want to fit the cave into the rest of the municipality, you have what to see in Nerja with the twelve essential points.
As well as the daytime tour, there is evening visits, which take visitors through the cave in the dark, lit only by torches, and last around 90 minutes. They offer a different experience and are much less crowded.
The best known is the one that guides Miguel Joven, «Tito» in the series Blue Summer, filmed in Nerja. It runs in seasons and places are limited, so please check the current calendar on the official website.
The discovery was accidental and recent: the 12 January 1959, five young people from the nearby village of Maro —including Francisco Navas Montesinos— They were looking for bats in the Sierra de Almijara and came across a narrow opening in the rock. When they squeezed through it, they discovered the tunnels.
The news immediately attracted speleologists and archaeologists. Excavations confirmed that the cave had been inhabited intermittently from the Palaeolithic period to the Bronze Age, and documented rock art that ranks it amongst the most significant prehistoric sites in the south of the peninsula. It has been designated Bien de Interés Cultural.
The cave is next to the village of Maro, about 4 km from the centre of Nerja, with its own car park at the entrance to the grounds.
What you really need to know before you go:
To round off the day, the cave is just a stone’s throw away from the the best beaches in Nerja and the coves of Maro. If you’re travelling with your family, you have Things to do in Nerja with children, and for the midday stop, where to eat in Nerja.
We are a local tour operator based in Málaga with over 50 years’ experience organising trips around Andalusia. If you’d rather not drive or have to worry about tickets, the A day trip to Nerja and Frigiliana, including a visit to the Nerja Caves tackles transport and access within the reserve itself.
The trip includes:
If you’ve already got your ticket to the cave and just need transport, there’s also the day trip to Nerja and Frigiliana (excluding admission), which is cheaper. And to situate the cave within the wider context of the destination, the Nerja guide.
It is open every day except 1 and 6 January, 15 May and 25 December. During normal opening hours, it closes at 4.30 pm, with last admission at 3.30 pm. In summer, at Christmas, on long weekends and during Easter, closing times are extended to between 5.30 pm and 7.00 pm. The opening time is listed as 9.15 am in the official 2026 information and as 9.30 am on other pages of the same website, so it is advisable to check this before you go.
General admission for adults costs €15, with reduced rates for children, the over-65s, students, large families, young people with a European Youth Card and people with disabilities. Children under 5 go in free. The price includes the tour, the mobile app audio guide, the Virtual Reality Room and a visit to the Nerja Museum.
Yes, with 60 free tickets available each day from Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays, and valid only for the first morning session. They are available online only, are released 48 hours in advance at the same time as the session, and there is a limit of two per person. They are for European Union citizens only, who must be able to provide proof of their status, and do not include the Virtual Reality Room or the Nerja Museum.
The tour takes between 45 and 60 minutes, and there’s no time limit, so you can go at your own pace. Including the on-site museum, the prehistory exhibition and the café, allow for around an hour and a half in total. The evening tour, when scheduled, lasts around 90 minutes.
By car, it takes between 45 and 50 minutes along the A-7 motorway heading east, taking exit 295 towards the N-340a, Nerja and Maro. The site has its own car park. By bus, Alsa runs a service from Málaga to Nerja in around 75 minutes; from there, the local bus to Maro takes 10 minutes, or it’s about €10 by taxi. There is also a combined ticket available with the Cueva-Tren.
It is a 32-metre formation created by the union of a stalactite and a stalagmite, and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest column. It is situated along the tourist route and is the cave’s most recognisable feature, alongside the Cataclysm Chamber.
The original paintings are not part of the guided tour: they are kept in areas reserved for scientific research. What you can see, however, is the exhibition on prehistory at the end of the tour, featuring archaeological finds and reproductions of the images documented in the cave.
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