Guadix is a city of around 18,000 people, 57km east of Granada on the N-324. It is best known for its troglodyte neighbourhood, the Barrio de Santiago, where approximately 2,000 cave houses are still inhabited today. The caves are cut into the soft tufa badlands north of the city centre, and their white chimneys dot the hillside and can be seen clearly from the main road. The Cueva Museo is worth visiting to understand how a traditional cave interior works. Natural insulation keeps cave temperatures stable throughout the year at around 18C.
The old city has a 16th-century cathedral, the Catedral de la Encarnacion, begun in 1549, and an Alcazaba of Moorish origin on the hill above, with views across the terracotta badlands stretching east toward Almeria. The landscape around Guadix, with its eroded clay hills, scrubland, and rock formations, looks very different from the rest of the province and already justifies the drive.
