Discover Guadix: Cave District, History and Badlands

Nature and Landscape

At the Mirador Padre Poveda, the view extends over Guadix’s historic and monumental ensemble as well as the Badlands. The viewpoint is located in the heart of the Cave District next to the Ermita Nueva church. Guadix lies in the Hoya de Guadix, a depression surrounded by clay escarpments. Around Guadix, the landscape is shaped by wind, water and human activity.

Several visible landscape elements therefore meet here: the mirador combines views of the city with the Cave District and the Badlands, while the Hoya de Guadix forms the geographical setting. When planning your own day, these aspects of the landscape can be considered separately or combined with the historic sites in the urban area.

Culture and History

Guadix Cathedral stands above the remains of a Visigothic cathedral and an Arab main mosque. The Teatro Romano Acci is a monumental complex of almost 6,000 m², built at the beginning of the second quarter of the 1st century AD. The Alcazaba of Guadix was built in the 10th century during the caliphate period.

The three sites represent different historical layers: the cathedral preserves the superimposition of Visigothic and Arab prehistory, the Teatro Romano Acci refers to the Roman period, and the Alcazaba belongs to the 10th-century caliphate period. This makes it possible to trace Guadix’s architectural history across different eras without reducing the individual sights to a single type.

Tickets for the Teatro Romano Acci are purchased at the tourist office. For visits to the Teatro Romano Acci, a time of 11 a.m. on Sundays is specified. The ticket information and the stated Sunday appointment are separate details: one concerns the purchase, while the other concerns a specific visiting time. Anyone planning a visit to this complex can take both pieces of information into account separately.

Caves, Traditions and Cuisine

The Centro de Interpretación Cuevas de Guadix is located inside several original cave dwellings. It explains the origins and historical development of living in caves. The topics presented also include local traditions and artisan trades. The focus is therefore both on the development of a form of housing and on traditional activities and customs.

The combination of cave dwellings, craftsmanship and local traditions makes this site a distinct cultural focus within Guadix. The Centro de Interpretación addresses not only the architectural form of the caves, but also their origins and historical development. Artisan trades and traditions add traditional activities and customs to this perspective.

The Almazara de Paulenca – Museo del Aceite is an 18th-century oil mill in the rural Mudéjar style and, at the same time, an ethnographic oil museum. The origins of the Cascamorras tradition in Guadix date back to the middle of the 15th century. The Cascamorras festival is celebrated in Guadix on 9 September.

Here, too, the topics are clearly distinct: the Almazara de Paulenca combines an 18th-century building with the history of olive oil production and an ethnographic collection. Cascamorras, by contrast, represents a festival tradition with medieval origins and a fixed date of 9 September.

Visitor Information and Accitan Cuisine

Small samples of Accitan cuisine are offered as an aperitif in Guadix. This culinary speciality stands alongside the town’s historical and landscape-related themes. When selecting the content of a visit, architectural history, cave culture, festival tradition and cuisine can therefore be placed side by side as independent focal points.

Further destination pages: Padul, Cástaras, Las Gabias, Pórtugos, Cúllar, Bérchules, Juviles, Jerez Del Marquesado.

For the higher-level travel overview: Granada.