Las Cuevas El Abanico

A hotel of cave-apartments in the gypsy quarter of Granada

The Sacromonte is the gypsy quarter of Granada, a famous hillside hamlet made up of whitewashed cave-homes burrowed into the low hill across from Alhambra.

Tourists flock here in the evenings for flamenco shows (especially the Oriental gypsy zambra variant) and then quickly file back out again. A few lucky ones stay to spend the night in their every own cave-home.

No, these five troglodyte apartments are not fancy (no TV or telephones), but that's part of the point. You're living like people have on this hill for hundreds of years.

There's no A/C because you don't need it; these whitewashed houses dug into the hillside keep a constant, cool temperature even when it's broiling out (and stay cozy warm in winter with the help of a fireplace).

Plus you get a kitchen, a flower-bedecked patio, a short stroll through the old Arabic Albayzín quarter to the Alhambra, and amazing bragging rights for having stayed in the famous cave-houses.

Minimum stay of 2 nights.

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Countryside cave hotels

There are several other cave-house hotels in the Granada province of Andalucía:

• Cuevas La Granja, Benalúa de Gaudix (www.cuevas.org); Rates from €64.
• Cuevas de Rolando, Guadix (www.cuevasderolando.es); Rates from €60.
• Cuevas Pedro Antonio de Alarcon, Barriada San Torcuato, Gaudix (www.cuevaspedroantonio.es); Rates from €69.
• Cuevas La Atalaya, Huéscar (www.cuevasatalaya.com). Rates from €74.
• Cuevas de Orce, Orce, near Galera (www.cuevasdeorce.com). Rates from €70.

Rates for these countryside caves are around €64–€85 for a one-bedroom (sleeping two people), or €104–€140 for a two-bedroom (sleeping four people), and around €160 for a three-bedroom (sleeping 6–7 people).