---
node: spot_granada_sacromonte
type: spot
slug: sacromonte
destination: dest_granada
title: "Sacromonte"
lead: "Sacromonte is the hillside above the Albaicín where Granada's Roma community dug cave houses into the soft rock, and where zambra flamenco is performed in them. The caves are cool in summer and warm in winter, which is why they were dug."
published: 2026-08-12
updated: 2026-08-12
image_file: spot_granada_sacromonte.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caves_of_Sacromonte_(46464490595).jpg"
image_author: "Jocelyn Erskine-Kellie from London, UK"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 2.0"
---

## Overview

The quarter grew from the sixteenth century as Roma, moriscos and the poor settled outside the walls, and the zambra — a wedding-derived flamenco form danced in a line down a cave's long room — belongs to this hill specifically. Floods in 1963 destroyed many caves and emptied the neighbourhood; some have been restored as houses, some as venues. The Cuevas del Sacromonte museum shows how a cave dwelling was actually laid out.

## Highlights

Book a zambra at a cave that shows its performers' names rather than one selling a bus package; the difference is audible. The museum is a fifteen-minute walk beyond the last houses and explains the quarter better than any show. Walking back down after dark is fine on the main lane and not advisable on the paths above it.