The Secrets of the Cueva de Los Verdes

Exploring the Secrets of Cueva de Los Verdes in Lanzarote: History, Lava Formations, and Live Music Shows

Los Jameos Hotel is the name of a word that is very specific to the Canary Islands and is a local word.

What do you mean, you don't know it?

You will understand when you visit the Cueva de Los Verdes, an absolute must. And we'll tell you about it here. Stay with us. At the end, there's a surprise.

The cave is named after a family of shepherds, Los Verdes, who took their flocks there when they needed shelter from the bad weather.

In the past, the people of Lanzarote used to go to this cave when their coasts were being attacked by English, Dutch or African pirates. It is an excellent shelter and easy to defend, like a natural castle.

It is 7 km long, but only 1.5 km of it is open to the public. The Los Verdes cave is part of the larger and closer group of Los Jameos volcanic tube caves that lead to the sea.

The cave has excellent ventilation and air currents, due to a phenomenon named after the exclusively Canarian word we mentioned earlier: jameos.

A jameo is the natural detachment of part of the cave's roof. A hole.

In the Los Verdes cave we find an unexpected variety of colours: red, due to the iron oxide; yellow, due to the phosphates; white, due to the calcium carbonate; and black, of course, due to the basalt.

All this has been enhanced with great success thanks to the intervention of a local artist, Jesús Soto, who in the 1970s created a series of lights and sounds inside the cave that imitate the spirit that sleeps there.

A volcanic cave is very different from those formed in water-permeable karst areas, where stalactites and stalagmites form.

In volcanic caves, lava flows solidify in stages as their temperature drops on contact with the surface.

The result is layers of different shapes and textures, about 3 in this cave, which extend like large corridors.

And the droplets of magma, which solidify before falling and retain their shape, are smaller and thicker than the stalactites and are called staphylites,

The acoustics are exceptional due to the porosity of the rock. Inside the cave there is an auditorium with a capacity of 200 people, where concerts are regularly held.

There is also a geodynamic station for the measurement and seismic-volcanic control of the island.

We promised a surprise. And a promise is a promise: there is a secret in the cave of Los Verdes. It can only be known by the initiated, those who have visited it and who, once they have learned it, promise not to reveal it.

We assure you that you will not be disappointed. You must come to the Hotel Los Jameos in Lanzarote and visit the cave of Los Verdes (Trips and Trekking in Lanzarote).