The lava tube that crosses northern Lanzarote
Cueva de los Verdes and Jameos del Agua are not two caves: they are two stretches of the **same** underground conduit, one of the longest known lava tubes. Understanding what a tube is changes entirely what you see inside.
How a lava tube forms
When a river of lava advances, the surface in contact with the air cools and solidifies before the interior does. A crust forms. Beneath that crust the lava keeps flowing, now insulated from the outside and therefore hotter and more fluid.
When the eruption ends, that conduit empties. What remains is a tunnel, with the vaulted roof the crust left behind and a floor where the lava ran. Nobody dug it: it is the mould of a river that left.
Why there are two visits and what separates them
The tube runs down from the Corona volcano to the sea and continues under water. Along its course there are points where the roof collapsed and opened to the sky: each of those collapses is a jameo.
- Cueva de los Verdes is the inland, dry stretch, walked through inside the tunnel.
- Jameos del Agua is the section near the sea, where the collapse exposed the interior and there is an inner lake connected to the ocean.
A blind, albino, endemic crab lives in that lake, adapted to total darkness. That is why no coins are thrown in and the water is not touched: it is a tiny, closed ecosystem.
What to know before going in
- The temperature inside is stable and cooler than outside.
- The floor is uneven and there are stretches with a low roof: closed shoes, and mind your head.
- The cave section is guided and follows a fixed route.
- The acoustics are part of the place. They are used for concerts, and not by chance: the vault of the tunnel is a natural resonator.
Frequently asked questions
›What is a jameo?
The collapse of a lava tube roof, which opens the tunnel to the sky. Jameos del Agua takes its name from exactly that: it is the part of the conduit where the roof fell in and exposed the interior, near the sea.
›Are Cueva de los Verdes and Jameos the same cave?
They are two stretches of the same lava tube, which runs down from the Corona volcano to the sea and continues under water. Cueva de los Verdes is the inland, dry stretch; Jameos is the seaward part with the inner lake.
›Why can’t you touch the water in the lake?
Because a blind, albino, endemic crab lives in it, adapted to total darkness, in a tiny closed ecosystem. Throwing coins in or touching the water alters conditions that cannot be restored.