Cuatro Puertas Cave

Four doorways stand side by side in the rock near the top of Montaña Bermeja, and all of them open into one hall 17 metres long. In front of the porch, a row of about 20 post-holes shows the space was once closed off. Most archaeologists take it for a sacred place, kept by the faycán and the harimaguadas, the priestesses under his authority. Just above sits the almogarén, a ritual space where offerings were poured to the gods, milk among them.

The rest of the mountain is the reason to stay longer. Paths cut into the tuff lead round the south face to the Cueva de los Papeles, its walls engraved with triangles, then through ramps, steps and small tunnels to the Cueva de los Pilares, the heart of a cave village with a wide view down to the coast. From one of the caves on the circuit you can watch planes land and take off at Gran Canaria Airport.

• There are no toilets and no drinking water at the site or nearby. Bring water.
• The main cave takes a couple of minutes; the full circuit round the mountain to every cave takes under an hour.
• Wear shoes with grip: the paths are cut into tuff, with loose rock, steps, ramps and tight tunnels.
• The airport is a 15-minute drive away, which makes this a stop for spare time before a flight.
• Only the upper part of the mountain is open; information boards stand at the main cave and the almogarén.

Cuatro Puertas lies on the east side of the GC-100 between Telde, 5 km to the north, and Ingenio, 8 km to the south; the GC-1 motorway and the airport are about 6 km east. A road climbs to the hamlet of Cuatro Puertas near the top of Montaña Bermeja, and the caves lie east of it along a footpath of about 500 m. The road ends at a couple of parking spaces, about 190 m away in a straight line, and from there it is a couple of minutes uphill on loose rock to the fenced entrance. A bus stop named Cuatro Puertas is about 500 m away in a straight line.

Best: morning, when the low sun from the east reaches into the main cave through its north-east-facing doorways.

Avoid: the middle of a hot day, and wet weather.

The hillside offers little shade outside the caves, and the tuff paths with their loose rock turn slippery in rain.

Cuatro Puertas has been protected as a Bien de Interés Cultural, in the archaeological site category, since 1972, and is fenced as an archaeological park. The tuff is soft and already worn by wind, water and years of goats and sheep stabled in the caves: keep off carved edges, leave the engravings untouched and take nothing away. Only the upper part of the mountain is open to visitors. The grindstone quarry on the lower northern slope lies close to a military zone; keep out of fenced military ground.