The location

Whereabouts in Spain?

The house is in the north-eastern corner of Granada province in Andalucia, in a hamlet called Cuevas del Negro, close to the man-made freshwater lake Negratin. The villages of Benamaurel and Cortes de Baza are both around 8km (5 miles) away.
The nearest large town is Baza (pop. 20,000), around 12km south of the house.
Coming in from the west, the view is dominated by a large granite outcrop known as El Jablacon. This rock rises to an altitude of 1600m above sea level, which is about 900m higher than the surrounding area. Considering that the rest of the landscape is flat, the view of El Jablacon is quite spectacular.

Granada airport is to the west, about 2 hours drive. Almeria, Murcia and Alicante airports are about 2½ hours south and east respectively.

The location is also about an hour and a half's drive from the Sierra Nevada ski resorts.

Directions from Granada

My preferred route is to fly to Granada airport. Monarch do flights from Gatwick [update 2009: they've stopped] and Ryan Air sometimes do flights from Stansted, although they are notorious for chopping and changing their schedules - and desitinations [update 2010: Ryanair have decided to stop flying to Granada too - it looks like no-one has direct flights from the UK to Granada at the moment]. The airport is quite small, which makes retrieving your bags and checking in easy.

For car hire I prefer Auriga-Crown, (or one of the web-only outfits such as Economy Car Hire who use them.) Auriga-crown have an office in the airport lobby and the adjacent carpark is a short walk away.

From the airport, you will pick up the A92 motorway, heading east. At the town of Guadix the motorway splits in two - one branch going down to Almeria while the rightmost 2 lanes, renamed the A92N, continues towards Murcia/Alicante. You must keep on the Murcia/Alicante branch.
About 90 minutes into the trip you will start to pick up exit signs for Baza. Be aware that there are 4 different exits for the town and it does matter which one you take. Your exit is marked Baza Centro and has the number 43 in the corner. Older maps and websites will still refer to this with the pre-2007 numbering scheme of exit 339.

When you come to the end of the slip road, look for the large sign pointing left to Benamaurel and Castril.

Directions from Alicante / Murcia

These two airports are on the east coast, at the bottom right corner of Spain. They are farther from the house than Granada (or Almeria) but offer flights to different destinations and and different times of the day - which is sometimes more convenient.

Murcia is a little more involved to get to (or from) and Alicante is a slightly longer drive. Murcia has the advantage that with a short detour you can stop off at the large Carrefour in Cartagena for supplies before driving to the house.
Either way, you'll pick up the A7 motorway signposted towards Almeria. Stay on this road until it splits into the A91 at Puerto Lumbreras, which you will take. Continue along the A91 - it will "magically" turn into the A92 after a short time which will take you the whole way to Baza. After that, the directions are the same as for travelling from Granada: come off the A92N at exit 43, labelled Baza Centro and turn right heading towards Benamaurel.

From Almeria

Almeria is on Spain's south coast, almost directly "underneath" Benamaurel on the map. The airport is farly near the city and is only a short drive from the southern section of the A92 motorway.
There are flights by Easyjet, Monarch (to Birmingham and Manchester) plus RyanAir and BMIBaby. Some of these only fly during the summer and not all of them fly every day. It's a medium sized airport and generally quite easy to navigate and get through.
In all, it's about a 2 hour drive from Almeria airport to the house: most of which is along motorway, although some of the road is quite mountainous.

You'll take the A92 motorway heading north, signposted for Guadix. On reaching this town, follow the signs for the A92N heading towards Murcia / Alicante. It looks like you're doubling back on yourself, but this quickly resolves and after that, the directions are the same as driving from Granada. Come off the A92N at the Baza Centro exit, number 43 and then turn left towards Benamaurel.

At Benamaurel

Benamaurel is the first village you come to, after about 15km on this road. Look out for the vicious speed bumps as you come into the village. Keep on the same road right through the village and out the other side. Go over the single lane bridge and look out for a left turn off the main road after about 200 metres. This is just before a bus shelter and bar (pub) on the left side of the road, if you pass these you've gone too far.

This small road has a speed limit sign of 40km/hr. Given how narrow and twisty this road is, you'll be lucky to get up to that speed.

From the start of this road, Cuevas del Negro is exactly 8km away.
One more thing: if you zoom in on any web-based map sites, you won't see Cuevas del Negro featured. it's quite hard to find accurate and up-to-date maps in Spain. You may also have trouble is you rely on your satnav for instructions. A lot of them won't have the road to CdN listed.