Your trip to Cantabria

El Capricho de Gaudí was designed by architect Antonio Gaudí and commissioned by Máximo Díaz de Quijano, a young bourgeois from Santander who made a great fortune in Cuba as a lawyer for the Marquis of Comillas, Antonio López y López. In addition to being a lawyer, he was a writer and a lover of botany and music. Hence his house, the Capricho de Gaudí, is shaped like a sunflower and decorated with flowers. The name Capricho is due to the exotic elements that make up this building: the Persian-style tower, the wrought ironwork and the bright colors of the facade. This building of 720 m² spread over three floors, is one of the few that Gaudí made outside Catalonia. This is because the Marquis of Comillas had very good relations with the Catalan bourgeoisie, especially with Eusebi Güell. The sunflower is the main element of the Capricho, not only as a decorative element but the whole house is built to follow the sun and capture the light. Thus, the rooms are distributed based on the position of the sun. In keeping with Máximo Díaz de Quijano's love of botany and music and Antonio Gaudí's love of nature, both outside and inside the building you will find palm trees, larks, and laurels, blackbirds and even a couple of animals playing musical instruments as well as a greenhouse garden. A real jewel of modernist architecture!

The Sobrellano Palace is located in Comillas, Cantabria. This building was built between 1881 and 1888 as the summer residence of the first Marquis of Comillas, who died in 1883 without being able to enjoy it. In neo-Gothic style, this palace was designed by the architect Joan Martorell i Montells, introducing Catalan modernism in Comillas. The Marquis of Comillas had a very good relationship with the Spanish royalty so Alfonso XII came to visit the palace under construction and inaugurated the chapel-pantheon that is located next to the palace and was created as a family mausoleum. With the death of the 1st Marquis of Comillas, his son and 2nd Marquis, continued with the project giving it more sobriety, eliminating the ballroom and turning it into a room for works of art, archaeological and ethnographic pieces from Cantabria and the Philippines. It is currently open to the public.

In the town of Cabezón de la Sal, in Cantabria, there is a sequoia forest planted in the 1940s. It covers an area of 2.5 hectares and has 850 sequoias about 40 meters high. This forest is ideal for hiking as it has several simple trails, including one that is accessible to people with reduced mobility. Its tall trees attract hundreds of travelers every year.

The Altamira Museum has exhibitions of Paleolithic tools and cave painting utensils and the highlight: is the Neocueva, an exact replica of the original cave of Altamira, a World Heritage Site that, due to its deterioration and to ensure its preservation, was forced to close to visitors. Likewise, this museum is a must-see and a marvel. It depicts Altamira as it was 36,000 and 13,000 years ago when different groups of people inhabited it. These groups were hunters and gatherers whose daily activity revolved around several bonfires near the entrance. Inside the cave, the space was used to express ideas and beliefs that were accompanied by figures and signs. Engraving, drawing and painting were used individually or together. Among the colors used in this cave art was charcoal from bonfires and the red and brown tones of the mineral ochre. The ceiling of the cave is an authentic work of figurative art where the famous images that have gone around the world are clearly represented: the reclining bison, the bison head, the doe, the bison, the sign, the wild goat, the hand and the rampant horse. Some of these paintings are preserved after 36,000 years, something that was only made possible thanks to the natural conditions of the cave and the fact that it was not discovered until 1868, by the local Modesto Cubillas. However, the great discovery of the cave paintings would not be made until 1879 by the daughter of the scientist and historian, Sautuola.

The relevance of the Altamira caves lies not only in their conservation and beauty but also in the fact that it was the first place in the world where the existence of Paleolithic Rock Art was identified. Moreover, this art is not isolated but is part of a whole cultural group of 17 caves distributed in Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country.

Visiting hours

From May to October: Tuesday to Saturday from 9:30 am to 8 pm. Sundays and holidays from 9:30 am to 3 pm.

From November to April: Tuesday to Saturday from 9:30 am to 6 pm. Sundays and holidays from 9:30 am to 3 pm.

Holidays open April 14 and 15; July 28, September 15 and 16; October 12; November 1; December 6 and 8.

Days closed: every Monday of the year; January 1 and 6; May 1; June 28; December 24, 25 and 31.

*Disabled accessibility. There are no architectural barriers, there are reserved parking spaces, adapted toilets, ramps and ramps. 

The Collegiate Church of Santa Juliana was built in Santillana del Mar in the twelfth century, over an ancient monastery of the ninth century. It was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest in 1889 and is considered the first and most important Romanesque architectural work in Cantabria. Inside is the tomb of the saint who gave it its name, who was cruelly murdered for her Christian faith. It is notable for its beautiful cloister of columns and for the silver cross that contains the relic of the Lignum Crucis, a piece of the cross of Christ that was donated by the abbot of the Monastery of Santo Toribio in the 15th century so that pilgrims would not have to travel to Santo Toribio along the Camino Lebaniego.

The Natural Park of Cabárceno is a protected natural area where almost 120 animal species live together in semi-freedom. It is a complex of 750 hectares in which animal life unfolds in the most natural way possible. Far from being a zoo, except for the food provided to them, the rest of their vital activities are carried out by each animal using their instinct and with freedom. It is possible to see fights between males in mating season, mating and of course, even new members that have been born in the park. The purposes of Cabárceno Natural Park are educational, cultural, scientific and recreational, which, together with respect for the animal kingdom, have made this place one of the most visited in northern Spain. Through the different viewpoints that are toured both by car or bicycle, visitors can observe how animals from 5 different continents live: African elephants, giraffes, gorillas, bison, bears, pygmy hippos, rhinos, lions, hyenas... and many more animals that can also be seen from the sky by taking the cable car lift.

The park is family-friendly and has recreational areas, picnic areas, cafes and restaurants where you can spend the day.

Visiting hours: open all year round except December 24, 25, 31 and January 1.

From March 1 to November 1: 9:30 am - 6 pm.

From November 2 to February 28. Monday to Friday: 9:30h-17h / Saturdays, Sundays, holidays and long weekends: 9:30h-18h.

Holy Week (from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday): 9:00 am - 6:00 pm.

*The timetable is for entry because, although the ticket offices close at 6 pm, you can stay in the Park until sunset, although from 6:15 pm some of the animals begin to be kept in their stables to be fed and observed, as required by international organizations.

*The cable car schedules close earlier. Consult upon arrival at the Cabárceno Nature Park.

The statues of Los Raqueros are located in the Puertochico, in Santander. They are cast in bronze by the Santander sculptor, José Cobo Calderón, who decided to create this work in 1999 in honor of the raqueros of Santander. The word raquero comes from colloquial language and referred to the poor and marginalized children who, in the late nineteenth and twentieth century, wandered around Puerto Chico waiting for a bored crew member or a tourist to throw a coin into the water to go diving for them. Hence the poses of the children jumping into the water.

The Pereda Gardens are a public park located in the bay of Santander, in front of the beaches of Puntal and Somo and in the center of the city. This beautiful walkway has houses with stone facades with balconies and lookouts and the Botín Center, the art museum of the Botín Foundation. It also highlights the sculpture of Loreno Coullaut Valera, its 200 trees and the monument to José María de Pereda, who gives his name to the gardens.

The Botín Center is an art center of the Botín Foundation. The building itself is striking, designed by architect Renzo Piano and resembling an open book. With an avant-garde style and a privileged location on Santander's seafront, the Botín Center houses temporary exhibitions and a permanent art collection among which we can find eight works on loan from Jaime Botín: Femme Espagnole, by Henri Matisse; Self Portrait with an injured eye, by Francis Bacon; Arlequín, by Juan Gris; Al baño. Valencia, by Joaquín Sorolla; Woman in red, by Daniel Vázquez Díaz; Half-length figure, by Isidre Nonell; The builder of masks, by José Gutiérrez Solana and Portrait of my mother, by Pancho Cossío.

Climbing its exterior stairs of free access, you will enjoy panoramic views of the Cantabrian Sea and the coast of Santander.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption or Cathedral of Santander, is located in the center of the Cantabrian capital. It was built between the 12th and 14th centuries on top of an old monastery and its predominant architectural style is Gothic. The building consists of two superimposed churches and a beautiful cloister. Thus we find the Lower Church and the oldest, known as the Church of Christ, and the High Church or Cathedral, built in the 13th century. The interior of the cathedral-basilica has modern stained glass windows and chapels in the two side naves, facing south and north. The temple was enlarged in the mid-20th century after the fire that devastated the city of Santander and in which many treasures were lost.

The Plaza del Ayuntamiento of Santander is located in the center of the city next to the emblematic town hall that was built in 1907. Nowadays the square is a meeting point for the local people of Santander and a venue for events, festivals and a multitude of activities.

The cave of El Soplao is located 83 km from Santander, 60 km from Torrelavega and only 21 km from San Vicente de la Barquera. This cave was discovered by local miners in 1908 but was kept secret to extract lead zinc until 1976 when it was closed because it was not profitable. Despite this, the miners respected this cave in great measure, which is why it is still a cavity full of stalactites, stalagmites, lava flows, columns and white eccentrics. The latter is what makes this cave a unique cavity of great geological value. In addition, mining activity has also left its mark, allowing us to access this cave by train since, due to the work of the miners who had already built a track. During your visit, you will also be able to see the area where the rubble was disposed of and how the water was collected

The Monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana is a Franciscan monastery belonging to the municipality of Camaleño, in Cantabria. It guards the largest known fragment of the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified, the so-called Lignum Crucis relic ( Wood of the Cross), which makes it a place of pilgrimage. This relic is preserved inside a cross with a silver rim and a glass interior that allows the pieces to be seen. The monastery is a Gothic monastic temple of Cistercian influence. Its architecture and decoration are simple and austere and it has a beautiful monastic cloister and a baroque-style dressing room that shelters the Lignum Crucis.

TThe Fuente Dé Cable Car is located in the heart of the Picos de Europa National Park. It has a height difference of 753 meters and takes passengers up to 1,823 meters in 4 minutes. When you reach the top, you can appreciate a beautiful unspoilt landscape, snowy in winter and green at other times of the year.