43.38° N · 4.12° W · Santillana del Mar and Altamira
The original cave admits only five people a week and its waiting list is closed. What you can visit is the Neocave, a rigorous full-scale reproduction inside the National Museum of Altamira, two kilometres from Santillana del Mar.
Step by step
In a small group, with a time assigned when you get your ticket.
Palaeolithic life, the discovery of the cave and the original pieces from the site.
The meadow and woodland around the museum; the real mouth of the cave is within the grounds, closed.
The question everyone asks first: no, you cannot simply enter the original cave. The museum's Board limits visits to five people a week, 260 a year, and those people are now called from a 2002 waiting list that is closed. What you visit is the Neocave, a three-dimensional copy made with the same techniques and materials its makers used.
The Neocave reproduces Altamira as it was when groups of hunter-gatherers lived there, between 35,000 and 13,000 years ago: the mouth, the area where they lived and the Polychrome Ceiling, with its bison. It is toured in small groups, for about 30 minutes. The museum completes the visit with the permanent exhibition on Palaeolithic life and temporary exhibitions; until February 2027 the Espacio Vínculos has one devoted to inscribed material.
From November to April, Tuesday to Saturday, 9:30 to 18:00; from May to October, 9:30 to 20:00. Sundays and public holidays, 9:30 to 15:00. Closed every Monday, on 1 and 6 January, 1 May, 16 September and 24, 25 and 31 December. The ticket office closes half an hour earlier.
General admission costs €3 and reduced €1.50. It is free for everyone on Saturdays from 14:00 and all day Sunday, and always for under-18s and over-65s with ID, among others. A ticket is needed for each person, including children.
At the ticket office, on the day, on a first-come basis from 9:30, or online at least a day ahead. The free tickets on Saturday afternoons and Sundays are given only at the ticket office that day. Advance tickets have a time: arrive 15 minutes early or lose your slot. In summer and on long weekends, buy online.
The museum is 2 km from Santillana del Mar. From the A-8, exit 234 towards Santillana; it is signposted from Puente San Miguel and from the town. It has free, supervised parking within the grounds, which open at 9:30. By public transport, there are buses from Santander and Torrelavega to Santillana with La Cantábrica, and the Puente San Miguel commuter-rail station is 6 km away. You can walk from the town: it is one of the municipality's signposted routes.
Map
What you have around the starting point.
More to do
Itineraries
Tips
It is free and open from 9:30 to 15:00; get to the ticket office early.
It is free and works as an audio guide.
The waiting list is closed. Nobody sells visits to the authentic cave.
Questions
Not independently. Five people a week enter, called from a waiting list that is closed. You visit the Neocave.
€3 general and €1.50 reduced. Free on Saturdays from 14:00, on Sundays and for under-18s.
Mondays, and several public holidays.
It is not compulsory. In summer it is best to buy online a day ahead.
The Neocave, about 30 minutes; with the museum, allow two hours.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/cantabria/santillana-del-mar/things-to-do/altamira-museum-neocave
