Hotel Altamira

Hotel

It's definitely not the best experience I've had. You only get to visit a recreation of the cave, not the actual cave itself. The recreation is well done and looks authentic. The video in the museum section is difficult to follow as it's projected simultaneously onto three different walls and you can't follow everything that's being shown. Entrance is free on Saturdays. The interpretative centre has some interesting exhibitions.

Very cool! Such an interesting place and exhibit. The actual cave is really well done, with a part that's open to the air and great videos. The museum alongside contains a wealth of knowledge. Only thing to improve would be lore air con in the museum. Great visit and exceptional value for money.

Its not the real cave… but its a very good replica. The museum is very didactic. My kid love it.

C is beautiful, simple and understandable explanation in Spanish and English. To see.

The tour of the replica has no waste, the guide explained us very well everything about this relic of prehistoric rock art. The museum is well organized with many interactive spaces. I recommend touring the park then to see the entrance to the cave from far away. The shop of souvenirs is very complete, with many artisanal items apart from what is common in these places. In the main building there is a café, outdoor terrace and library. Friday at 10: 30 make a drawing of 5 people to enter the real cave. Try to arrive before 10 to enter the draw. I recommend a lot.

A spectacular visit. The reproduction of the cave, fundamental in the visit. Highly recommended to go with guide (ours was superb and made it especially enjoyable).
It is a small museum but well taken advantage of. I think it's the most didactic I've ever visited. They have thought of the visitor and they have done very well.
As the only "but", that the shop is scarce in material.
Obliged to go if it is close.

Just seeing from the real understand the definition. Sistine Chapel.

Read and prepared to visit, but seen surpassed expectations. Even the replica of this cave is a very atmospheric place, and the museum and interactive shows impress tremendously.

Fantastic Museum of Prehistory.

You're not going to be trapped at noon anymore. Unfriendly staff!

A great place to visit but be aware your seeing a reconstruction of the caves the actual caves are a short distance away protected from the public.

Mixed experience. Ticket lady very impatient and frankly directly rude and sour. I understand that there is a lot of people going through every day. Must have been 8 people in line to get tickets and that must have been the reason for them behaving like that being just two people to take payment from all 4 couples. Maybe it would be better if their webpage explain that they have no interest in outside people visiting their precious cave, and that travelers money is better spent elsewhere. Because I felt very unwelcome. If you want a chance to enter the real cave, bring passport or driver's license. Doesn't say on their webpage, but any photo ID won't be sufficient. Clearly they have a problem with people falsifying identities to get into the cave. The tour of the "new" cave, or replica, was a nice experience, with a good guide that took time to explain and show the children some extra attention so they were also able to see the outline of the carvings and paintings. Also other staff in the museum was forthcoming and helpful. With one exception. The lady at the shop was not fond of her job and another rude and sour person. Maybe they would prefer to be unemployed and rid of tourism. I don't know. But I was waiting for my girlfriend to finish hoarding books and items from the shop, and I was observing the interaction with customers, and I was appalled.

A. Form Of. Know the past without having to damage the Originals.
A. Perfect Recreation. The Holy Week Days. Admission was Free.

I do not like to be a copy.

There are shops, there is a children's playground.

Well designed homage to the cave. Low prices entry. A lot of superfluous information (NOT in English and neither was the audio guide! ) More suited to the many school visits we saw which were noisy.

Interesting historical site. Well worth a visit. Entry not expensive.

It is a nice reproduction of the real cave, what they need to protect. If you are lucky, you can have a chance to win on the raffle an entry to the real cave. There is a museum, what is really good for children. They can learn how changed everything through these ages. They can go on a workshop and there is usually an exhibition as well.

The phone service was excellent!
Give you a thousand options explain everything perfectly and in a totally cordial tone at no time there is no bad answer… I know I should always be like this, but sometimes this kind of thing surprises you…

Not real. You won't be able to see actual wall anymore. Only replica. But as an informative museum, there is enough exhibitions.

We loved them. Highly recommended. The kids have a space to paint and play they have a rather veneer but pretty shop. We went one day Q was down without knowing it and the girls Fueronuy friendly to inform. Very happy.

. The cave is 270 meters long, and consists of a series of interwoven passages and rooms. The main tunnel has a height varying from two to six meters. The cavern was formed thanks to the collapse of previous karst phenomena in the limestone rock of the Vispieres Mountains. Archaeological excavations in the bottom of the quarry have brought to light rich deposits of art of the Upper Solutrean (about 18.500 years ago) and of the lower Magdalenian (between 16.500 and 14.000 years ago). The cave was used only by wild animals in the long run between the two occupations. The site is located in a strategic point in order to exploit the rich fauna that inhabited the valleys of the surrounding mountains, thus providing food. About 13.000 years ago a landslide blocked the entrance of the cave preserving the contents until the discovery occurred because of the collapse of a tree. The human occupation was limited to the entrance of the cave although paints were found for the entire length of the tunnel. The artists used charcoal and ochre or hematite to paint, often diluting the colors to produce totality and thus create chiaroscuro effects. They exploited the natural boundaries of the walls to give an impression of three-dimensionality to the subjects. The multicoloured ceiling is the most striking work and shows a herd of bison in different positions, two horses, a big deer and what appears to be a wild boar.

Beautiful and educative replica caves for all the family. The museum has many archeological pieces.

An exact reproduction of the original is shown to make us enjoy ourselves. I was fortunate to visit the real one many years ago before the restrictions and the truth that is worth visiting. The setting is beautiful and there are plenty of places for vehicles free of charge. You must visit her.

The comments and reviews below are in all likelihood fake or written behind compensation. Luckily we happened on a Sunday, the day when the visit was free, because economically the entrance would not have earned even 20 cents. Crap. The actual cave as you know is no longer visitable since the 1970s, but given the comments we expected a meticulous and detailed reconstruction. Instead we found ourselves in front of a reconstruction of poor quality on plywood. Would have been more dignified a photographic exhibition of the cave. As far as I'm concerned, it's not acceptable to miss a child. The video of introduction was to say the least painful, it seemed a mockery and of dubious didactic function: a bear blatantly mock (i. E. A man in a bear costume) is walking in the cave, groups of prehistoric very polite converse with each other and an improbable Time Machine transports us through the centuries, showing disconnected excerpts of life in the cavern. I would call it a scam more than a marketing operation: not worth your time.

Replica of Altamira cave. Cave art of ancient man of 35000 years ago. The art of different animals at the roof of the cave.

Impressive!. Museum very complete but not heavy to see, the guided tour to the Neocave lasts about 30 minutes and really worth it.
Magical Place in an ideal enclave. Comfortable to park and take a little walk in the vicinity. The entrance fee is €3 (with guided tour), free for teachers and other groups.
If you are in the area!

The Neo Cave is adapted for wheelchair, the staff is very nice and willing to explain with all the luxury of details…
It has educational activities for children and the village is worth visiting.

In my opinion fantastic the idea of reproducing the original cave to keep it better given the large number of visitors. Ideal to go with children, connect extraordinarily well with history and stimulate your curiosity. A must visit in Cantabria. Get close early so you don't run out of tickets and if you can on a Friday you enter a raffle to visit the original cave, we were not lucky enough to be graceful with that privilege. But it was definitely worth visiting the reproduction.

Many years ago I was fortunate to be able to visit the original cave, I can never forget that experience. Years later I have been to the neocave and I can say that it is a super faithful reproduction, a way of being able to get to the idea of the wonder that is the truth. I recommend it because it is very good and they have a lot of information about the history of the cave.

The visit is very interesting, is very well developed but… I found that after acquiring the free tickets, was not very clear where, how or when to follow the visit. Obviously, paying a guide would have solved the doubts… but I think it is easy to rectify the problem…
It is accessed and it is not clear (or I did not think) where to start the visit and what order to follow.
Then both the information and the experience itself, it's great. Highly recommended with kids.

At first, I was reluctant to go, because I knew I would not see the original cave, the real one… But I'm glad I was visiting the museum and the Neocave, it's stunning and made to the millimeter as the original, one pass. Also when going on weekends in the afternoon the entrance, to our surprise, was free. Repeat.

Closed on Mondays, holidays overflow. Poor information on website.

Museum quite accomplished as they say is has scale. Just some glue. All at the same level and very small. The tour you do in no time. But it's nice to see if you like this kind of paints.

Interesting. The important thing is to know that it is a copy of the cave. Interesting the museum. Nice and nice activities for children.

Only allowed in a copy of the cave, all the information in Spanish.

The museum houses a replica of the cave of Altamira with cave paintings that are up to 20, 000 years old. Due to the clear boundary between the ceiling and the wall as well as the numerous installations, however, there is no real cave feeling. However, the paintings are definitely worth seeing.

We fall not into the cave itself, but in its copy, made by human hands. I wonder, of course, but it's like a picture of a peep from a magazine.

A great experience — we watched the movie with Antonio Banderas before and it was really a super event!

Even if you visit a reproduction of 30 years ago perfectly adherent to the original it is worth spending a couple of hours to admire what is considered the Sistine Chapel of the Neolithic. The visit is for groups at established times so start early in the morning to buy tickets if not you are likely to visit them in the afternoon. Price content €3. Recommended for children.

Not to be missed for those traveling in northern Spain, the cave paintings are not visitable live, are faithfully reproduced in the Neo-cave annexed to the Neolithic museum that I strongly recommend to see. It is a journey to the beginning of the artistic expression of mankind. However as the whole place strives to try to give an explanation to the origin of painting remains a mystery. So in the presence of the cave paintings of 15000 years ago reproduced on the vault of the Neo-cave, one remains stunned and fearful as in front of the paintings of the vault of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. In fact, the Altamira Cave is called the Sistine Chapel of the Neolithic.

Nothing to see especially, the reproduction of the Cave + Museum of Ancient instruments. A lot of interactive. The real Pereshhera is closed, it does not get into it. Well, at least cheap-3 euros per person.

Even if everything is just a attraction and recreated is still a great place and a beautiful exhibition.

I was blown away by the replica of the cave and the pictures.
But even the museum as such is remarkable. I liked the offer of the museum shop.

Very quaint hotel, clean centrally located and with excellent treatment of its staff, with a good restaurant service and spacious rooms. Highly recommended on all aspects, for one condition.

Very cozy place. Hearty meal at a price of menu of the day in the middle of Santillana (€15 VAT incl. €8 children's menu). A super nice by the blond girl.
Do not put you 3 star by an ugly detail that had: children's menu consists of macaroni, a St. James and an ice cream. Convinced us to put our daughter only macaroni because surely it was not going to eat the rest, to which we agreed because they were right. Our surprise was that they charged US €7 + VAT for a plate of pasta and ice cream. We felt 'abusive' since, for 29 cents more they would have included us a St. James. Ugly gesture.

Beautiful town with cobblestone streets, medieval style.

It is going to be there. Buah!

Quite mediocre. Menu thought to take a few euros a tourist, not in giving quality. Wine bad, bread is terrible and coffee inbebible. Not recommended.

The furnitures in the small livingroom have seen better times, but thats the only criticism. Lovely garden, nice pool, wonderful view from the roof terrace, good privacy, quite location. Result: great place to be.

Excellent location, great menu. 17$ with variety.

This weekend we went back to the Hotel Altamira, Santillana is unique, and sleep in this hotel is special because it takes you a few centuries ago. Just rehabilitate the rooms the bathrooms, and I like the new off-white. There are many restaurants in the town, but the hotel has a special style, is located in the former stables of the Palace. Try sea urchins au gratin, although my children what you liked most the croquettes and macaroni.

Good location, old but in good condition, the family room looked like a football field. Breakfast good and abundant. Recommended for couples with children.