Cantabria: Caves & Coastal Towers

From Altamira to the Picos de Europa

A route through Cantabria's green valleys connecting medieval tower houses, coastal fishing villages, and the mountain hamlets of the Picos de Europa.

Cantabria is Spain's hidden treasure — a small autonomous community wedged between the Basque Country and Asturias that contains an extraordinary concentration of Paleolithic cave art, Romanesque churches, medieval tower houses, and mountain villages. The Cave of Altamira, with its 15,000-year-old bison paintings, is merely the most famous of more than 100 decorated caves in the region.

This circuit of 4 stops captures Cantabria's green, vertical landscape: from the oldest continuously inhabited village (Bárcena Mayor) to the Heidi-filming-location village of Mogrovejo, from the Picos de Europa gateway town of Potes to the legendary Fish Man village of Liérganes. The driving is spectacular, the villages intimate, and the cocido montañés (mountain stew) warming.

Stops on this route

1. Bárcena Mayor — Oldest continuously inhabited village in Cantabria — stone houses and cocido montañés
2. Mogrovejo — Filming location for the 2015 Heidi movie — tower houses beneath the Picos de Europa
3. Potes — Gateway to the Picos — orujo liqueur distilled in the streets during November's festival
4. Liérganes — Home of the legendary Fish Man — a 17th-century man who supposedly became aquatic

Practical information

Cantabrian roads are well-maintained but mountainous. Rain is common year-round. The Altamira cave replica is excellent — book ahead. Try cocido montañés, sobaos (butter cakes), and orujo liqueur. The Picos de Europa cable car at Fuente Dé lifts you 1,823m for stunning views.

Terrain: Green coastal valleys → limestone mountains → Picos de Europa peaks → pastoral meadows