tomseeley

Possible? Practical? Stupid? Impossible?

Any and all thought welcome, please.

My wife and I are thinking about Spain in May 2012. In addition to daily museums and palaces and cathedrals and mosques and alcazars and alhambras, all of which are certainly on our itinerary, we'd like to get off the beaten path a bit, and these caves are a possibility. But we also don't particularly fancy renting a car. I can't "see the sights" while I'm driving and simultaneously trying to figure out road signs in a foreign language, etc, (no offense intended). I've seen on www.renfe.com that trains btwn Madrid and Santander are possible, but that would still leave us local transportation to work out. I'd like any and all feedback and suggestions, both pro and con, please!

ps. Pls don't just tell me to read a library book or Google! I got that flaming "response" once on a different travel forum that I no longer use because I don't need that crap! I know how to do that! And I have. And I will continue to do so. I'm using this forum specifically because I WANT feedback from people who have DONE what I'm THINKING of doing! Or who have suggestions for what you think I should NOT do! That's often even more valuable advice than "do this..." is!

CathyM

I've visited Santillana by bus but not the caves. You would probably have to first get to Santander, as you assumed, then take a bus to Santillana and next a taxi to the cave museum. I'm not sure if there is easy public transport to the caves areas.

However, given you posted previously about visiting the White Villages in Andalucia if you plan to visit the North and the South (and also I assume Madrid) using public transport I'd suggest at least a 3 week trip.

I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to visit the Altamira caves if this is your first trip to Spain. Do you have a specific interest in caves? If so, there is the Pilata cave just out side of Ronda. Not sure about public transportation there but you could probably hire a taxi (just make sure they come back at a designated time). There are also ancient dolmans with cave paintings just outside of Antequera - I walked there and it was only a 10 minutes walk from town. There are also caves accessible by bus just outside of Nerja.

Hope this helps.

Robert2533

There is bus service to the Caves (942 891 640) from Santillana del Mar.

The cave itself is closed to the public, and has been for quite some time, but you can visit the museum (museodealtamira.mcu.es).

tomseeley

Thx for the info on caves. I'm glad to know about the ones near Ronda, since I want to visit there too. I'm also glad to hear that the museum bus actually is from Santillana del Mar to the caves. I had seen that info on the museum website but I didn't see that it actually does reach S del Mar. I suspect this could be worked out if I work at it a bit before leaving home. Right now, that's the kind of guidance I was hoping to find!