This is the experience of visiting the El Soplao Cave (Cantabria): schedules, prices

If you plan a trip through Cantabria, your agenda should not miss the The Soplao Cave.

This is one of the essential visits in Cantabria, and one of the places in this community that receives the most tourists each year, with 300.000 visitors a year.

Surely you already know that visitable caves They are one of the great tourist attractions of Cantabria, their great icon being the Altamira, where you can currently do the visit of the museum and the neocave.

But there are also other very interesting ones that I have been able to visit in my various trips to Cantabria, which also contain paleolithic art, like that of Castle, riding a Viesgo Bridge, wave of Covalanas. in Branches of Victory, in the Asón Valley.

However, until recently I had not had the opportunity to know the El Soplao cave, which is located in the region Saja-Nansa, 60 kilometers from Torrelavega and 80 kilometers from Santander.

What the El Solplao Cave is like

Before your visit, it will be interesting for you to know the history of the discovery of these caves, as well as some curiosities about them.

How the El Soplao Cave was formed

It is thought that The Soplao Cave It was formed about 110 million years ago, during the Cretaceous, as a result of the rise of thermal water through various tectonic faults.

The mountain's original limestone was transformed into a type of stone that includes magnesium.

What are the dimensions of the El Soplao Cave?

The dimensions known from the The Soplao Cave They are almost 20 kilometers long distributed over several levels, of which up to a kilometer and a half can be visited.

For its part, the mining galleries that are in the same mountain and that are linked to the natural cave extend for 25,6 kilometers.

To access the natural cave there are two natural entrances, plus open access for tourist visits, and another 14 entrances to the old zinc mine.

When the El Soplao Cave was discovered

It was discovered in 1908, when in a mining gallery where work had been going on for the extraction of zinc, an intersection was opened that allowed the natural gallery to be brought to light, the existence of which until then was not known.

For this reason the cave is called El Soplao, an expressive deformation of mining slang blown, which is used when an air current is produced when connecting different mining cavities.

But it was not until 1975 when a team of Cantabrian speleologists began to explore the different galleries of the natural cavity, arriving at the conclusion that it was one of the most spectacular caves known until then in Cantabria.

Characteristics of El Soplao Cave

This Cantabrian cave is so special because it is not common to find underground networks that combine mines and natural caves, more of such dimensions, since in the case of the Cantabrian cave, the network exceeds 45 kilometers.

It is also special for the great ornamentation on the ceilings, walls and floors, the enjoyment of which more than justifies your visit.

In this regard, the great abundance of speleothems eccentric, which are very spectacular and very few abundant.

Finally, in the The Blow important scientific discoveries have been made, such as amber speleothems, unique in the world, and blue amber for the Cretaceous Era.

What are the eccentric speleothems of El Soplao?

The rock formations that form over time in caves such as Soplao are called speleothems, which have different shapes, such as stalactites or stalacmites.

But without a doubt the great peculiarity of the El Soplao cave are eccentric speleothems that you can see during the tour on large surfaces until covering floors and ceilings.

Eccentrics are formations that grow in any direction capriciously due to a capillary water flow.

The abundance of magnesium and the fact that the cave has almost always been closed and in stable environmental conditions, is the reason why in The Blow there is so much surface with eccentric formations.

How to visit El Soplao Cave

For your visit to this cave, if instead of going on your own you prefer to join a guided group, you have the Excursion to El Soplao Cave from Santander, lasting four hours.

For visit the El Soplao cave you have three different options of visits, from the Standard guided tour, passing through the visit Adventure Turism, to the new Mining Visit.

This is the standard guided tour of the El Soplao Cave

La tour standard It begins with a brief tour in an emulation of a mining train that takes you into the cave.

I must remind you that this cave was discovered in 1910, during the exploitation of some zinc mines.

With a duration of one hour, in this tour In groups that are organized every so often, you walk alone through the main gallery of the cave.

During the visit you travel about 800 meters along walkways with adequate lighting, and where the first thing you will see is a multimedia presentation that tells you the history of El Soplao.

Then, along a route perfectly enabled for all types of public, even for people with reduced mobility and wheelchairs, you can see some of the most outstanding corners of the cave, where there is no shortage of groupings of asymmetrical stalactites that have made the cave so famous. The Soplao.

It is advisable to wear something warm, as the temperature inside the cave is 12-13 degrees Celsius.

This is the experience of the Adventure Tourism visit to the El Soplao cave

For its part, the visit Adventure Turism It allows you to get to know this famous Cantabrian cave in a very different way.

First of all, you will dress in a jumpsuit, boots and a helmet with a light, which will allow you to be properly equipped to make this visit so special.

You will enter the cave on foot, next to the mining train track that is used for the tourist visit.

After touring part of the main gallery of The Blow, you will leave the illuminated area behind to, with only the help of the lights of your helmets and flashlights, reach a gate that gives access to the section you have to visit.

On this visit that lasts about two and a half hours, you will cover about two kilometers of the cave, in fact, a very small part of its total extension, which is about 20 kilometers.

It generally runs through sections without any difficulty, and there are others that are equipped with aid elements, such as railings, or even stairs.

This means that this visit does not have a special physical demand and can be carried out by people of a certain age without any problem, although children under 12 years of age cannot do it.

There are only two small sections that will require you to go through small gaps, but don't be scared by that, they are easy to overcome.

During the tour you will see up close the great richness that the interior of the cave has, with a great diversity of formations. stalactites, stalagmites, the famous eccentrics...

Special training stands out, such as amber stalactites, the so-called black capes, the groups of calcite crystals, or the spectacular glued that spread across the walls, the large columns, Or the stalactites flags.

In short, you will have a vision of a very different cave than the one you have had until now, where you can discover in detail the great wealth of speleothems de The Blow.

Mining visit of the El Soplao cave

For its part, since last year the Mining Visits, which is a via ferrata which is carried out inside the La Florida Mines.

It is two kilometers long and has different phases with different levels of difficulty.

Here you have all the information about the Mining Tours of the El Soplao Cave.

Visiting hours of the El Soplao Cave

The Visiting hours of the El Soplao Cave They vary depending on the time of year, but in the summer months it is from 10 a.m. to 19 p.m., in July, and from 10 a.m. to 21 p.m., in August. opening every day.

So you can consult the schedules during the year, both of the tourist visit standard, as of the Adventure Tourism and Mining visits, in addition to the dates on which the cave is closed to the public.

El Soplao Cave ticket prices

The ticket pricesdace of the El Soplao Cave (2024) are different depending on the type of visit you are going to make.

Thus, the price of standard guided tour It is 14,50 euros for adults, 12 euros for children from 4 to 16 years old, and 11,50 euros for retirees, pensioners, students and disabled people.

El entrance price for the Adventure Tourism visit It is 35 euros, and for the Mining visit, 39 euros.