Cantabria: centuries of thermal heritage in northern Spain

Green valleys, mountains, rivers and the Cantabrian Sea define this part of northern Spain. Yet Cantabria also preserves another important heritage: a centuries-old thermal culture built around its natural mineral-medicinal waters.

Today, the Cantabria Spa Association brings together six historic thermal establishments: Alceda, Las Caldas del Besaya, La Hermida, Liérganes, Puente Viesgo and Solares, all associated with officially recognised mineral-medicinal waters.
Their story began long before the modern concept of Wellness.

When “taking the waters” became a way of travelling
The 19th century was a golden age for European thermal resorts. As medical hydrology developed and interest in mineral springs increased, balnearios evolved into destinations combining treatments, extended stays, nature and social life. Cantabria became part of this wider European resort culture.

Bathhouses, hotels, gardens and leisure spaces gradually appeared around its springs.

Las Caldas del Besaya: one of Cantabria’s earliest thermal landmarks
Founded in 1826, Las Caldas del Besaya is regarded as the oldest thermal resort still operating in Cantabria. The complex developed around seven springs.
One of its most remarkable surviving objects is a solid marble bath commissioned by Queen Isabella II in 1867 for her thermal treatments.

Solares: from an 18th-century spring to the Belle Époque
The first documented references to thermal activity in Solares date to 1753. Its first dedicated bathhouse was built over the spring in 1827, and the waters received official public-utility recognition the following year.
By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Solares had developed in the style of prestigious European spa resorts, combining water-based therapies with hospitality and leisure.

La Hermida: from a thermal cave to a modern resort
At La Hermida, mineral-medicinal water emerges at around 60°C, and its therapeutic use is documented from the 18th century.
Before a formal spa existed, visitors bathed in a cave beside the spring using simple wooden bathing structures. In 1842, the first purpose-built bathhouse and lodging opened; in 1881 the complex expanded with new bathing galleries, accommodation, gardens and a chapel.
After decades of closure following the Spanish Civil War, La Hermida was restored and returned to thermal tourism in the 21st century.

Puente Viesgo: more than two centuries beside the River Pas
Records of bathing facilities at Puente Viesgo go back to 1766. The resort received a Gold Medal at the 1888 Barcelona Universal Exhibition and enjoyed a particularly celebrated period between 1900 and 1930.
Its visitors included prominent figures such as Benito Pérez Galdós and Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo, reflecting an era when thermal resorts were as much places for extended rest and social life as for water-based treatments.

Liérganes and its royal connection
In the early 20th century, Liérganes became closely associated with King Alfonso XIII and his family, who visited the resort to take its waters.
A private bathing area beside the Fuente Santa spring was reserved for the royal family. It was later restored and survives today as the Piscina del Rey — the King’s Pool.

Alceda: thermal tradition in the Valles Pasiegos
By the end of the 19th century, Alceda had also developed a strong reputation as a thermal destination. In 1892, pharmacist José Salvador Ruiz published a dedicated guide to the resort and its bathing culture.
Its setting in the Valles Pasiegos illustrates another defining characteristic of Cantabrian thermal travel: the close relationship between mineral water, landscape and tranquillity.

Six resorts, six distinct waters
Cantabria’s thermal waters are not all alike.
Their mineral profiles vary considerably and include sodium-chloride, bicarbonate, sulphurous and calcium-rich waters, among other classifications. Historically, this diversity meant that each balneario developed its own identity around the characteristics of its particular spring.
Today, traditional balneotherapy coexists with hydrotherapy, massage, physiotherapy, contemporary Wellness spaces and gastronomy.
Yet the central element remains unchanged: a natural resource that belongs uniquely to its place of origin.

For Máxima Bienestar, Cantabria represents a particularly complete way of experiencing Wellness — where water, mountains, heritage, local gastronomy and rest become part of the same journey.

Centuries after the first bathhouses appeared, Cantabria’s springs continue to write one of the most fascinating chapters in Spain’s thermal history.