Picos de Europa and Potes Guided Tour from Santander-small groups
Recommended by 93% of travelers
Santander, Spain
- 9 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Immerse yourself in some of northern Spain’s most spectacular mountain scenery—and enjoy a seamless way to explore—on this small-group, full-day tour. Following morning pickup from your Santander hotel, head into the Cantabria countryside. You’ll take a cable-car (separate expense) up to the Picos de Europa for spectacular vistas, will visit the historical Monastery of Santo Toribio de Liebana, will explore the charming village of Potes, and more.
- This small-group tour is capped at eight to keep things personal
- Round-trip transit from Santander makes exploring simple
- Discover the Picos de Europa, and take a cable-car for a closer view
- Visit historical landmarks, local villages, and more
What's Included
- Driver/guide
- Transport by private vehicle
- Hotel/port pickup and drop-off
- Local taxes
- Food and drinks
- Entrance tickets for the Cable Car 31 € adultos y 13 € niños / 21 € adultos y 7 € niños
Meeting and Pickup
You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup
Start time.8:40 am
Itinerary
1
Exploring Cantabria
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Teleferico Fuente De
1 hour 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
3
Monasterio de Santo Toribio de Liebana
40 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
4
Potes
2 hours • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received within 48 hours of booking, subject to availability
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Infant seats available
- Stroller accessible
- Near public transportation
- Most travelers can participate
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- We book cable car for you (extra charge of € 20/person low season- €30/person high season) + €1/pers. administrative fees
- A maximum of 8 people per booking
- Minimum group of 4 people to confirm this tour
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 8 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
It was an amazing tour. Everything was wonderful: small villages, monastery, beautiful nature. Our travel guide was awesome: knowledgeable, friendly, really cared that we would get the best experience. We highly recommend this tour.
Reviews
4.7
based on 123 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
Fun informative tour to picos de Europa and potes, Spain
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Love all the variety of sites. And the tour guide Maria I think, gave us plenty of time to explore in our own. The views were stunning. The history amazing.
We enjoyed the visit to monastery and Potes, my young adults say the best part was the teleférico and walking around the mountaintop (well worth the extra fee for this portion). Thank you to Haildo for a memorable family day!
The trip was well planned and ran very smoothly. Our guide, Maria, was warm, knowledgeable and took great care to make sure us English-speakers were included in the conversations. We went in May and hadn’t realised there would be snow! So make sure to wrap up warm.
We had an amazing day at Picos de Europa. Our guide Pepe was very knowledgeable, giving lots of information and recommendations.
Fantastic tour with Pepe, excellent guide and very pretty countryside with interesting history all the way to Picos and Potres.
Response from Host, Apr 2026
Thank you so much for your kind words!
We’re delighted to hear you had such a fantastic experience exploring the stunning landscapes of the Picos de Europa and the charming village of Potes.
It’s wonderful to know that Pepe made the journey even more enjoyable with his guidance and insights into the region’s rich history.
We truly appreciate you taking the time to share your experience and hope to welcome you again on another adventure soon!
It was an amazing tour. Everything was wonderful: small villages, monastery, beautiful nature. Our travel guide was awesome: knowledgeable, friendly, really cared that we would get the best experience. We highly recommend this tour.
We were so looking forward to hiking in Picos. We got less than an hour rather than the 1.5 hrs that were advertised. It was a holiday but still to get the tram it took 40 minutes in line at bottom and 15 at top. We were late returning to car by 20 minutes and if we had stuck to schedule would have been on mountain for only 20 minutes. This situation was a serious disappointment. The tour is not a Picos tour but a Potes tour with a little Picos. We had ample 2 hours in the small town which is charming and quiant. Pepe gave us indication of where we could go for vegetarian food. It turned out everything was busy and they were turning people away. We asked for just a drink and sat at the bar. The restaurant later said if we wanted to order from limited items we could. But 2 hours was much more time than needed. We did enjoy the Monastery stop. Pepe was a kind person and attentive driver. He gave tour at Monastery too. In retrospect, it might be better to arrange the tour on priorities of guests. It was fortunate we only had 1 other couple which would have allowed discussion of time at location. We also didn't have the correct number for Pepe. We were texting the company number from 2 days prior but that wasn't a company phone and no one responded to let us know we were not letting him know about tram wait times. Still it was a nice day. We would recommend with attention to said factors that could influence your enjoyment of tour.
The Picos, cable car and Portes lived up to their billing. It’s like Spanish Switzerland, and with all of the charm and friendliness of the Spanish people. We loved our guide Pepe, who was friendly, fun and knowledgeable. It’s hard to believe that this beautiful mountain range is so close to the beaches of Northern Spain.
Amazing day excursion! Our guide, was very knowledgeable and very amiable. The scenery was fantastic.
This trip will show you why the Pico's de Europa are a must see destination. The cable car whisks you 800 m to another climatic zone and see avian fauna enjoying the thermals.
Viator should clearly say that there is an opportunity to have lunch. Aldi, give the expected return time..
Great day- drive along the gorge to monastery. Extra 30€ for the teleferique but well worth it.
Plenty of time to take in the views.
Leisurely lunch in Potes.
Perfect weather made it a marvellous day.
Overall, decent tour. Really enjoyed Picos de Europa and the Monastery. Potes was a tourist trap of a town and make sure to bring cash or you're unable to eat in most restaurants. Really found Potes to not be very welcoming and the shops were your run of the mill places. Not super friendly either with small children as the walking paths have multiple cars, was not super safe.
Guide was very knowledgeable and helpful. He shared his vast experience about places we visited. Poas village was beautiful and park even when cloudy still worth a visit
A lovely day out, very glad spaces opened up after a cancellation. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the area and it's history, and his English translations very clear. It would have been nice to have a little more time at the top of the Picos as it is so beautiful up there, very worth the entrance fee for cable car and we were lucky with the clear vistas. Definitely recommend the whole trip especially if you don't have your own transport.
Extremely beautiful scenery, driver was excellent and very knowledgeable. A full day with lots to see.
Great tour and tour guide. Amazing experience and Potes beautiful Picos de Europa are sensational and should be seeing by all
Jaido, our guide was very good! He knew so much abt history and other background information bits here and there and shared it to the group. He picked us up on time from the hotel and was very helpful and accommodating. At the end of the trip, albeit late, he made sure to drop us off back to our hotel. I travelled with a toddler and a carseat was provided.
Wonderful tour….the cable car experience is not to be missed! Maria our guide took very good care of us.
The visit to Picos was a nice contrast to the offerings of Santander, and Potes certainly earns its most picturesque town in Spain recognition ... in spades! Gabriela was very knowledgeable, patient and professional, and provided a highly personalized experience.
Amazing scenery, great tour guide and interesting fellow travellers.
I especially loved trail walks from cable car.
The scenery, and the drive was outstanding. Pepe was more than helpful and knowledgeable. This excursion made my whole time in Santander worth while.
Cairo was extremely knowledgeable and kept us informed the whole time with very interesting facts. Very pleasant and engaging.
Although the weather was not kind to us as it rained the whole day, we still enjoyed the day trip thanks to the excellent guide, Jairo, who is friendly, helpful and knowledgable.
Jairo was a very good and informative guide. We very much enjoyed the excursion and the whole car trip through the gorge was fascinating. The Picos and the village of Potes were very picturesque.
This day tour was very enjoyable. The cable car is worth the additional expense as the views from the top are exceptional. Potes was a delightful town where we enjoyed the local meal of the day. Our guide was very good-would recommend this tour
Trip was fantastic particularly the cable car to the mountain top. Pepé was a great guide and very entertaining. Highly recommend.
I would recommend, but with reservations. Bus was old, 8 people were crammed, and in the back, no air conditioning. We did not see the caves as advertised. Out of your control was the drive to Potes, which had a huge amount of traffic due to road work, cutting time from the sightseeing. The optional cable car ride had spectacular views, but overall, was not worth it. Tour guide was lovely and worked very hard to make everyone happy. Most of the commentary was in Spanish, less in English. I have taken other Viators in the past, and will probably take another in the future. Thank you.
Our guide was great! It was a highly personalized tour, with only our 2 families (us and friends, 8 total) in the group. So beautiful, highly recommended!
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per personWas $104.52(-5%)
up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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Picos de Europa and Potes Guided Tour from Santander-small groups
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