Balneario Baños de Puente Viesgo

Balneario Banos de Puente Viesgo is a historic thermal spa in the municipality of Puente Viesgo in the Cantabria region of northern Spain, set in the Pas river valley at the foot of the Monte Castillo, where bicarbonate spring waters have been therapeutically exploited since the 19th century in an area of extraordinary Palaeolithic archaeological significance. The Monte Castillo above the balneario contains four decorated Palaeolithic caves including El Castillo, whose hand stencils and disc symbols dating from 40,000 years ago are among the oldest cave art in the world — predating the famous Altamira cave paintings by millennia. The combination of one of the oldest documented human cultural activities in Europe directly above the thermal springs — Palaeolithic cave painters and modern wellness visitors separated by 40,000 years but sharing the same Cantabrian mountain landscape — gives Puente Viesgo a temporal depth unique among Spanish spa destinations.