Quijas brings together the Palacio y Torre de Bustamante ensemble on the Saja with a karst landscape and cave art. The ensemble includes the defensive tower, the palace, the late Gothic chapel and the mill; karst features and cave drawings add to the picture of Quijas.

Palace and Tower: Building History on the Saja

The “Palacio y Torre de Bustamante” ensemble was declared a national historic-artistic monument in 1982. The palace dates from the 18th century and has a U-shaped floor plan around the Torre de Bustamante. The tower, by contrast, is of late medieval origin and is described as a defensive tower. Chronologically, the ensemble’s building history spans from the late medieval tower to the 18th-century palace. The ensemble is situated on the Saja; the tower stands right by the river. The Torre de Villanueva de Quijas belongs to a group of defensive towers associated with the Bustamante family.

Chapel and Mill in the Ensemble

The Capilla de San Bartolomé is attached to the east side of the palace. Its late Gothic rib vault features tiercerons. Tiercerons are secondary ribs in a late Gothic vault; they add further lines to the chapel’s rib pattern.

The mill is also part of the ensemble. According to the owner, it is over 300 years old; five millstones and parts of the machinery have been preserved. The mill was not operating at the time of the 2025 description. If you would like to visit the mill, check in advance whether the five millstones and surviving machinery parts will be accessible on your chosen date.

Karst and Cave Art

The Cueva de La Estación is part of a karst system in a massive limestone escarpment between the Reocín valley and the Saja River. Karst forms when water dissolves soluble rock such as limestone over a long period, creating cavities. Nine drawings made using the “macaroni” technique are attributed to the Cueva de La Estación. In contrast, the defining feature of the rock art in the Cueva de La Clotilde or La Lora is how it was made: the images were traced with fingers directly into soft clay on ceilings and walls.

There is an important date-related caveat for the Cueva de La Estación: in 2019 it was closed to the public, and access required a permit from the Government of Cantabria. This information describes the situation in 2019 and does not necessarily reflect the current situation. If you are planning a visit, check the current access conditions in advance.

Getting There and Finding Hotels

Quijas has a FEVE railway station called Santa Isabel. If you are planning to travel by train, check the current services before setting fixed travel times.

Discover more destinations: Barcenaciones, Caranceja, Cerrazo

Return to the overview of the wider area: Reocín.