Gaudí's Whim, in Comillas
Thirteen bookable visits, 4,680 reviews, and an entrance fee of €7.
There are thirteen visits available for booking at El Capricho, and the price range between the cheapest and most expensive is seventy-eight euros: 7 € for entry only, and 85 € for a full day trip that departs from Bilbao and stops in Cantabria. This page doesn't repeat what El Capricho is, as that information has already been provided. It serves to help you choose between those thirteen options: what each price includes, how long each visit lasts, how to get to Comillas without a car, and in which months the guided tours are booked up earliest. The prices were taken from the catalog on August 25, 2026.
It's worth knowing one thing before you buy. The house was built so that a single man could spend the summers in it: Máximo Díaz de Quijano, a bachelor, a music enthusiast, and a man who was ill, who died in 1885, the same year the building was completed. He never lived here. That explains the size, which surprises almost everyone: it takes a long hour to walk through the entire building. Anyone expecting something on the scale of La Pedrera will be disappointed. Small is not a defect, but it's better to know it beforehand.
Altamira, Santillana del Mar, Comillas, and El Capricho, starting from Santander
Explore the replica of the Altamira caves, the "Villa of the Three Lies," and the modernist architecture of Comillas, with a guided tour and multimedia content.
Comillas and El Capricho, accessible from Santander in just five hours
A half-day excursion, located 45 minutes from Santander, with two options: a self-guided tour in Comillas, or a tour with hotel pickup and a scenic drive in a minibus.
Comillas entera and El Capricho, with an expert guide
Before entering the house, you can explore the town: including the Santa Lucía viewpoint, the Duke's House, and the entrance to the Pontifical Seminary, among other places.
El Capricho, a free-standing masterpiece: The Gaudí that resides in Cantabria
A summer house in Cantabria, one of the architect's early projects, with Orientalist and Mudéjar influences. It can be visited without a guide.
El Capricho, Comillas, Santillana, and the redwood forest
A ten-hour tour that includes the largest sequoia forest in Spain, Villa Quijano, and three hours of free time in Comillas. Departure from Santander or Santillana.
El Capricho de Comillas: Gaudí Beyond Catalonia
The tour departs at 9:30 AM with hotel pickup to visit one of the few works by Gaudí located outside of Catalonia, specifically the Major Seminary and Sobrellano buildings, both in the same town.
El Capricho, Santillana, and Santander, viewed from Bilbao
Nine-hour tour starting near the Guggenheim: Includes visits to Comillas and Villa Quijano with a guide, a viewpoint overlooking the coast, free time in Santillana del Mar, and Santander.
El Capricho with a guided tour: musical railings and minaret
The facade, gardens, and interior of Villa Quijano are explained in 45 minutes, highlighting the 20-meter minaret and the railings with musical motifs.
El Capricho with a guide: The House of Sunflowers in Comillas
A guided tour of the brick and tile house adorned with sunflowers, built by Gaudí in Cantabria, with explanations of its unique features.
El Capricho with audio guide: bee guitarists and treble clef
The audio guide points out the hidden musical elements within the house: the musical staff formed by the decorative borders, the bee-shaped figures playing guitars in the stained glass windows, and the treble clef.
El Capricho, without queues, with open dates and times
Flexible entry that doesn't require a specific date: you can use it whenever it's convenient, with direct access and a self-guided tour of the minaret building.
Guided tours of Comillas and El Capricho are available from the Tourist Office
One hour and fifteen minutes to explore the old town, including the Casa Ocejo and the Palacio de Sobrellano, followed by a visit to the gardens and Gaudí's house. Departure and return to the city center.
Small group tour to Comillas and El Capricho, departing from Torrelavega
Small group tour departing from the Old Havana Pavilion: Includes a visit to the University of Comillas, Villa Quijano, and a panoramic view of the town, all by minibus.
Ratings collected by Civitatis, Tiqets, Viator and Tripadvisor
Thirteen visits, three distinct experiences
The thirteen tours are divided into three groups that do not compete with each other. Five are just transportation to the town, with or without a guide, and cost between 7 and 10 €. Two include a walk around Comillas and cost 16 or 17 €. The remaining six are full-day excursions that depart from Santander, Torrelavega, or Bilbao and also stop in Santillana del Mar, Altamira, or the redwood forest, costing from 29 to 85 €.
The opinions are distributed differently. 2,455 correspond to visits with a guide, 1,422 to people who entered on their own, and 803 to excursions. More than half of those who book here pay for someone to show them around the house, and the extra cost is three euros. There is even a €10 product that doesn't include a guide, but rather offers date flexibility: for the same amount of money, you could get a guide.
| Visit | What's included | Price | Reviews | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loose entry | Access to the house and garden, without a guide | €7 | 924 | 4.6 |
| Entry with audio guide | Access and audio guide available in Spanish | €7 | 347 | 4.4 |
| 60-minute guided tour | Access and guide available in Spanish or English | 10 € | 1.144 | 4.8 |
| Guided tour in Spanish | Access and guide | 10 € | 587 | 4.7 |
| Open entry with date and time | Access without a guide, and no fixed date upon purchase | 10 € | 151 | 4.6 |
| Quotes and Whims | Guided tour of the town, including the house | €16 | 84 | 4.7 |
| "Comillas" and "El Capricho," in Spanish | Guided tour of the town, including the house | €17 | 640 | 4.6 |
| Trip from Santander | Comillas: The house and scenic route | €60 | 279 | 4.8 |
| Trip from Bilbao | Comillas, Santillana del Mar, and Santander | €85 | 10 | 4.7 |
One hour inside
The best things about this place aren't visible; they're audible
The tour consists of a few rooms visited in just over an hour, and the part that people remember most isn't captured in any of the photos. The windows are of the guillotine style, and their counterweights contain metal tubes: when you raise and lower them, they make a sound. Gaudí designed them this way for an owner who spent his evenings playing the piano.
The rest is exposed wood, wrought iron, and a row of windows that overlook the garden. The guided tour, priced at €10, lasts 60 minutes and includes admission; the audio guide costs €7 and allows you to proceed at your own pace. With children, the guided tour is the clear winner: there's not much to read here, but plenty to point out.
Sunflowers are not just decorations
The tower that appears in all the photos, that Persian-style minaret, is covered in tiles featuring a sunflower and a leaf in relief, alternating row by row. They were made using molds and placed individually. This is what makes the building recognizable from fifty meters away, and it's also what has been most reproduced on posters and t-shirts throughout Cantabria.
The sunflower has a second meaning that written guides rarely mention: the house is organized according to the hours of sunlight. The bedroom receives the morning light, the living rooms receive the afternoon light, and the greenhouse is located where it gets the midday sun. In a summer house designed for someone who is ill, that wasn't just decoration.
How to get to Comillas
Comillas does not have a train station. It is 49 kilometers from Santander via the Cantabrian highway, about fifty minutes by car, and there is a regular bus service that takes about an hour and a half because it stops along the coast. From Bilbao, it is about 150 kilometers; from Oviedo, slightly less.
It is understood that there are full-day excursions available, and that they are sold. For those on vacation in Santander without a car, the 60 € covers transportation, entrance fees, and two additional stops. For those who have a car, it's fifty-three euros on top of the individual entrance fee, in exchange for a fifty-minute drive. Everyone can do the math, but it's best to do it before booking.
A short walk
The town has more modernist architecture than you could possibly fit in a single house
Near El Capricho is the Universidad Pontificia (Pontifical University), where Joan Martorell and Domènech i Montaner worked, and adjacent to the house is the Palacio de Sobrellano with its pantheon, also by Martorell, which houses furniture designed by Gaudí himself. The three buildings were built almost simultaneously and for the same environment, that of the Marquis of Comillas, who brought the architects working in Barcelona to the Cantabrian coast.
That's what the visitors who purchase the €16 and €17 tickets buy, which include both the village and the house. For nine euros more than the individual ticket, one understands why El Capricho is located here and not anywhere else. Of the thirteen [exhibits/areas], it's the one that best explains the entire complex.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
From summer house to museum, and then to restaurant
One hundred and forty years, marked by six key dates. One of them surprises the entire world.
The origins
1883-1885
Building the house
Máximo Díaz de Quijano commissions the construction of a summer residence. Gaudí sends the blueprints from Barcelona, and Cristóbal Cascante, a former classmate of Gaudí's, oversees the construction on-site.
1885
Owner deceased
Díaz de Quijano passed away the same year the house was completed. It then passed to his family, who used it occasionally.
The growth
1969
Protected monument
The building is now under state protection after decades of disuse and without any visitors.
1988-2009
Twenty-one years of restaurant
The house operates as a restaurant. For two decades, dining there was the only way to experience a Gaudí-inspired space in Cantabria.
Today
2010
Opens as a museum house
Since then, it has been open to the public with its own entrance fee, and its opening hours are extended during the summer. Visitors can explore it either with a guided tour or on their own.
Today
Thirteen bookable visits
Five ways to experience the house, and eight tours that incorporate it into a larger experience, with a total of 4,680 reviews and an average rating of 4.64.
Seven euros for entry, and ten euros if you enter with someone else. In no other of Gaudí's works does the difference between simply seeing it and truly understanding it cost three euros.
Questions we receive
Is the guided tour worth it, or is a regular admission ticket sufficient?
Here, yes, and it's one of the few places where we say it without reservations. The difference is three euros; the guided tour lasts one hour and includes the entrance fee, and it's the product with the most reviews on the entire page: 1,144, with a rating of 4.8. The house is small and full of details that don't explain themselves, starting with the windows that creak. You can see it without a guide, but you'll understand it better with a guide. The audio guide, at 7 euros, is the intermediate option and receives a rating of 4.4, the lowest of the thirteen.
How long does it take to see everything?
The guided tour lasts for an hour, and you can explore the gardens on your own for anywhere between forty-five minutes and an hour and a half, depending on how leisurely you take it. And the gardens are not just an addition; they are a central part of the visit, so it's best to allow at least an hour and a half. If you also want to see the Sobrellano Palace and the mausoleum, which are located nearby, you'll need the entire morning, and it will be well spent.
Is it possible to get there without a car?
Yes. There is a regular bus service from Santander, which takes about an hour and a half because it stops along the coast, and the journey from Torrelavega is shorter. Comillas does not have a train station. If you don't have a car and your trip starts from Santander or Bilbao, it's worth looking at the full-day excursions on this page: for 60 to 85 €, they cover transportation, entrance fees, and two or three additional stops, and buying individual bus tickets doesn't make the cost seem as low as it might.
Is this a child-friendly visit?
It's quite small; you can explore it in about an hour. It has a garden, and the sound effects are excellent – they're more effective than any explanation. We recommend the guided tour for families with children, as an audio guide for an eight-year-old usually only holds their attention for about three minutes. The full-day excursion, however, is not ideal; it involves eight or nine hours on a bus with frequent stops.
What is the difference between the two products that cost 10 euros?
There's a lot included, but it's not always reflected in the price. One option is the guided tour, which lasts sixty minutes, with a guide available in Spanish or English, and includes admission. The other is an admission ticket without a specific date or time, without a guide, which you purchase today and use whenever you like. If your trip is already planned, the guided tour offers more value for the same price. If it's not yet planned, the open-dated ticket is exactly what you're looking for. This is the comparison we get asked about the most, and the one that is often the hardest to understand from the provider's information.
The other Gaudí masterpiece that you can visit in half a morning
The Crypt of the Colònia Güell is located 23 kilometers from Barcelona and costs 10 euros to visit. It's where Gaudí experimented with the techniques he later used in the Sagrada Família.
Data verified on. Prices, reviews, and ratings: information from Viator, Tiqets, and Civitatis catalogs, accessed on August 25, 2026. Prices listed are for booking through intermediaries; the official price is usually higher when purchased directly at the ticket office. Distances are rounded.