Palacio de la Magdalena

If you are in Santander, you must visit this place. Besides the beautiful park and the emblematic buildings, the view is absolutely breathtaking. As a recommendation, if you enjoy walking, don’t take the little train to reach the palace. The distances presented by the staff who guide you are exaggerated — the walking times are much shorter.

A true gem in Santander! The palace is an architectural marvel with a fascinating history—it served as the summer residence of King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenie. The grounds are stunning, perfect for a peaceful walk, picnic, or just enjoying the views. There’s also a small zoo and playground, great for kids. We walked there (about 35 minutes from the city center), but there’s also a tourist train available. Access to the gardens is free, and guided tours of the palace interior are available and absolutely worth it. Facilities are clean, and there’s a nice café on-site. A must-visit for anyone coming to Santander—beautiful, historic, and family-friendly!”

I enjoyed going to see it but I didn't want to visit inside the palace. I found the outside space very pleasant to walk around and the exterior of the palace is really very beautiful and for those who saw the series Grand Hotel it is really cool to go there.

Situated on the western peninsula of the bay, this former palace is the centre piece of a beautiful park with an excellent circular walk, lovely beach, great viewing points towards the bay and out to sea.

Really nice walk. It's on a small peninsula from which you have some fantastic views. Beautiful trees and a nice park as well to relax or have a stroll, away from the crowded innercity. There is also a small zoo in the area where we saw some seals.

Super pretty park with picknick area, toilet and view point, you can also find seals 🦭on the left side of the park, they got fresh sea water and seems happy but one of areas looked too small for 3 of them.

Breathtaking palace next to the sea. Leave your phone aside and enjoy it in silence for a few minutes.

Nice instagram-able view, met nice people. The staffs were very helpful and understood English well

I loved this Palace. The architecture, the setting by the water and rocks, the views of the islands, beaches and lighthouses, the forest around it, all made it very beautiful and serene. The Real Palacio de la Magdalena is the most emblematic building in Santander, as important for its present as for its past as the summer residence of Kings Alfonso XIII and Victoria Eugenia. It was built in the early 1900s as a royal residence, but today it has multipurpose uses.....university campus, event space, conference hall and more...but still the royal bedrooms are open to be used by the King of Spain whenever he wishes. Those bedrooms are part of the Royal heritage. The guided tour took about an hour and I got to see many of the palace rooms and they were magnificent. The cost was about 6 euros and you can buy online or at the door. They sometimes have to cancel or reschedule guided visits depending on event happening at the Palace, like conferences, movie shootings, diplomatic visits, etc.

The Spanish royal family apparently still uses this palace and so would I! Stunning grounds, views of the ocean, a small zoo and the palace itself is incredible. We spent a really nice afternoon walking the grounds and taking in the sights. It has better views than the Buckingham palace and I would choose this over that...if I was given the choice. ;-)

We didn't get to visit the interior of the palace as there were events on for the world sailing championships- I think the king are there that night. However the grounds make for a lovely stroll with great views across both bays and beaches in Santander. We walked from the centre of Santander towards sardinero along the seafront and we really enjoyed the views and the walk.

The palace is something that the locals are proud of. For me... well, it was a lot of nothing as far as I was concerned. We went on the tour - me and a few Spanish/local friends. The tour was only in English but I did get the gist of it and what I didn't, my friends explained. Well, the guide was pretty boring and mundane as they told me. Also, there wasn't much to see. We went into a couple rooms downstairs and also upstairs. Most of the rooms that we did see were just conference rooms. Nothing special. I've been in better conference rooms. The king, who was given the palace by the people of Santander (well, not him but his grandfather or some older king), only comes to use it maybe one weekend a year. Waste of time/money. It is more impressive from the outside and of course being on the ocean, is in a great location.