Spain Guide
Cantabria and Asturias
Santander
Much the largest city in Cantabria, with a population approaching 200,000, SANTANDER is an elegant, refined resort with excellent transport connections. While its setting on the narrow Bahía de Santander is beautiful – from the heart of the city, you can enjoy clear views across the bay to rolling green hills and high mountains that seem to glow at sunset, and superb sandy beaches line much of the shorefront – many of the city centre's finest buildings were destroyed by a fire in 1941.
Santander focuses on two very distinct areas: the old town, a compact grid of streets that stretches along the shoreline of the bay, and abounds in atmospheric bars and restaurants, and the resort district that lines long, sandy El Sardinero beach, facing the open sea. As the crow flies, the two stand a couple of kilometres apart, but the coastal route between them is more than twice as long, as it leads around the wooded headland of La Magdalena.
The first of Santander's beaches, Playa de la Magdalena, lies on the southern side of the headland. A beautiful yellow strand, sheltered by cliffs and flanked by a summer windsurfing school, it is deservedly popular. Around the headland to the north, two smaller and often slightly quieter beaches, Camello and La Concha, precede the main event, El Sardinero, which stretches for two magnificent kilometres, and is itself divided at high tide into two separate sections, Primera to the south and Segunda to the north.
If you find all the city beaches too crowded, catch a taxi-ferry across the bay (departs Puerto Chico every 20min; €4 return) to the long stretches of dunes at Somo – a major surfing destination where you'll find boards to rent and a summer campsite – and Pedreña.
Santander may have a much more bourgeois identity than many of its earthier northern neighbours – and away from the beaches there's not all that much actually to see or do – but it's not a bad place to while away a day or two.
In the summer, the city holds an international university, augmented by a music and cultural festival throughout August (www.festivalsantander.com).