Still an important Spanish port, Santander has for years encouraged visitors to turn their attentions away from its industrial side and towards its series of superb beaches. These gird the barrio of Sardinero, which became a genteel and exclusive resort for the summering upper classes from the mid-19th century on. An earthier lifestyle can be found around the old centre, which has an excellent collection of restaurants and bars, where old wine bodegas have been converted into some of Northern Spain’s best tapas venues. Santander’s ferry link to Britain makes it many visitors’ first point of entry into Spain; it’s a relaxing and pleasant introduction to the country, which pleases more for its ambience and seaside than any cultural highlights.
Inland Cantabria is still very rural; mulecarts and cow traffic jams are still a common sight once off the main roads. The main road routes forge south to Palencia and Burgos respectively through attractive countryside. The principal towns in the area, Torrelavega and Reinosa, are both depressing and dull industrial centres, but there are enough small attractions to make a trip in the area interesting.
The eastern Cantabrian coast is a fairly uncomplicated place, with decent beaches and a sprinkling of resorts and fishing towns that attract many summer visitors from Madrid and the Basque lands. The nicest place by far is Castro Urdiales, while the large beach town of Laredo offers a great stretch of sand, pretty centre, watersports and good sunny season nightlife. Smaller villages like Escalante offer an inviting slice of rural Cantabria, but other sections of the coast between Santander and Laredo are blighted by ugly development.
As the Reconquista progressed and the Moors were driven southwards, the north coast became increasingly important as an export point for Castilian produce from the expanding interior. The northern ports joined together in 1296 to form the Hermandad de las Marismas, a trading union that included Santander and nearby Laredo along with La Coruña and San Sebastián. Although Laredo was a more important port for much of Spain’s Imperial period, Britain’s Charles I picked Santander to sail home from after his incredible jaunt through France to Madrid in 1623 .
Santander’s major growth period as a port came in the 19th century; this was also the time that it achieved fashionable status as a resort, which it has retained. Despite the aristocratic feel of parts of the town, Santander was firmly in the Republican camp during the Civil War but finally fell in August 1937. Much of the town centre was destroyed in a fire in 1941, which originated in the Archbishop’s palace. The Franco years didn’t treat Santander too badly, though. So much so that a statue of the caudillo himself on horseback sat outside the town hall right until the last days of 2008, when he finally rode off into the sunset, considered to be a potential embarrassment to Santander’s bid to be a 2016 Capital of Culture. The fascist street names remain in place, though.
August is the best time to visit Santander, with the International Festival in full swing and superb weather guaranteed. The downside is the number of sunseekers, and the difficulty of finding accommodation, which increases in price. The sea is pretty chilly, so if you’re not here to swim, April and May should offer decent warm weather and not too much rain; apart from Easter week, the accommodation is a bargain outside the summer months.
Santander is long and thin, with its beaches a good couple of kilometres from its old centre. Fortunately, buses are very frequent, with nearly all lines plying the waterside. Taxis are fairly prevalent too; a fare from Sardinero to the centre won’t cost much more than €4-5.
Santander is connected by bus and train with the rest of Northern Spain, and by plane domestically with Madrid and Barcelona, and internationally by Ryanair with London Stansted and Dublin among other European airports. It’s linked by ferry from the centre of town to Plymouth and Portsmouth, operated by Brittany Ferries.
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