Delightfully nestled on the northern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, tiny Cantabria offers a completely different view of Spain. Still largely unknown outside the country - here, Spanish tourists outnumber foreigners 4 to 1 - this delightful verdant region boasts a staggering variety of attractions for a relatively small area.
San Vicente de la Barquera, against the backdrop of the snow-capped peaks of the Picos de Europa © Jon Chica / Shutterstock
Hidden in the lush landscapes of Cantabria are some of the most extraordinary prehistoric cave paintings in the world, dozens of magnificent and little-visited beaches, and one of the continent's most spectacular and little-known mountain ranges, the Picos de Europa. At the centre of all this is Santander, the capital of Cantabria.
The Centro Botín is the new cultural hub of Santander © saiko3p / Shutterstock
Santander: a capital city reborn
With its international airport and direct ferry service from England and Ireland, Santander is a perfect starting point. The lively capital of Cantabria has an unprecedented and enthusiastic atmosphere, thanks to its recently renovated waterfront. The busy highway that separated its inhabitants from the sea now passes underground, allowing the leafy Jardines de Pereda to expand and create a welcoming green corridor between the city and the bay. The star of the new urban profile is the futuristic Centro Botín, a cultural space designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano.
Since its inauguration in summer 2017, Centro Botín has quickly become Santander's new focal point and the most popular meeting place for its inhabitants. Cantilevering over the bay of Santander, with its maze of terraces and elevated walkways, this building offers panoramic views of the sea and the city skyline. In the vast square below, teenagers on skateboards mingle with grandmothers sipping tea, while families take a stroll or a ride on the merry-go-round. The top two floors of Centro Botín host cutting-edge contemporary art exhibitions, and the café downstairs serves everything from morning coffee to gourmet lunches under the direction of Michelin-starred chef Jesús Sánchez.
Apart from these new attractions, Santander is an enchanting place with numerous other sites of interest that will keep you busy for a day or two. A short walk inland reveals bustling lanes with their delightful pintxos bars and nightclubs, while a stroll around the bay leads to the verdant Peninsula de la Magdalena and Playa del Sardinero, the city's summer playground. Here it is easy to conjure up visions of Santander's heyday in the early 20th century in the sumptuous Palacio de la Magdalena, a summer retreat built for King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenia, and the belle époque-style Gran Casino, which provides an evocative backdrop to today's beach holiday culture.
Playa de Oyambre, surrounded by gentle green hills © Roel Slootweg / Shutterstock
Bays, cliffs and magnificent coastal views
If the high-rise expanses of Spain's southern resorts don't excite you, the wild and sparsely populated beaches of Cantabria are the perfect antidote. The region's beautiful coastline, which stretches 150 km between hidden bays bordered by emerald promontories, offers a vision of Spanish beach life more suited to nature lovers than partygoers. Many of Cantabria's most beautiful beaches are only accessible on foot, which keeps the crowds away and enhances immersion in nature. Surfers, hikers and pilgrims along the Camino del Norte - a less-travelled route to Santiago de Compostela - are all enthusiastic about the picturesque scenery.
In eastern Cantabria, between Laredo and Castro Urdiales, a beautiful coastal promenade descends past grazing sheep and rocky outcrops to Playa de Sonabia, hidden in a wave-carved cove at the foot of a formidable headland; climb over the beach to view the panorama through the Ojos de Diablo, a pair of natural rock arches that overlook the shoreline. Heading back towards Santander, the Playas de Langre are another must-see in Cantabria: two long crescents of sand surrounded by layered cliffs and accessible by stairs from the car park above. Further west, close to the Asturian border, another series of pristine beaches stretch for kilometres between Comillas and San Vicente de la Barquera. Everyone, from bathers to dog walkers, comes here to enjoy the vast and seemingly endless expanses of fine sand - Playa de Oyambre, Playa de Gerra, Playa de Merón, Playa El Rosal - set against a backdrop of rolling green hills, with magnificent views of the snow-capped Picos de Europa in the distance.
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Trekking in the Picos de Europa © Miguel Castans Monteagudo / Shutterstock
The centenary celebrations of Spain's first national park
Cantabria's natural charm does not end with the sea. In the south-western corner of the region, only 15 km from the Atlantic as the crow flies, the extraordinary Picos de Europa rise suddenly from the ocean and exceed 2,500 metres. These jagged limestone peaks - which owe their name to the fact that they are the first visible signs of the continent - once served as lighthouses for sailors returning home. Today, they attract outdoor enthusiasts thanks to some of Spain's most striking landscapes: high-altitude lakes, alpine pastures dotted with cows and deep gorges.
You don't have to be an experienced climber to enjoy the park's mountains at their best. Just follow the course of the Río Deva for an hour from the coast to the hinterland, winding its way up between the sheer walls of the Desfiladero de la Hermida to Fuente Dé, where the road ends in a magnificent glacial cirque. From here, a vertiginous four-minute cable car ride leads to an altitude of 1,823 metres, where the imposing cliffs of the Picos provide the backdrop for numerous hikes, such as the beautiful hike, mostly downhill, that rejoins the GR-203 route between the impervious stone villages of Sotres and Espinama. In July 1918, King Alfonso XIII cut the ribbon of Spain's first national park in this area, and the summer of 2018 includes numerous events to celebrate this centenary, offering another good reason - besides the sublime beauty of the mountains - to visit the region.
Reproduction of the Altamira cave paintings © EQRoy / Shutterstock
Close encounter with Cantabrian rock art
The rugged limestone landscape of Cantabria has been a refuge for Palaeolithic peoples for millennia, who have left behind some of the most extraordinary prehistoric art in the world. As many as ten caves in Cantabria have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site for their vivid images of aurochs (an extinct bovine species), deer, bison, horses and other animals, mixed with handprints and geometric symbols, such as the red discs painted 40,000 years ago in the Cueva de El Castillo - considered by most scholars to be the oldest cave paintings in Europe.
Cantabria is notable both for the diversity of its prehistoric sites and for their intimate charm. Several of the region's caves - such as the splendid Cueva de Covalanas - limit the number of visitors to eight or less. In such a small group, in the light of lanterns, being confronted with the image of a fleeing deer traced 20,000 years ago with red pigment by the fingers of an unknown ancient hand is a truly moving experience. Even at the world-famous Altamira, public visits are normally limited to the extraordinary reproduction of the paintings called Neocueva, and only five lucky visitors drawn every Friday are allowed to enter the original cave. However, regardless of whether one sees the original or the copy, the representations of animals in the Altamira cave, with their vivid hues, arched backs and bent legs that follow the natural contours of the cave ceiling, are one of Cantabria's unforgettable experiences.
Gaudí's fantastic Capricho in Comillas © KarSol / Getty Images
Rock-hewn churches, Gaudí gardens and other treasures of Cantabria
The large number of other attractions in Cantabria could tempt you to spend your entire holiday here. Two easy day-trip destinations from Santander are the medieval Santillana del Mar, with its cobbled lanes and 12th-century Romanesque monastery, and Comillas, a riot of eclectic architecture that includes the neo-Gothic Palacio de Sobrellano and Gaudí's whimsical Capricho, a turreted building from around 1880, clad in ceramic tiles with sunflower motifs and surrounded by beautiful gardens.
If you have a means of transport, it is worth exploring the region further, and in a couple of hours you can reach the wonderfully remote hinterland of Cantabria. Follow the course of the Ebro river from its source, passing a series of pre-Romanesque churches carved out of the local sandstone at Santa María de Valverde, Arroyuelos and Campo de Ebro; wander through isolated mountain villages such as Tudanca and Bárcena Mayor; or get away from it all at country inns such as La Casa del Puente, a restored mansion overlooking the tumultuous Río Gándara.
