Santander Travel Guide

The capital and largest city of the province of Cantabria is Santander. Located on Spain’s coast, Santander has a handful of beaches. Santander is relatively small so the best modes for transportation are walking, bicycle, bus or taxi.  

If you chose to walk, you can cover the distance of the full city in about two hours. You can spend the day and cover many of the attractions while enjoying a nice walk. If you should tire of the pace of walking, the city offers free bike rentals in a number of locations around Santander. The bicycles can be rented for the day.

The Santander Tourist Office can provide you with guide that has a selection of different walking tours that can provide you with enough entertainment to get you through one to two days.  

For the little less adventurous, you can take a public bus for a reasonable rate. Buses can take you to the main beaches and outlying areas of the city. They will go to the main areas of interest. Taxis, on the other hand, can take you anywhere without having to do a lot of walking.

There are sights that will delight a range of travelers, from beach lovers to museum-fiends. Santander has the Prehistoric and Archaeological Museum of Cantabria and the Maritime Museum of Cantabria. The beaches include Camel Beach, Sardinero Beach, Matalenas Beach and Magdalena Beach. For the more adventurous, you can also include the Magdalena Peninsula, Magdalena Palace, Cathedral, Lighthouse at Cabo Mayor and the Devil’s Bridge.

Being on the coast of Spain, you can not only enjoy the beaches but you can take a boat tour or learn how to sail.

If you have the time, there are numerous “little” places that you can explore. These places are not directly in the city and you would probably need to take public transportation to get to them. These include caves, stone villages, Gothic churches, light houses, Medieval churches, quaint rural areas where you take a taste stimulating tour of different foods and desserts.

Your choice for food allows for just as much adventure as the sights. You can have old standbys of hamburgers and fries or you can delight your senses with Indian or Japanese cuisine. Whatever you do, don’t miss out on trying Santander’s ice cream.

You have a choice of hotels depending on if you want to be in the center of the city or near the beach.

Santander may be small but it is full of surprises.