I’m not sure what gave me the better buzz. Pulling on my snorkel to find the water off a city beach clear as gin and popping with fish, or paying just €5 for a breakfast of tortilla, bread, coffee and fresh orange juice shortly after.
aybe it was the salty sardines from a charcoal grill in Barrio Pesquero, or pushing through a swarm of punters to pick out pintxos from the bar counters of Casa Lita.
It could have been the cool, statement architecture of Renzo Piano’s Centro Botín, an art gallery and cultural centre that hangs over the sea in an attempt to echo Bilbao’s ‘Guggenheim Effect’. Or a spread of city beaches that beats even San Sebastián.
Welcome to Santander. Until a few weeks ago, this name brought to mind for me a banking colossus more than the capital of Cantabria. Now, that’s changed.
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Tapas at Casa Lita, santander
Set between Bilbao and Gijón on Spain’s north coast, Santander’s built fabric isn’t especially beautiful, due to a devastating fire in 1941, but its necklace of beaches — from the wavy Playa del Sardinero to swimming at Playa de los Bikinis or off-radar Playa de Mataleñas — is world class.
Throw in decent shopping, the salty bustle of Mercado de la Esperanza’s fish stalls, an atmospheric cathedral and food, glorious food (from tapas at La Gloria to churros at Chocolatería Áliva or lively bars on Plaza Canadio), and we were made.
Occasional pilgrims also signal its place on the Camino del Norte. I wish we’d discovered Santander before.
‘Second cities’ are not news to savvy travellers, offering, as they do, fewer crowds, lower costs and locals less jaded by tourism.
Before the pandemic, they were a way to avoid the over-tourism threatening places like Barcelona and Venice. But this summer, they feel even smarter. Hotel prices are rising in big cities seeing the return of concerts and events, and major airports are fraught with delays and luggage issues. Smaller cities make sense.
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Playa de Matealeñas in Santander
Ryanair flies to Santander twice weekly, with basic fares from €50-€200 or so each-way in August, dropping as low as €21.99 once schools return. Flying out of Dublin, we used carry-on to avoid bag-drop lines, and the journey went as well as could be expected. But the airport in Santander was a souvenir-sized dream. A taxi (no queue) to our city-centre Airbnb took 15 minutes. On the way home, we walked from door to gate in less than 10 minutes.
The city itself is roughly the size of Cork, with a brilliant bus network costing 65c-€1.30 a trip. I noticed few English-speaking tourists or tatty shops, and though it’s popular with Spanish visitors, prices were pleasingly low. The most I paid for a glass of wine was €2. Our most expensive dinner, a spread of fresh fish, paella, Cantabrian anchovies (a delicious but pricey local delicacy), terrace seats, drinks and tip came to €115 for a family of four.
Downsides? Beyond those brilliant beaches, there’s simply not as much to do as in bigger cities. The weather isn’t as sun-sure in this part of Spain, and active travellers may feel like they have “done” Santander in a few nights.
But for me, this second city begs a second visit.
