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Santander Travel Guide, Spain

Santander, Travel guide – Location

Santander is located on the northern shores of Spain overlooking the beautiful Cantabrian Sea and is the capital city of the Cantabrian region. It is close to cities like Pamplona and Bilbao. In the following paragraphs one can find useful Santander travel guide information.

Santander, Travel guide – Geography

The city is set on the shores of the Cantabrian Sea, in a picturesque bay, so the topography is rather plain with several areas where the beaches are neighbored by tall cliffs and an average elevation of 108m. A unique natural attraction in the area is the Devil’s Bridge, a former limestone canal eroded by the waters, taking the shape of a bridge and offering a breathtaking landscape over the local beaches.

Climate in Santander is mild without any extremes through the year. Summers are warm with little rainfalls, perfect for visiting the peninsula, and winters sometimes chilly with higher humidity. Most of the tourists come here in summer in order to get the most of the balmy weather, clear skies and cool waters but also to visit the surroundings abounding in vegetation and to admire the wonderful scenery over the bay and the forest.

Santander, Travel guide – Flora and Fauna

Gorgeous green areas spread throughout the city are yet another captivating aspect of Santander. There are over thirty parks and public gardens here, populated by a multitude of tree and plant species and a beautiful small zoo where tourists can admire sea lions, penguins, polar bears, lions and more. Another special place to admire the local flora and fauna is the La Magdalena peninsula, also housing a magnificent royal palace, the former summer residence of Alfonso the eighth. About 250.000 square meters of magnificent forests cover the peninsula and enchant with their different varieties of pines like the marine pines, Alep pine, and other species like the Montpellier maple, Italian alders, elms, ash, cypress, tamarisks and acacias.

Some of the most beautiful parks created by famous landscape architects are the Matalenas Park, Pereda Gardens, Jado Park, Altamira Park and others.

Santander, Travel guide – Transport

Santander is an easy reachable holiday destination, tourists having the opportunity to get here by air, railroad or road. The nearest airport is in Carnago at only five km distance form the city and reachable from Santander by bus. If you arrive from inland then you can come here by train, bus or car, Spanish people being very fond of traveling by road due to the perfect road infrastructure in Spain connecting every single city with the rest of the country. The ferry is another popular option here connecting the city with other places in coastal Spain and even Great Britain.

Within the city tourists can travel by bus or taxi which offers great services round the clock.

Santander, Travel guide – Population and Economy

Population in Santander grew steadily throughout the twentieth century from 54.000 people in the nineteen’s to about 184.000 inhabitants today. This increase was due to the continuous development of the city’s economy and industry attracting in this way numerous people from the nearby rural areas. Nowadays the tendency is for the population number in the city to stagnate because people are tempted to relocate in the metropolitan areas of the city with lower construction costs, fewer industrialization and larger green areas, perfect for residential buildings.

Santander is a city with an economy dominated by commerce and services, activities concentrated within the city with a growing tendency in the last years for the metropolitan areas.

Santander, Travel guide – Cuisine

Because Santander is a coastal city, its traditional cuisine includes the multitude and variety of seafood and fish species, creating a unique and full of flavor mixture so appreciated by locals and tourists. The main ingredients are the different species of fish like the anchovy, tuna, sardines and more as well as crabs, lobsters, sea urchins, scallops, mussels and snails.

Desserts are highly appreciated here, the most popular being the corbatas de Unqueta, pantortillas de Reinosa and sacristanes de Lierganes. Rice pudding and other sweet treats based on milk are also a tradition, sometimes accompanies by a flavored white local glass of wine.