Experience the best of Santander

Santander, the capital of Cantabria, sits on a wide bay on Spain's northern coast, facing the Bay of Biscay. A fire in 1941 burned much of the old centre, which was rebuilt around the cathedral and the seafront gardens of the Paseo de Pereda. The Centro Botín, an arts centre by the architect Renzo Piano, juts over the harbour on pillars, and the Mercado de la Esperanza is the old covered market.

El Sardinero, east of the centre, is a seaside district of belle-époque villas and broad beaches, where the Spanish court spent summers in the early twentieth century. The Magdalena Peninsula holds a palace built in 1912 as a royal summer residence. West of the city lie the prehistoric paintings of Altamira, reproduced in a museum, the medieval village of Santillana del Mar and Gaudí's Capricho at Comillas, and the Picos de Europa rise inland.

Rabas, fried squid rings, and anchovies from Santoña are Santander's classic bar snacks, and cocido montañés, a hearty stew of white beans, cabbage and pork, warms the winter. Sobaos pasiegos, light butter sponge cakes, are baked in the inland valleys. The Cantabrian summer is cooler than the rest of Spain, and rain falls through much of the year.