Tourists guide to Cantabria

The largest city and capital of Cantabria is Santander. This city and its Magdalena Palace was the one-time summer getaway of the Spanish royals, although today it might be better known as the hometown of Banco Santander, one of the world's largest banking houses. Santander is a popular resort destination for Spanish and foreign tourists alike, due to its mild climate and Cantabrian Sea beaches, such as Playa del Sardinero or Playa de la Magdalena.

However, if what you desire is a quiet beach getaway, far from the nightlife and bustle of a Spanish city, then Castro Urdiales is the place to go. Founded by the Romans, it remains very much a sleepy fishing village for most of the year. Blessed with two beaches, the town is the sort of place that can be thoroughly explored in a single day. Excepting the peak European vacation month of August, it remains a relaxed and relatively uncrowded beach spot.

Cantabria best displays its historical legacy in Santillana del Mar, with its intact medieval core. Its churches, towers, crenelations and windy, narrow streets display what life in the Middle Ages was like in a way that few other places in modern Europe can. All a visitor needs to do is to imagine the tourist shops out of existence and a 15th century world immediately comes into existence. Of particularly (or perhaps peculiarly) morbid interest is the Museo de la Inquisición el Solar, which has an extensive collection of torture implements on display, including examples that were favourites of the infamous Spanish Inquisition.

Cantabrian cuisine offers an unusual mix of some of the best of Spanish seafood with a range of semi-Celtic, Highland dishes. For example, on the one hand there is cachón en su tinta (cuttlefish served in its own ink), as well as a range of excellent grilled sea and freshwater fish. On the other, there the "Mountain Stew" of beans and collard greens, the spicy Bejes-Tresviso cheese, or the outstanding beef which is so good as to have earned its own Protected Geographic Denomination from the European Union. Wherever you see it, "the Meats of Cantabria" spell out some prime beef steaks and roasts, and what better place to sample them than in the land of their origin?

Cantabria's airport is at Santander, which is serviced by flights from Ryan Air and Iberia. However, British tourists have the interesting option of turning back the clock and arriving in Santander's port by sea ferry. The other travel alternatives for reaching this northwestern Spanish destination are by train or by renting a car.