Santander Things to Do

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The Festival Palace is a bulky structure which stands out notoriously in the Santander's skyline. This colossal building was designed by the Navarran architect Sáinz de Oiza and is supposed to resemble a boat. Its massive façade, which faces the bay, combines green cupper plates with stripe of white and pink marble tiles.

The building was mainly conceived to host the shows of the Santander Summer Festival, which were previously held outdoors, at the Plaza Porticada.

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Only the buildings on the first section of Castelar Avenue are of a relevant architectural value.

Among them, the Siboney Building stands out as a good example of the local racionalist architecture with Art Deco decorative elements. It is a 1931 work of José Enrique Marrero Regalado.

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The Paseo de Castelar lines the Puerto Chico, former fishing port of Santander, and was developped as a continuation of the adjacent Paseo de Pereda. The Avenue bears the name of a famous XIX century politician and writer, who was the last president of the First Spanish Republic.

This area was occupied by the local well-heeled families in the early XX century and that explains the quality of the stately buildings that overlook the bay. These buildings are very heterogeneous in style, including a few tall modern buildings towards the promontory of Saint Martin, but the ensemble retains a certain harmony. In addition, the magnificient views, the nice cafés and the broad walkways are still a good reason to take a good stroll here, as the locals like to do.

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Back in the city centre, it is time to meet the sea again, which in Santander is never far away. Strolling down Casimiro Sainz Street, you will reach the "Little Port" or Puerto Chico, as locals call it.

This picturesque small harbor used to be the hub of fishing activities in the past, but it now hosts a marina. The real fishing boats are now harbored in a characterless new district built in the XX century in the Marques de la Hermida area.

However, the Puerto Chico and the adjacent streets have not lost a bit of their maritime flavor. Indeed, some of the most reputable sea-food restaurants in the city are located in the area. Sample some of the local specialities in the classy and somewhat expensive Puerto Restaurant or go for a mariscada (a sea-food platter) in one of the more democratic restaurants on Tetuan Street.

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The climb from El Sardinero to the Hill of Miranda is somewhat strenuous but does not take more than 15 minutes. The Square Alto de Miranda is the departure point of some of the longest roads in Santander, including the Avenue General Davila, which runs parallel to the coast on the crest of Santander's main hill. However, if you want to return to the downtown area, the Avenue Menendez Pelayo is the road to take.

This tree-lined avenue has also some interesting particular villas, including the so-called El Solaruco (main picture), a work of the architect Leonardo Gomez Rucabado inspired in the traditional architecture of the region.

This Regionalist style became fashionable in Santander as a reply to the big foreign influence in the buildings that mushroomed in the city when it became a fashionable and rather cosmopolitan sea resort.

From Menéndez Pelayo, take Casimiro Sainz Street until you reach the old Port of Puerto Chico.

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Before Santander got importance as a tourist resort, the city had flourished thanks to its port sheltered in one of the most scenic bays in Europe. Port activities have been moved out to the city and the area has been converted into a walkers paradise, with magnificient views of the bay and the snow-capped mountains in the background, beautiful gardens and elegant buildings that line the promenade.

When Santander became a fashionable Summer resort in the late XIX century, it witnessed a constructing boom due to the affluent aristocrats, rich emigrants returned from the Americas and bankers who let build their sumptuous villas on the hills that overlook the Sardinero area. Several of them have been substituted by appartment complexes, but there are still quite a few around, which makes of the district a great area to enjoy the regionalist and ecclectic architecture that were fashionable in the turn of the century.

This picture shows the Quinta Labat, an ecclectic building which is now a property of the regional government, located on Infants Avenue.

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The Castros Avenue is one of the main roads in the city. The buildings on the area closer to El Sardinero are mainly residential and later on, lining the Llamas Valley, you will find the Campus of the University of Cantabria. The University buildings are not really very old but some of them have a certain architectural value.