You can also find out more about While we all know that “costa” is simply the Spanish word for “coast”, for most of us it has a much wider meaning, evoking all sorts of images, both positive and negative. It may be beaches, fun, cold beers and tapas at a chiringuito You can enjoy a drink at a beach bar with your toes in the sand. Perhaps you’re thinking of childhood holidays in a thrillingly huge hotel, where you happily stuffed yourself with ice-cream and chips for a fortnight. Recent memories may be of expensive beach clubs that were over the top. In recent years, you might have been disappointed to find that your favorite resorts in Spain’s costas, either eastern or south, are now too hot.
There has been a lot buzz this year about “la España frescaIt’s not just the Basque Country and Cantabria that are cool in the summer. Madrid and other central Spanish cities are particularly hot in July and August.
The temperatures along the north coast are more similar to Cornwall’s on a sunny summer day. Be warned, you can get some very hot days, as well as a greater chance of rain. I’ve trudged through driving rain on the beach in June but have enjoyed sunny days and wonderful swims into September.
Cantabria’s Costa Trasmiera is one of my favorite parts of Spain. The Costa Trasmiera is a great option for those who want to avoid flying. Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth or Plymouth to Santander, the regional capital, or from Portsmouth to Bilbao, an hour’s drive away.
When you are sailing into the Bay of Santander and look to your left, the city is framed by the beaches. Looking left, you will see a rural landscape rather than an urban one. A long spit of glittering sand, El Puntal, protrudes into the bay, with a green landscape stretching out behind it to the east. This is the Costa Trasmiera, a stretch of about 30 miles (50km) between Santander and the fishing town of Santoña.
A car is really useful to get to different beaches along the coast, but there are buses from Santander to the main places, such as Somo, Noja and Santoña. If you only travel short distances every day in your car, an EV will be no problem.
If you saw El Puntal when you arrived, you can hop on. little ferry The bay is a great place to do this. This is my favorite thing to do when I stay in Santander. I can run into the water and scream as it hits my body within 30 minutes. If you’re used to wallowing in the tepid soup of the Mediterranean in summer, it might come as a bit of a shock.
Back on the sand, a chopped seafood salad and glass of rosé at Chiringuito El Puntal Tricio Always hits the spot. You can reach Somo by walking along the beach. There are many cafes, bars, and places that offer surfing and paddleboarding lessons. Hotel Bemon Playa (doubles from €90 room-only) is in the thick of things if you fancy staying for a few days.
Heading east along the coast, it’s one superb beach after another: Loredo, Langre, Galizano, Antuerta, Cuberris. At the restaurant, you can enjoy a seafood platter or a lobster meal while overlooking the ocean. Hotel Astuy (doubles from €60 room-only) in Isla, where the crustaceans served in the restaurant are kept in seawater pools in caves below the building. The hotel is a good base for exploring the area, but just beyond Isla, right next to Playa de Ris, Camping Playa Joyel (pitches from €19.50) is one of several good campsites on the Costa Trasmiera, with lots of facilities to keep kids happy.
The main holiday town along the coast, Noja is a short distance from the campsite. Practical rather than pretty, for most of the year it is a sleepy place with a population of about 2,500. In summer, however, the number rises to an astounding 80,000-plus, mostly in second homes and holiday apartments – a much higher ratio of tourists and second-home owners to residents than in resorts on the Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol. Families, mainly from the Basque Country and other parts of Spain settle in the resorts for the duration of the school holidays. This can be from late June to the second week of Septembre.
After newsletter promotion
Although there are vestiges in Noja of the village it once was – including the church of San Pedro on the main square and a handful of grand mansions – the streets are lined with apartment blocks, with shops, bars and restaurants at ground level. It may not be the prettiest place in the world, but it offers everything you need for a relaxing vacation without any delusions or attempts to look cool. Here, it doesn’t matter what you wear.
With Playa de Ris on one side of Noja and the equally gorgeous Trengandín stretching away on the other (a path links the two), it’s not hard to see how people while away a summer here with swims, picnics, leisurely walks, long lunches and sunset cocktails. The seafood is excellent but it’s the local cuisine that really stands out. nécoras (velvet Crabs) are especially prized.
Those who can summon the energy to move on from Noja only have to round the El Brusco headland at the end of Trengandín to come upon yet another splendid beach. Berria is surrounded by the Santoña, Victoria and Joyel marshlandsA nature reserve that is a magnet for migratory bird migration from autumn to spring.
The adjacent town of Santoña marks the end of the Costa Trasmiera. The focus is on fisheries, canning and other related industries. This is more interesting than you might think. If you enjoy anchovies. Santoña anchovies are bigger and fleshier than most, with a softer texture and a more delicate flavour, and here they’re expertly filleted and preserved in olive oil. In Spain, these anchovies are considered a delicacy and served straight from the tin in top restaurants and bars. Take a tour around the anchovy museum – really – before ordering some at a bar, along with a plate of sardines and a beer. Then, drink another beer while you eat the whole thing at a table high on the sidewalk. You might find yourself ordering even more anchovies.
Now you should be feeling the Costa Trasmiera’s laid-back vibe. All you have to do, at some point, is make your way back to Santander. It only takes about half an hour by car, but you may be tempted to stop at some of the inland villages along the way. This is not an area to rush around, which – if you’re doing things properly – you will no doubt have gathered by now.
