A route with the best things to see in Cantabria in 4 days

Do you want to know what to see in Cantabria in 4 days? Well, here we are going to offer you a four-day tour in which you will get to know the main things you can visit in this wonderful region of northern Spain.

Of course, 4 days to visit Cantabria are few and many more are necessary, but in them you will be able to enjoy practically all the essential places that you can visit. Of course, with more days you will also be able to visit more corners or make the visits more calmly, because you will have to go quite fast.

To make this 4-day trip through Cantabria, we recommend you stay in the center of the region, for example in Santillana del Mar or Santander, since we will move throughout Cantabria and thus the journeys will be shorter.

What to see in Cantabria in four days

First day in Cantabria

To do this 4-day tour of Cantabria, we recommend you make the most of the time available, so you should get up quite early. An option to not miss anything is to do this free tour of Santander.

We are going to dedicate the first day to Santander, the capital, where there is much to see and little time.

The city of Santander is divided into two very different areas, the beach area and the historic center area, where the Town Hall Square and Santander Cathedral are located, the first places we will visit and where we will start walking.

Nearby are the Jardines de Pereda, one of the most beautiful places in Santander, surrounded by impressive buildings and very interesting squares, such as Plaza Porticada and Plaza del Pombo. We recommend getting lost in these streets and enjoying the most historic area of ​​the city.

From there we can walk to the Magdalena Peninsula, our next destination, where the Royal Palace is located, current headquarters of the Menéndez Pelayo University and the beach areas begin, among which we must highlight Sardinero Beach, although nearby there are other smaller ones also very interesting. One option to get to know the area is to take this guided tour of the Magdalena Peninsula.

The tour of Santander ends at the Parque del Piquio, one of the most emblematic parks in the city, and the Casino building, one of the best known and most beautiful in the city.

After visiting Santander, we recommend moving to Santillana del Mar, located not too far away. It is one of the Cantabrian towns that we can visit in 4 days. Essential, without a doubt.

Touring the historic center of Santillana del Mar will transport you to another era thanks to its Plaza Mayor, its cobbled streets and especially the Collegiate Church of Santa Juliana, surrounded by imposing palaces.

In the town is the Altamira Museum, another essential visit in Cantabria. This day will no longer give you time, so we can leave your visit for another of the 4 days in Cantabria. If you stay in this town you can visit it first thing in the morning before doing the tour we suggest.

If you have little time you can do this excursion to Santillana del Mar that includes a visit to the Altamira Museum.

What to visit in Cantabria on the second day

On the second day in Cantabria we are going to visit the western towns of the region. If you organize yourself well, you will have time to visit them all.

The first stop will be in Comillas, where we will also spend more time than in the others because it has a lot to see and is one of the most interesting towns.

The walk through Comillas can begin in the Plaza de la Constitución and its surroundings before visiting its spectacular modernist monuments such as the Panteón de los Sobrellano Chapel, the Palacio de Sobrellano and the Capricho de Gaudí. The latter is a must see.

In Comillas, don’t miss either its modernist cemetery and the Pontifical University. From Santander you can make this excursion to Comillas in which you can visit the best of the town.

After visiting Comillas we will go to San Vicente de la Barquera through the Oyambre Natural Park while we enjoy the impressive landscapes that it offers us before reaching the other of the western towns of Cantabria.

In San Vicente de la Barquera we can enjoy monuments and buildings such as the Church of Santa María de los Ángeles, the Puente de la Maza or the Castillo del Rey, which you will visit immersed in the smell of seafood that you can enjoy in few other places.

The third town that we must visit on this second day is in the opposite direction but we have left it for last in case you do not have time to visit it since we consider that Comillas and San Vicente de la Barquera are essential.

We are talking about Suances, a very nice place with high level beaches where you can enjoy a great sunset over the Cantabrian Sea.

To facilitate your visits on this second day, we recommend taking the excursion to the western coast of Cantabria, which will take you to the most important places.

What to see on the third day in Cantabria

We have reached the halfway point of our trip to Cantabria and we still have a lot to visit.

We are going to dedicate this third day to the oriental villas. And the first one that we are going to visit is the one furthest from Santander and then we will get closer.

We are talking about Castro Urdiales, which you could also visit on your outward or return trip if you go to Cantabria from Bilbao. So you could take advantage of this third day to other places that we tell you at the end.

Castro Urdiales is one of the most beautiful seaside towns in Spain thanks to the group formed by the Old Bridge, the Castle of Santa Ana and the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption.

After visiting the historic center of Castro Urdiales, we will go to Laredo and Santoña, located opposite each other, but very different from each other, and which will also surprise you. Do not miss the smell of anchovy that is breathed in the Santoña marshes.

Once you know these 3 villas, you can visit some of the most beautiful beaches in Cantabria, such as Playa de Langre. We can end the day at Playa de Somo, located in front of Santander and from, in addition to an unforgettable sunset, you can have a beautiful view of the Magdalena Peninsula.

If you have been lucky enough to visit Castro Urdiales on your trip to or from Cantabria, this day you will have more time to spare and you could dedicate it to getting to know Isla, Noja and Ajo or even visit the city of Santander in more depth if the visit of the first day you knew little.

What to do on the fourth day in Cantabria

We have left for the last what is possibly the most beautiful area of ​​Cantabria and that will surely surprise you. We have dedicated the previous days to the sea but today we are going to dedicate it to the mountains.

The destinations are the Picos de Europa on its Cantabrian side and the Liébana region. To get to them we will go along the coast to Unquera and there we will take a road that will take you through the Hermida Gorge through an amazing landscape that will practically leave you speechless.

Along the way, don’t miss the Church of Santa María de Lebeña, one of the best examples of pre-Romanesque architecture in Cantabria. We will leave Potes aside to enter the Picos de Europa and reach Fuente Dé.

In Fuente Dé you have the impressive cable car that bridges the 753-meter drop between the Parador and the Mirador de El Cable, from where you have great views. From there start different routes through the Picos de Europa. We recommend you to walk a little, although not to do a very long route so as not to run out of time to do the rest of the route.

After descending again we will go to two very interesting places. First to the town of Mogrovejo, one of the most beautiful in the Liébana region and the Monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana, a place of pilgrimage where we find the largest piece of the Lignum Crucis, the cross on which he died Jesus Christ.

From there we will finally move to Potes, the great jewel of the area dominated by the Torre del Infantado and the old town with its cobbled streets, its mansions and, above all, its emblematic bridges that cross the Quiviesa River.

Without a doubt, Potes is a place that will remain in your memory forever thanks to its beauty and charm. And you also have this guided tour of Potes that will surprise you.

This is how our 4 days in Cantabria end. It has not given us time to see everything that this region offers us, but we have known the fundamentals.

You can find more information on the official Cantabria tourism page.