Where should we book to stay for a lovely short break, flying to Santander and hiring a car?

[Penelopeeee]

I’ve booked flights but not accommodation yet, which could be a house, apartment or hotel, will be me and my boys and we’d like somewhere with Spanish atmosphere, good food, bars and surf beaches. Any recommendations of where might be lovely?

We've got family who live in that neck of the woods. Their nearest town is Castro Urdiales which I do like, but for the beach I would say Laredo. There are lots of nice little resorts along the northern coast though. Further west I like San Vicente de la Barquera, Comillas, Llanes and Ribadesella. Santillana del Mar is worth a day trip (or maybe stay overnight at the Parador - one of my favourite places) and the scenery is spectacular further inland too. It's a beautiful region, but just remember it is called Green Spain for a reason!

Santander itself has lots of lovely big beaches. We stayed around the villages already mentioned, they were pretty but indeed very Spanish! I'm not sure about the surfing. On the last day we drove around Playa de los Locos, there were several beaches which might be surf friendly.

We stayed in Suances - amazing beaches. We also loved visiting Santillana del Mar . It was quite humid when we visited (August).

This is really helpful, thank you, lots to look at now.

What do you mean about being called Green Spain for a reason? Intrigued!

Gijon is lovely

It rains! Not all the time obviously, but I'd say the climate is more like Cornwall than the Costa del Sol. People are sometimes disappointed because they expect to be guaranteed wall to wall sunshine on a Spanish holiday. It can be - we've been when it has been absolutely baking- but there is more rainfall than most other regions of Spain and we've had visits when the weather has been distinctly damp. But the upside of that is that the landscape is a lot more lush than a lot of the hotter areas of Spain.

Oh I see 🤣 ☔️