Santander Travel Forum

hi,

im due to go to santander in september with my 2 very dear friends for 2 weeks:)
and would like some info regarding the place ie safety wise, places to see,were to go and things like that, also best hotels? as im tearing my hair out atm looking for a decent one within the price range, as we also have a ferry to get to and from santander from plymouth(and thats another problem as we have to travel to london from were we live to get to plymouth) so any help will be very much appreciated. im also disabled so would need to know if the place is hilly or whatever? many thanks

Why not fly to Santander airport and then hire a car? You could also fly to Bilbao, which is about 1 hour by car away from Santander. Alternatively, get the Portsmouth - Bilbao ferry and drive the hour from Bilbao.

Sorry cannot help much on Santander.

1) the ferry is pretty good so that's a plus

2) the centre of Santander is flat, around the port, the main buildings, bars, etc

3) it seemed pretty safe when I was there

4) I'm not sure there was a lot to see mind, but you can get buses and trains to other places nearby. The tourist office is not open all day, you need to get there before 1pm. There is probably more info on the web about what to see. The views in the bay are truly spectacular - I had better post some pix on my travel pages - give me a few days before you look!

5) As for hotels - I thought the better ones were on the hillside which won't be good if you are disabled. I know the Britt ferry brochure has hotels - I guess you have looked at those - but they also offer discount don't they? I will have a look at my info as I did pick some stuff up last time I was there.

Katepj.

Hotels :I should recommend you Hotel Chiqui that is in front of the beach and the sea . if you want another more expensive you may go to the Hotel Real that is in the top of a hill , with nice views to the bay , but not centric
Santander is a safe city , anyway the normal precautions must be taken
The ferry is quite good and as far as I heard is very comfortable. You also have cheap flies from London with Ryan Air
Santander is a nice town with beaches , port , Palacio de la Magdalena , good restaurants ( fish , seafood, tapas...)and a beautiful bay
It is a hilly town but most of the touristic places are in the flat area
The surroundings are very nice in a short distance , about one hour , you may visit :Santillana del Mar , Altamira Caves , Potes and the European Peaks , Soplao cave , Cabarceno (interesting natural zoo ), some festivals (fiestas ) in the surrounding villages and towns , scape to Bilbao to visit the Guggenheim museum
As you see you have many options , depending on you
You will like

many many thanks to the wonderful replies i have had from members since i posted my santander help:) really nice to see there are such lovely people here, i shall take your advice on everything i have seen here. as for driving i really wish i could, only have had 4 lessons im sorry to say:( but thanks again to you all.have a lovely day
susi

Hello I'm a spanish girl. About safety I must say you that Santander and Spain in general is very very safe so you don't have to worry.

I don't know very much things about santander because I'm from Barcelona and I've never was there but people say that is beautiful.

Let me say that if you go to Santander, you and your friends should go to Bilbao (Bilbo in bask language) and to Sant Sebastián (Donostia in bask language)two amazing cities from the north of Spain, which are inside the Basc country. I think Bilbao is quite near to Santander perhaps 2 hours more or less so you can visit santander and other day take a bus to Bilbao and visit it. And later you can go to Sant Sebastián that it's only 45 minuts more or less from Bilbao. I was in sant sebastian and I must say that it is amazing. So you must visit theyyyy :)

I hope to help you hehe

I'm the same girl who wrote the last post. I've just realize that you are going to stay in santander for 2 weeks so you can visit a lot of things apart of Bilbao and Sant sebastián, you can go to Zarauz near Bilbao too which is a coast village very famous because young people go there to practise surf.

In all cases if you have 2 weeks you have enought time to visit a big part of the north of Spain: Asturias, Bask Country, Cantabria and Galicia. Look into a map to visit the principal places.

The north of Spain is very beautiful, and please don't ask for a paella in the north of spain they have more food than this :). IN the north of Spain they have a delicous food, and plates so ask for them. And you will taste the seafood, very good in these lands specially Galicia with a lot of very good shellfish. Because everybody think that one of the traditional food in spain is paella etc but not. Spain is formed by diferent authonom comunities which are very diferent between each other, with their own culture, traditional food, costums, folklore, tipical dances etc. So don't spect to see flamenco in the north of spain hehe, if you are expecting this of course.

And in spain we have 4 languages; Castellano (spanish), Català (catalan), Euskera (bask language), and Galego (galician language). So if you go to bask country you will be abble to see and hear the bask language which is evry dificult and with not knowned roots.

If you have time you can visit Galicia too near portugal and visit Santiago de Compostela. You can go there by train or by bus and I think by train are not many hours. Galicia have a celtic origin and traditions , so many traditional songs are played with bagpipe, and they have a lot of culture about the witches called Meigas that the tradition say that: "Meigas haberlas haylas" that more or less means that Meigas (Galician withches) exist, yes they exist! ,in a bad translation because is almost impossible to translate this folk sentence. And people in the villages or in some folk party prepare the Queimada that is a traditional strong alcohol drink that people prepare in any folk party or family meeting. While you are preparing this drink you have to recite a spell. This drink is made to distance the bad spirits, and the best time to made it is at night after supper swithcing off the lights.

I will send you some links:

http://go.hrw.com/atlas/span_htm/spain.htm (A mape from spain where you can see the diferent places to situate yourself, you can see santander, bilbao galicia etc)

http://www.turgalicia.es/ (A web side about turism in Galicia, very nice and in english)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queimada ( A very interesting link about the queimada an in english, very interesting)

http://www.santiagoturismo.com/ ( A web side of Santiago de Compostela city in Galicia, in english too)

http://www.euskadi.net/turismo/sit_c.htm ( A web side of bask country, in english too. You are going to be very near from bask country)

http://www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/idioma.htm (A web side of the Guggenhaim musem of Bilbao, one of the most importants modern art museums in europe, and famous for its strange shape)

http://www.bilbao.net/ (A web side about bilbao)
http://www.donostia.org/CAT/Home.nsf/fwbienvenida (Sant Sebastián web side)

http://english.turismodecantabria.com/ (Web side about Cantabria the authonom comunity where santander belongs to).in english

well I hope I had help you Enjoy your visit and visit the links you will tell me! :)

Bye

Hotel Bahía in Santander is close to ferry and nearby trains station and buses station.

Sorry about my earlier post, I did not read that you are disabled. Getting around can be easy through. There are frequent bus services between Bilbao, Santander, and San Sebastian.

Try ALSA, who have a good website at http://www.asla.es and coach service. The coaches are new and non-smoking.

thank you so much everyone for all your information on my trip to santander in september, i must say there are some very nice helpful people in the world and i cant thank you enough for all your tips,links and help you have given me. sorry ive not answered in a while:( my apologies, i come on line when health permits.this answer it for all who have written to me here:) thank you all again,love susi