EGI2025 Welcome to Santander!
Coming to EGI2025? Our local host Isabel Campos is delighted to welcome you and will share some tips in the post below.
If you prefer your trips organised, we’ve got you covered as well:
On Monday and Friday you can book a visit to the Altamira Cave replica and Museum. You can book it as an add-on to your ticket.
On Thursday, the conference organisation offers a complimentary guided walking tour to Santander city centre. Departure at various time after the conference. It’s free, but please indicate your attendance in the Whova app (only accessible for registered participants) so we know who to wait for.
Welcome to Santander!
Let’s start with a warning 😉 . As you may notice, the sun is shining in all the photos in this blog post. That we cannot guarantee. Weather is a key factor in Santander. There is always wind from one direction or another. Therefore weather tends to be very unstable, as in any place on the Atlantic coast. Do not trust too much any prediction, not even the local ones. Do not bother to bring an umbrella because rain usually comes along with wind, and is not very useful. Bringing rather one of those light rain coats, will be more useful. My favourite site is the BBC weather page, they tend to get it right more often than others.
Santander is an ancient human settlement, as it is the north coast of Spain overall. If you are interested in paleolithic paintings in caves, this is the place, and you can find all the info here.
Getting to those places requires a car, the closest (and more famous) one is Altamira, located ~30Km away from the city. Altamira caves cannot be visited for preservation reasons. One can visit a reproduction made recently located 100m from the original cave. Sounds like a cheating approach, nevertheless to me it is quite impressive, and certainly recommend it (you can book it as an excursion).
The origin of the city seems to relate to Portus Victoria, a harbour settlement founded in the days of the Roman empire at the times of Augusto, I a.C. If you are curious about the remainings from the harbour and wall they can be visited in the underground of the Cathedral.
Local historians like to promote the idea that Augusto the Great, in person, came to Cantabria to lead the war to dominate the last tribes of Cantabria, still rebelling against the roman empire. Everyone needs legends. People here also will try to persuade you that it was in Santander where the beach Paddleball was invented. Myself, since I come from Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza), a city truly founded by Augusto the Great, I tend to take all these things with a grain of salt.
Historic Santander
Besides those Roman remains, very little if at all is left from the old Santander following a large fire that burned down the old town in 1941. The fire circumstances make you realise what the Foehn effect can do if you fry chorizos in a portable stove, on a window, during a windy day (no kidding, this is what started the fire).
The result was the almost complete destruction of the historical building area of the city, that is to say, almost the entire old part of the city. Therefore do not look for an old town, you will not find it besides the Cathedral.
The city then initiated an expansion towards the beach area, which is beyond the Palace, as you can observe in the direction of the main beach of the city, El Sardinero. In this area is where our conference dinner will take place, and most of the hotels are located. Also the Institute of Physics of Cantabria is located in this area.
Cabo Mayor
If you are a walker (or a runner) you are in luck in Santander. A promenade along the coast is one of the most relaxing activities if weather permits. The itinerary not to miss is the path to the Lighthouse of Cabo Mayor: this is one of my favourite walks. Starts on the beach, proceeds parallel to the coast. It starts behind the last roundabout of the beach, going upstairs to a pedestrian path (do not follow the road, is more boring) and ends in the lighthouse of Cabo Mayor, after making a full path over the coast line, leaving on the left the Golf course.
There is usually a (small) nice art exhibition at the Lighthouse, which is still operational as such, but has been renovated in the ground floor to serve as a museum. On the way you will pass by the cute beach of Mataleñas. Very cozy and relaxing for a bath if weather permits. Remember water is not as warm as the Mediterraneum, but sometimes early June is bearable (18 C – 20 C max.).
The cliffs of Cabo Mayor deserve a visit on their own. On the side of the lighthouse there is a bar with a terrasse, with a great view over the Atlantic. Lunch there is possible on the basis of tapas and small plates. If you like fish ask for “Rabas”, a local speciality of deep fried calamari. I took that photo with the tables and the ocean on April 28th during the blackout in Spain and Portugal: something one has to do without electric power 🙂
City Center and boat trip to 'El Puntal'
In the city center you can also have a nice walk. Walk from the Palace to the Center along the coast, along the coastline.
From the city center you can take a boat, which stops on the strip of sand called El Puntal, famous for surfers. It is a very nice 20 minute boat trip to El Puntal. This is a very sandy and nice area created by the river Miera deposits when it gets into the see. The boat ride itself is worth it on its own to see the bay from a boat. You have all the info and schedule here.
In June days are very long, one can do many things after the sessions, and it will not get dark until close to 10pm. There are places to eat in El Puntal, very popular among the youth. Too popular perhaps according to the neighbours.
Visit the Centro Botin, art center.
The Ferry to Plymoutn is probably the last remaining of what was an intense commercial traffic with England. A commerce that flourished since the middle age, with Santander being the exit to the sea of Castilla, from where the wool of the castillian sheep was exported.
At less than 100m from where those boats start, and if you enjoy arts, you cannot miss the Centro Botin. The building itself is the work of the famous Italian architect Renzo Piano. The art center belongs to the foundation of the Bank of Santander. You can see across there the historic building of the Bank of Santander, under renovation now though.
The current exhibitions, and that will be displayed during your stay in Santander are (from a personal point of view of course, art is always a matter of taste) enjoyable.
Plaza Cañadío: the place to be for drinks and tapas
The center of night life is Plaza Cañadío.
The photo shows the places in the plaza that are mainly for drinks. The options for dinner around those streets are innumerable. You might like “La Conveniente” , a typical northern-style tapas and small dishes place, with the charm of the early XXth century. Restaurants-like places like La Cañía are also high quality. A nice place for fish lovers is the restaurant La Mulata. Again the options are many, I just recommend here a couple of my top choices.
