Words by Sara Darling
When I headed to Santander, I expected salt air and seafood, I didn’t expect an explosive culinary scene and some great artscapes.
Sitting demurely on the Cantabrian Sea, situated between the regions of Asturias and the Basque Country, it has never been regarded as a showstopping province. At first glance, it’s a maritime city – more elemental than ornamental, until you set eyes on the Centro Botin, which was unveiled to mixed reviews in 2017.
Designed by Renzo Piano, the architect behind Centre Pompidou, The Whitney, The Shard and The New York Times Building, the Pritzker Prize-winner has reclaimed an area that was formerly used for ferry parking. The result? A space-age white-sailed ship.
This cultural nexus which consists of art spaces and an innovation lab hosts rotating exhibits on everything from Cantabrian prehistoric art to global soundscapes, drawing 500,000 visitors annually – becoming Santander’s bid to rival Bilbao’s Guggenheim as a northern art hub. Covered in 270,000 ceramic discs that reflect the colours of the sea and sky, visitors can also enjoy rooftop views and an award-winning restaurant.
The Centro Botin is a cultural hub on Santander’s seafront and draws 500,000 visitors a year
Elsewhere, the city demonstrates a design-conscious awakening, with the stupendous, early 20th-century Palacio de la Magdalena. Not only the Spanish royal family summer retreat, this ravishing architectural masterpiece (and gardens) that overlook the vast peninsula like a stern English manor, has recently opened its doors for overnight stays. Expect lots of sumptuous velvet, dark oak, and original artefacts; if a night at the palace isn’t on the cards, book in for a guided tour of its opulent halls and learn about Santander’s aristocratic past from a native.
History buffs gravitate to the Catedral de Santander, its Gothic crypt a pilgrimage stop on the Camino del Norte, while the Museo Marítimo del Cantábrico evokes the region’s seafaring saga through interactive ship models and whale skeletons. Yet, Santander’s scene pulses with contemporary energy: the Festival Internacional de Santander, running since 1953, floods July and August with orchestral swells, flamenco flares, and indie theatre under starlit skies, while Barrio Pesquero – the old fishermen’s quarter – vibrates with murals and local gigs. Exceedingly walkable, you can wander the narrow lanes leading down to the port and you’ll notice an influx of fishermen and note the bronze ‘raqueros’ statues dotting the Paseo de Pereda, which honour the coin-diving urchins of yore.
History buffs gravitate to the Catedral de Santander which dates back to the 13th century. Image credit: Bigstock/milosk50
Seafood, of course, is the city’s heartbeat. The bay provides anchovies from nearby Santoña – so delicate they almost dissolve on the tongue, spider crab pulled from cold waters at dawn, clams cooked simply with garlic and white wine that taste like the very definition of coastal Spain.
This is also noticeable in the Mercado de la Esperanza, Santander’s 19th-century iron and glass market, where the city’s culinary story bursts into life each morning. Chefs peruse rows of pristine fish laid out like jewellery: monkfish that looks like it is carved from marble and anchovies shining silver. I watched a fishmonger expertly slice open a tuna collar the size of my forearm, the knife gliding as though the fish were butter.
However, there is more to the city than fish; and there are a burgeoning number of restaurants to savour. Stepping inside La Casona del Judío, I understood the trajectory of the city in a single moment. Set within a century-old mansion softened by light and wisteria, the experience begins not at your table, but in a private salon. There, chef Sergio Bastard has created delicate amuse-bouche before you even sit down. It feels intimate, theatrical, almost ceremonial, but the food is wholesome and unflashy.
Santander’s coastal location means locally caught seafood is always on the menu
Further across town, beneath the vaulted ceiling of a restored fisherman’s chapel, another rising star, Berta Lomas, has created SAL, an eight table sanctuary with a calm, almost monastic space. The menu is driven by tide charts and lunar cycles; it’s the sort of restaurant you might expect in San Sebastián or Paris – but here, it feels like the start of something thrillingly new.
Yet, what I love most about Santander’s food scene is its lack of pretence. You can have a tasting menu that brushes the edge of art; but you can just as easily perch at the bar of a humble tavern and eat a perfectly blistered sardine on toast with a glass of unpretentious white wine, surrounded by locals discussing the surf report. It’s a city that values honesty and doesn’t need frills.
Santander’s food scene includes Spanish quesadillas, a type of tortilla stuffed with cheese or meats
Design, too, is part of the new culinary language. Converted banks, palatial townhouses, seafront terraces that blur the line and offer a new way of thinking. Modern interiors nod to the region without cliché: soft limestone, warm timber, coastal light pouring through floor-to-ceiling glass. Even the tapas bars have a quiet beauty, a worn-in charm that feels anything other than accidental.
When neighbouring hot spots like San Sebastián might make more headlines, this ‘Joya del Cantábrico’ (Crown Jewel of the Cantabrian Sea) continues to evolve, blending timeless traditions with subtle innovations that make it a must for discerning travellers seeking more than Instagram fodder. From pintxos bars pulsing with local life to cultural beacons like the Centro Botín drawing global eyes, Santander’s food and culture aren’t performative, they are personal.
The most exciting thing is that Santander feels unfinished, in the most enticing way. It hasn’t become a ‘scene’, so you still feel like you’ve stumbled upon something before the world has caught on, but I suspect not for too long.
Factbox
For more information visit spain.info and turismo.santander.es/en