{"id":303794,"date":"2025-07-30T11:35:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T11:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/303794\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T11:35:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T11:35:18","slug":"hidden-gem-in-spain-has-best-beaches-and-far-fewer-crowds-than-barcelona-or-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/303794\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Hidden gem&#8217; in Spain has &#8216;best beaches&#8217; and far fewer crowds than Barcelona or Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;re looking to head to Spain but want to avoid huge crowds, ditch Madrid, Barcelona and Malaga in favour of this underrated destination instead. It has great beaches!<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_Beach-of-El-Sardinero.jpg\" alt=\"Beach of El Sardinero \" loading=\"eager\"  \/>Beach of El Sardinero located in city of Santander, at low tide(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Looking for travel inspiration but want to avoid the major <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyrecord.co.uk\/all-about\/tourism\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"touristLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">tourist<\/a> hotspots? If you&#8217;re a fan of <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyrecord.co.uk\/all-about\/spain\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"SpainLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Spain<\/a>, try swerving Barcelona, Malaga and Madrid for this gorgeous destination instead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Santander is a beautiful city in Cantabria, located near to Bilbao on the north coast of Spain. It overlooks the Bay of Biscay and is an <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyrecord.co.uk\/scotland-now\/scotlands-top-10-summer-holiday-35340526\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"absolutely lovely place to visit in summertime.Link opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">absolutely lovely place to visit in summertime.<\/a> It&#8217;s not too busy \u2013 and is warm but not excessively hot due to frequent breezes from the sea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Recently, one traveller called Ali, who goes by @aligoingabroad online, posted about her Santander experience and hailed it as her &#8220;favourite hidden gem&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">She urged: &#8220;Stop going to tourist spots in Spain and got to this hidden gem. Spaniards say it has the best beaches in Spain.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_Landscape-of-the-city-of-Santander-Spain.jpg\" alt=\"This beautiful, often overlooked spot is a perfect mix of city and beach\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>This beautiful, often overlooked spot is a perfect mix of city and beach(Image: Getty)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Ali continued: &#8220;The city is beautiful, extremely cheap accommodation, escalators around the city so you don&#8217;t have to walk up steep hills. Did I mention beautiful beaches? You&#8217;ll have a new sunset spot everyday. Quiet areas with no tourists.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Hiking trails, delicious food and oodles of culture are other factors that attract people to visit. And judging by the comments section, Ali isn&#8217;t the only one who loves the destination.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">One viewer gushed: &#8220;Santander has my heart. I lived there last summer studying Spanish at UIMP [Universidad Internacional Menendez Pelayo.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Another said: &#8220;Studying abroad here now and falling in love with the city.&#8221; Meanwhile, someone else labelled it as their &#8220;favourite place in the world&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Things to do in Santander<\/p>\n<ul class=\"UnorderedList_unordered-list__gzblI\">\n<li class=\"sc-700e1ff3-0 VljCu\">El Sardinero Beach: Famous urban beach, popular for swimming and surfing.<\/li>\n<li class=\"sc-700e1ff3-0 VljCu\">Palacio de la Magdalena: Former royal summer residence, now a cultural venue.<\/li>\n<li class=\"sc-700e1ff3-0 VljCu\">Centro Bot\u00edn: Modern art center designed by architect Renzo Piano.<\/li>\n<li class=\"sc-700e1ff3-0 VljCu\">Cathedral of Santander: Gothic-style cathedral with Romanesque elements.<\/li>\n<li class=\"sc-700e1ff3-0 VljCu\">Prehistoric Cave of Altamira: Nearby, famous for its ancient cave paintings (UNESCO World Heritage Site).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Getting there<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">There are no direct flights from Scotland to Santander, but you can connect via other cities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">You can either travel via London or head to Spanish airports like Madrid or Barcelona. Pick up a flight from there or take alternative transport like a train or bus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Some Brits choose to visit via ferry, which you can pick up from Portsmouth to Santander. Or if you want to drive the whole way, it&#8217;ll take you between 20-24 hours when you use the Channel Tunnel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you&#8217;re looking to head to Spain but want to avoid huge crowds, ditch Madrid, Barcelona and Malaga&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-303794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}