Physical Address

304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124

The wild and beautiful Spanish coastline that tour operators haven’t discovered

Cantabria’s Costa Trasmiera offers unspoilt beaches, terrific surf and outstanding food

Our Secret Seaside series is showcasing lesser-known corners of Europe, all unspoilt by mass tourism, where sunseekers will feel welcome, not a burden. This week, Annie Bennett offers a guide to the Costa Trasmiera in northern Spain.
While there are countless fly-and-flop packages to choose from if you fancy a beach holiday on the Spanish coast, finding something on the northern shores of the country is rather trickier. For the Costa Trasmiera in Cantabria, Saga is really the only option – with a great package at the Hotel Juan de la Cosa, right on gorgeous Berria beach, if you’re wondering. Other operators have not yet turned their gaze towards this stretch of coast, with its string of unspoilt beaches, terrific surf scene and outstanding food. Perhaps that’s because there are no big resorts, and the vibe is more rural than rave, with cows and campervans on the cliffs and a dearth of fancy beach clubs.  
The Costa Trasmiera covers about 30 miles between Santander and the fishing town of Santoña to the east. If you are staying in Santander, you can take a little ferry across the bay to Somo beach, where the superb conditions have led to it becoming a magnet for surfers as well as a prime spot for a seafood lunch, with a grid of streets lined with bars, restaurants and surf shops. While there is no shortage of schools offering surfing and paddleboarding tuition, the original and the best is the Escuela Cántabra de Surf, right by the beach, where you can have a two-hour lesson (€35/£29), or just watch from a terrace table with a beer and a wedge of tortilla at the cafe in front of the Somo Surf Centre. 
A 10-minute drive through the countryside takes you to Langre, one of the most spectacular beaches on the Trasmiera coast, where sheer limestone cliffs frame a crescent of golden sand and the waves crash onto the shore. It’s wild, popular with surfers, divers and swimmers – there are no beach bars here.  
Don’t expect much by way of facilities at the next big beach along the coast, Galizano, either, but you can have a drink and a bite to eat at the no-frills CocoBar chiringuito. Next stop is the lighthouse at Cabo de Ajo, which in 2020 was painted by the Cantabrian artist Okuda in a riot of clashing colours and is now beloved of the Instagram brigade.  
For a real feast, drive on to Isla, famed for its lobster and jarred red peppers. Head for the Hotel Astuy, overlooking the ocean, where they have their own hatchery in caves beneath the building.
After lunch you could have a mooch around Noja, the main holiday town on the Costa Trasmiera, which has a cluster of hotels and a lot of less-than-charming apartments. It is flanked by more awesome beaches though, such as Ris, where jagged rocks jut out from the sand. Go at dusk to capture the eerie mood at its most intense. 
On the other side of the town, Trengandín stretches for miles down to the El Brusco headland, where you can look down onto the aforementioned Berria beach, backed by a wetland nature reserve that’s a haven for migrating birds, particularly from September to March. You might spot avocets, spoonbills, curlew sandpipers, cattle egrets and purple herons among the 130 species that have been identified. Part of the reserve is the Trasmiera Ecopark, a sustainable tourism scheme with visitor centres and observation points scattered throughout the marshes. At the restored Santa Olaja mill you can see how for centuries wheat was ground by using the force of the tides. 
Bordering the nature reserve, Santoña marks the end of the Costa Trasmiera. If you think you aren’t keen on anchovies, you might change your mind after trying the salt-cured delicacies here, which are larger and have a more subtle flavour than those we grab off the supermarket shelf. Pricey Santoña anchovies are revered throughout Spain and served at top restaurants. 
It was actually an Italian, Giovanni Vella Scatagliota, who came up with the idea at the end of the 19th-century of filleting anchovies and adding olive oil, to make them more palatable. The process continues pretty much unchanged to this day – largely done by hand by teams of skilled, nimble-fingered women.
Order a plate of them in a bar with a glass of vermouth and you’ll get what all the fuss is about. Then buy a few cans as the perfect souvenir of your trip along this underrated coast.
Take the ferry from Portsmouth or Plymouth to Santander, or fly with Ryanair. Hire a car and you’ll be on the beach in Somo within half an hour. Another option is to take the ferry from Portsmouth to Bilbao – or fly with EasyJet or Vueling – which is an hour’s drive to Santoña at the eastern end of the Costa Trasmiera. 
On a budget: In the countryside two miles from the coast, the Posada el Solar is a traditional building with film star-themed rooms and a good restaurant. Doubles from £55 including breakfast. A stroll from the beach, the Posada Playa de Langre has 11 basic-but-fine rooms with views of the sea or the Picos de Europa mountains. Doubles from £70, including breakfast. 
Special treat: The Hotel San Román de Escalante (sanromandeescalante.com), with a pool and an EV charging point, dates back to the 17th century and has 16 rooms furnished with antiques. Doubles from £120, including breakfast. Near Langre beach, the Hotel Gastronómico Palacio Torre de Galizano showcases the area’s food in a stylishly restored 19th-century mansion. Doubles from £135, including breakfast.   
In Somo, try superb traditional dishes such as rabas – battered squid – and seafood rice at Las Quebrantas. For fabulous pizzas and a contemporary take on Cantabrian cuisine, head for Primera Vaca in Suesa. If you want to push the boat out, book ahead at Cenador de Amós in a magnificent 18th-century palace, where chef Jesús Sánchez has three Michelin stars.
Recommended

Explore hotels that have been tried, tested and rated by our experts

en_USEnglish