Santillana del Mar

Santillana grew around a monastery holding the relics of Saint Juliana, and its collegiate church of the twelfth century has a carved Romanesque portal and a cloister with capitals of biblical and hunting scenes. The village that formed around it was a seat of Cantabrian nobility, and its two cobbled streets are lined with stone manor houses carrying carved coats of arms from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries. Sartre called it the prettiest village in Spain; local wit notes the name is a triple lie, since it is neither holy nor flat nor on the sea. Two kilometres away are the Altamira caves, whose painted ceiling is closed to visitors, with a full-scale replica, the Neocueva, in the museum beside it.

What you actually see

• The collegiate church - a twelfth-century Romanesque church and cloister.
• The manor houses - carved coats of arms along two cobbled streets.
• The Altamira replica - a full-scale copy of the painted cave ceiling nearby.
• The stone streets - a village largely closed to traffic.

When to go

April to June and September to November; the village is small and fills with coach groups from mid-morning through the afternoon, so early or late is much better. Cantabrian rain is frequent.

Honest expectations

The original Altamira cave has been closed since 2002 apart from a lottery admitting five people a week, so what visitors see is a replica. The village is heavily commercialised with souvenir shops in most buildings. Parking is outside and charged.

Nearby

The Altamira museum is two kilometres away; Comillas and San Vicente lie west along the coast.