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. A character in Sartre's Nausea calls it the prettiest village in Spain, and Lesage made it the birthplace of his picaresque hero Gil Blas; 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.

Highlights

• 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.

Practical notes

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.

Key facts