Cantabria Tourist Guide 2017

Santander

capital de Cantabria

of El Sardinero, Los Molinucos, Mataleñas and La Maruca . All ready to give the best of themselves both during the summer and on mild winter and autumn days. Its elegant promenades and avenues (Pereda, Castelar or Reina Victoria) offer visitors the charm of a city that has managed to combine tradition and modernity, where nature plays the lead role in any space. The city has a rich and varied cultural and artistic heritage to enjoy every day of the year. However, two events have marked the cultural development of San- tander in recent decades: the Menéndez Pelayo International University and the International Festival of Santander, events of great significance that have projected the image of the city outside our borders. All these qualities, along with many others (unique scenery and large number of hotels), have succeeded in making the Cantabrian capital one of the favourite destinations in Spain for organizing all kinds of professional, so- cial or sporting events. Proof of this is the upcoming 2014 World Sailing Championship in the waters of the bay.

Santander is a modern city with a population of almost 200,000 loca- ted on a beautiful south-facing bay, which belongs to the Club of the World’s Most Beautiful Bays. Always changing and always beautiful, light and wind determine its contrast-filled image: blue when calm and grey when choppy. Tourism in Santander began in the mid-nineteenth century with the first “wave baths” on the Sardinero beaches and culminated with the sum- mer visits of the king and queen of Spain from 1913 to 1930, becoming the summer court during this period. It was the heyday of the city, the period its most representative buildings date from: the Palacio Real de La Magdalena, the Hotel Real and the Gran Casino, buildings which radiate splendour today. Few cities can boast including within their urban area a dozen beaches with such diverse characteristics and, at the same time, so attractive: family beaches, sheltered beaches, distinguished beaches and sporting beaches. Los Peligros, La Magdalena, Bikini, El Camello, the beaches

Paseo de Pereda by the Bay of Santander The Magdalena Peninsula and the Sardinero beaches ><

Paseo de Pereda frente a la bahía de Santander