Cantabria

Altamira and the Ancient World

Cantabria holds a staggering claim: it is the richest region on earth for Upper Palaeolithic cave art, and the cave of Altamira sits at the very top of that list. Painted some 36,000 years ago, the bison, horses and deer covering its ceilings are so vivid they once convinced sceptics they must be a hoax. The original cave is now closed to protect the paintings, but the adjacent museum and an exquisite full-scale replica allow visitors to experience the art without a queue or a conservation crisis. A string of other decorated caves dots the region, many of them UNESCO World Heritage Sites, making Cantabria an unmissable destination for anyone with even a passing curiosity about what our ancestors were up to when they had a cave wall and a bit of ochre to spare.

Peaks, Valleys and the Picos de Europa

The Cantabrian Mountains rise with remarkable abruptness from the coastal plain, and where they reach their most dramatic the Picos de Europa national park takes over. Shared with Asturias and Castile and León, this tangle of limestone massifs, glacial gorges and improbably turquoise rivers is the kind of landscape that makes hikers forget they had other plans. The Cares Gorge trail threads between vertical walls for kilometres at a stretch, while the cable car at Fuente Dé shoots passengers from the valley floor to a high plateau where chamois graze and the views stretch absurdly far on a clear day. Back at lower altitude, the valley villages produce the deeply pungent blue cheese known as quesucos and Picón Bejes-Tresviso, both of which deserve far more international fame than they currently enjoy.

Coast, Cuisine and Quieter Pleasures

The Cantabrian coast runs west from the Basque border through a succession of fishing villages, sandy estuaries and surf beaches that remain refreshingly uncrowded by Spanish standards. Suances and Comillas attract surfers seeking Atlantic swells, while the medieval town of Santillana del Mar sits a few kilometres inland with the kind of preserved stone architecture and cobbled lanes that cause people to stop mid-sentence and reach for their cameras. The local cuisine leans heavily on the sea, with rabas (battered squid rings), hake in green sauce and the anchovy boats of Santoña producing what many chefs quietly consider the finest anchovies in the world. Pair any of it with a glass of orujo and the Cantabrian tendency to linger at the table for several hours suddenly makes complete sense.