Most beautiful villages in Cantabria

Cantabria fits entirely between the Cantabrian Sea and the peaks of the mountain range, and its towns and villages reflect this dual character. In just a few kilometres you go from seafaring towns, with their harbours, churches overlooking the water and steep streets, to mountain valleys where stone, rivers and grand manor houses define the character of each place. What many of them share is a long history, written in medieval charters, in maritime trade and in the return of the indianos, emigrants who made their fortunes on the other side of the Atlantic.

On the coast, two of the former Cuatro Villas de la Costa (the Four Towns of the Coast) stand out. Castro Urdiales raises its Gothic church, its castle turned lighthouse and its Puebla Vieja (old town) on the site of the Roman Flaviobriga, making it one of the most beautiful towns in Cantabria for understanding how many eras can be layered in a single port. Further west, San Vicente de la Barquera lies within the Oyambre Natural Park, between salt marshes and beaches, with a life that has always revolved around the sea.

Heading inland, the landscape changes completely. Potes, the capital of Liébana, sits at the confluence of the Deva and Quiviesa rivers, at the foot of the Picos de Europa. There, the Torre del Infantado, the medieval bridges and the indiano manor houses are reminders that the Cantabrian mountains also had their share of power, trade and nobility, in a quieter, stonier key than the coastal towns.