Cantabria is an autonomous community in northern Spain bordering the Cantabrian Sea (Bay of Biscay), celebrated for its rugged Atlantic coastline, prehistoric cave art at Altamira, soaring Picos de Europa peaks, and a cuisine centred on fresh seafood and aged cheeses.
Top day trips
Handpicked excursions within easy reach.
Bilbao & Guggenheim Museum
Bilbao is the Basque Country's largest city, transformed since 1997 by Frank Gehry's titanium-clad Guggenheim Museum into a stop for contemporary art rather than industry. A day here mixes the museum's permanent collection and rotating exhibitions with a walk along the Nervion river and through the arcaded streets of the Casco Viejo old town. It works as a single long day from Cantabria, though the museum alone easily fills a morning.
Highlights: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao - Gehry's building and its large-scale contemporary art collection, including permanent installations by Richard Serra · Puppy - Jeff Koons' flower-covered terrier sculpture stationed outside the museum entrance · Casco Viejo - the seven-street old town, good for pintxos bars and the Santiago Cathedral · Mercado de la Ribera - riverside covered market for a pintxos lunch instead of a sit-down restaurant · Puente de Vizcaya - a transporter bridge a short ride from central Bilbao, if time allows a half-day extension
Santillana del Mar & Altamira Cave
Santillana del Mar is a stone-built medieval town of manor houses and a Romanesque collegiate church, kept largely free of modern infill, which is why it draws day-trippers from Santander in such numbers. Next to the town is the Altamira complex: the original painted cave is closed to the public and viewable only by a very limited lottery-based visit, but the attached museum houses the Neocueva, a full-scale reproduction of the painted chamber built from the same rock. Together they make an easy half-day that pairs well with a coastal stop on the same trip.
Highlights: Colegiata de Santa Juliana - the town's Romanesque church and cloister, with carved capitals · Neocueva at the Museo de Altamira - a full-size faithful reproduction of the original cave's painted ceiling, built because the real cave is closed to protect the pigment · Calle de las Lindas - the town's main cobbled street lined with sandstone manor houses · Museo de Altamira's archaeological galleries - context on Paleolithic life in the region beyond the painted chamber itself
Picos de Europa & Fuente Dé Cable Car
The Picos de Europa is a compact limestone massif straddling Cantabria, Asturias and Castilla y Leon, and Fuente Dé sits at its dramatic dead end - a natural amphitheatre of rock walls at the head of the Liebana valley. The cable car (teleferico) climbs roughly 750 metres in under four minutes to the Mirador del Cable, putting high mountain terrain within reach without a serious hike. It's a long day from Santander given the drive, so most of the day is really the journey and the summit rather than deep exploration below.
Highlights: Teleferico de Fuente De - the cable car itself, one of the steepest ascents of its kind in Europe, rising to the Mirador del Cable · Mirador del Cable - the top station's viewpoint over the Fuente De amphitheatre and, on clear days, toward the high peaks · Ruta del Cares - the famous gorge trail lies further into the range and is a separate full outing, but the Liebana valley drive passes its trailhead area · Santo Toribio de Liebana - a monastery a short detour from the main road, associated with a relic of the True Cross
Comillas & El Capricho de Gaudí
Comillas is a small coastal town that became a summer retreat for wealthy Barcelona industrialists in the late 19th century, which is why it has an outsized concentration of Modernista architecture for its size. The headline building is El Capricho, Antoni Gaudi's only completed work outside Catalonia, a private summer villa covered in sunflower-patterned ceramic tiles. The town itself, with its beach and the hilltop Palacio de Sobrellano complex, gives the visit enough to fill a relaxed day.
Highlights: El Capricho de Gaudi - Gaudi's tiled villa with its cast-iron sunflower balconies and a minaret-like tower, now a house museum · Palacio de Sobrellano - the neo-Gothic palace built for the Marques de Comillas, next to El Capricho, with guided interior visits · Cementerio de Comillas - a hillside cemetery above the town with a striking angel sculpture by Josep Llimona, overlooking the sea · Playa de Comillas - the town beach, a straightforward spot to end the day if the weather holds · Universidad Pontificia - the former seminary building on the hill, visible across the town skyline
Castro Urdiales Historic Town
Castro Urdiales is a working fishing port on Cantabria's eastern coast, close enough to Bilbao that it also draws Basque weekend visitors, with a medieval old town stacked above a harbor still used by fishing boats. The skyline pairing of a Gothic church and a medieval castle-turned-lighthouse on the same headland, linked by a stone footbridge over the harbor mouth, is the town's defining image. It's a compact, walkable day rather than a full one, and pairs easily with another stop on the same trip.
Highlights: Iglesia de Santa Maria de la Asuncion - a large Gothic church on the harbor headland, unusually grand for the town's size · Castillo-Faro de Santa Ana - the medieval castle converted into a working lighthouse, standing beside the church · Puente Medieval - the stone footbridge over the harbor entrance connecting the headland to the town · Puerto Pesquero - the working fishing harbor and its seafront promenade, good for watching boats come in · Playa de Brazomar - the town's main beach, a short walk from the old quarter
Cueva del Soplao & San Vicente de la Barquera
El Soplao is a show cave in the hills above the coast, known among speleologists for an unusually dense concentration of eccentric stalactite formations that grow against gravity, and it's visited on a guided walking route through lit galleries. San Vicente de la Barquera, on the coast below, is a fishing town crossed by a long medieval bridge over its estuary, with a hilltop church and castle ruins above the harbor. The pairing works because Soplao sits inland from this stretch of coast, making a loop of cave in the morning and coastal town in the afternoon.
Highlights: Cueva del Soplao - the show cave's guided route past its eccentric stalactite formations · Puente de la Maza - the long medieval stone bridge across San Vicente's estuary, the town's defining approach · Iglesia de Santa Maria de los Angeles - the Gothic church on the hill above San Vicente's old town · Castillo del Rey - the ruined castle above San Vicente, with views over the estuary and harbor
Oviedo Day Trip (Asturias Capital)
Oviedo is the capital of neighbouring Asturias, a compact city built around a Gothic cathedral and known for a scattering of small pre-Romanesque churches from the 9th-century Asturian kingdom, a style unique to this corner of Spain. It's also a cider town, with a street of sidrerias where cider is poured from height in the traditional escanciado pour. Given the distance, this is a long day trip best justified by the train journey itself as much as the destination.
Highlights: Catedral de San Salvador - Oviedo's Gothic cathedral, with the Camara Santa chapel holding early medieval relics and reliquaries · Iglesia de Santa Maria del Naranco - a 9th-century pre-Romanesque royal hall turned church on a hill outside the center, one of the style's best-preserved examples · Calle Gascona - the cider street, lined with sidrerias serving Asturian cider poured from a height · Casco Antiguo - Oviedo's old town squares and arcaded streets around the cathedral · Mercado El Fontan - the covered market square for a look at local produce, near the old town
Trips by distance
How far you can go in a day.
Items
Getting there
Transport options for day trips.
Multi-day tours from Cantabria
If you have longer than a day, these are organised multi-day trips that start here.
Browse multi-day tours from CantabriaWe may earn a commission from bookings made through this link.
Day trip tips
Make the most of your excursions.
Start early — most popular day-trip destinations get crowded by mid-morning.
Check return transport times before you leave — missing the last train or bus can be costly.
Carry water, snacks, and layers — weather and food options can be limited at smaller destinations.