Solo holidays northern Spain: a hosted week in green Cantabria

The easiest way to take a solo holiday in northern Spain is to join a hosted group that already has the house, the routes and the evenings worked out, and that is what Spice Escapes does in Cantabria, on the green coast between Santander and Asturias. You travel on your own, a host travels with you, and you spend the week in one large country house with a small group of people who are also there by themselves.

Northern Spain is a wonderful place to go and an awkward place to go alone. The best of it is rural: fishing villages, river valleys, beaches with no bars behind them and mountain passes with no bus. Planned alone, that means hiring a car, booking a room and finding somewhere to eat each night by yourself. With us, the planning is done and the company is part of the holiday. Choose the week by what you would like to spend your days doing. There are three.

One house, three different weeks

All three holidays below are based at Agara, a large house that used to be a restaurant and has been renovated with new bathrooms, new wiring and a new kitchen while keeping its character. Agara is a Sanskrit word for home, and it feels like one. There are twelve bedrooms and eight bathrooms, local wine and beer in the house that you help yourself to, and a very friendly resident dog. There is no strip of bars outside the door, so the evenings happen at the long table indoors, which is exactly why people who arrive alone find their feet so fast.

A coach tour of the north moves you on most mornings. Here you unpack once, and by the second evening you know who takes their coffee on the patio and who will be first to the quiz.

Paint the Cantabrian coast with a teacher beside you

The Spanish Drawing and Painting Break with Tuition is 7 nights with lessons from Dale Scott, who has taught every level of budding artist and most methods. Sketch pads and a canvas are provided. Bring your own kit, or we can order a beginners set for you to collect when you arrive and take home with you.

Each day has a subject and a place. Seascapes on the coast at Comillas and San Vicente de la Barquera. Buildings and the church in the village of La Colsa. The old bridge at Bárcena Mayor, which also has excellent bars. Landscape on the mountain pass to Carmona, with a picnic. Still life back at Agara. Dale adapts the plan around flights and the weather.

Painting alone in a foreign village can feel exposed. Painting in a row of six people with a teacher walking along behind you feels sociable, and dinner talk about whose bridge went wrong is half the fun. Dates: 24 Apr 2027 – 1 May 2027. From £929. Places: 9 places left.

A slow week with a book, and company at dinner

Read, Relax & Restore: A Week in Spain's Green North is the one for anyone who wants northern Spain at an easy pace. It runs for 7 nights, and every room is sole occupancy, so you have a bedroom to yourself and in practice share a bathroom with one other person at most.

Days are yours. Read on the patio, borrow one of the house bikes, take a self-guided walk, or join a trip to the coast. The natural park of Oyambre, with Comillas and San Vicente de la Barquera, is about twenty minutes' drive. Comillas has a building by Gaudí, and San Vicente has fish restaurants along the quay. Santander, with its beaches and galleries, is about fifty minutes away. You can choose solitude or company during the day and nobody will mind which.

The evenings bring everyone together for home-cooked, family-style food, and there is likely to be a murder mystery and a literary quiz. Breakfast, a light lunch and dinner are included each day. Your host is Jackie Whyte. Dates: 5 Jun 2027 – 12 Jun 2027. From £969. Places: 13 places left.

Walk the green north with hosts who scouted every route

The Cantabrian Walking Week is 8 nights with walking on at least four days. Your hosts, Jen & Jim, have walked the area themselves to choose the routes, which run from under three miles to nearly nine through coastal, river and forest country. Examples include the sea front at Santander, the sequoia forest of Monte Cabezón, a river walk on the waymarked Camino Lebaniego and the valley at Bárcena Mayor.

Jen and Jim are volunteer hosts, so you are joining them for a walk rather than being marched. Jen walks at a leisurely pace and Jim is happy to go further or faster for anyone who wants it, so nobody is left at the back on their own. You will need full walking kit. Every meal is included. Dates: 8 May 2027 – 16 May 2027. From £999. Places: 7 places left.

For more on the region, read our guide to green Spain and Cantabria, or the green coast and its best beaches.

What the host does when you arrive alone

Every Spice Escapes holiday has a host who travels with the group. In Cantabria that means someone who knows the house, introduces you as people arrive, sorts out who is going where each day and makes sure nobody eats on their own. Arrivals on the painting week are spread across a Saturday and a Sunday, and the host gathers everyone in as they come. If this is your first time, our page for first-time solo travellers and our beginner's guide to a group holiday answer the questions most people have.

Rooms and the cost of having one to yourself

At Agara three bedrooms have their own bathroom and the rest share four bathrooms between them. On the painting and walking weeks there is a supplement for an en suite room. Every Spice Escapes holiday carries a single supplement or a room-to-yourself cost, and we would rather you knew the figure up front. Our single supplement page explains how it works, and you can see more of what we run in Spain, on our walking holidays, our chillout and relaxation holidays and our solo holidays for the over 50s.

Questions people ask

Is this a coach tour of northern Spain?

No, it is a hosted stay in one house in Cantabria with days out from it. You unpack once and spend your time in villages, on the coast and on the trails rather than on a coach. Many people find that more relaxing than moving hotel every night.

Do I need to speak Spanish?

You do not need any Spanish to enjoy the week. Your host and the house take care of the arrangements, and you are with an English-speaking group throughout. A few words for the bar at Bárcena Mayor will always be appreciated.

Will I be the only one who has come on their own?

Most people who book with Spice Escapes travel on their own, so you will be in good company. The evenings at Agara are shared around one table, and the host makes sure everyone is brought in from the first night.

I have never painted before. Is the painting week for me?

Yes. The teacher works with every level, from complete beginners to people who have painted for years. Materials are provided, and a beginners set can be ordered for you to collect on arrival.

How fit do I need to be for the walking week?

You should be comfortable walking several miles on paths with some hills, and you will need proper boots and waterproofs. The pace is social, and one host walks more slowly while the other goes further for anyone who wants it.

Ask us which week suits you

If you are torn between a paintbrush, a book and a pair of boots, tell us how you like to spend a holiday and we will tell you honestly which week fits. Rob Thompson owns Spice Escapes and is happy to talk it through with you. Get in touch with the team and ask for Rob, or ask which northern Spain dates are coming up and how many places are left.