Northern Spain holidays, the green coast and its best beaches

Northern Spain is the Atlantic strip of four regions: Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country, with the Bay of Biscay on one side and the Cantabrian mountains on the other. It is green because it rains, and it is cooler than the south: in August the average afternoon high in Santander is about 24°C, against about 36°C in Seville. People go for the beaches without the heat, for walking in the Picos de Europa, and for the seafood and cider.

We run two hosted weeks in Cantabria, both based at the same house. They are further down this page, with what is included and what a room costs.

The four regions along the north coast

• Galicia is the far north-west corner, above Portugal. Its best-known beach is Playa de las Catedrales near Ribadeo, named for the rock arches you can walk under at low tide.
• Asturias shares the Picos de Europa with Cantabria and Castilla y León. Its cider culture was added to UNESCO's list of intangible heritage in December 2024; the listing covers growing the apples, making the cider and the way it is poured in cider houses.
• Cantabria sits in the middle, with Santander as its capital and airport. The regional tourist board counts more than 90 beaches along about 220 km of coast.
• The Basque Country runs to the French border and holds San Sebastián and Bilbao. San Sebastián has three beaches in the city itself: La Concha, Ondarreta and La Zurriola.

Inland, the Picos de Europa National Park crosses Asturias, Cantabria and Castilla y León. It began in 1918 as the Montaña de Covadonga National Park, the first national park in Spain, and was enlarged in 1995 and again in 2014.

Best beaches in northern Spain

The north coast faces open Atlantic water, so the sea is cooler than the Mediterranean and some beaches have surf. These six are the ones most people ask about, listed east to west.

Beach	Region	What it is	Worth knowing
La Concha, San Sebastián	Basque Country	A curved town beach of about 1,350 metres, facing a sheltered bay	In the city centre, with lifeguards in season
La Zurriola, San Sebastián	Basque Country	The city's surf beach	Four surf schools, so beginners can book a lesson
El Sardinero, Santander	Cantabria	About 1.5 km of sand facing the open sea, north of the Magdalena peninsula	Santander's main town beach, a fashionable resort in the 1920s
Oyambre	Cantabria	More than 2 km of sand and dunes inside Oyambre Natural Park	Counted among the best-preserved beaches in Cantabria
Gulpiyuri, near Llanes	Asturias	A beach about 40 metres long, set in a field, where the sea arrives through a sinkhole	A protected Natural Monument since 2001; go near high tide to see water on it
Playa de las Catedrales, near Ribadeo	Galicia	Rock arches and caves that you can walk through at low tide	Free booking with the Galician government is required in Holy Week and from 1 July to 30 September

Check the tide table before you go to Las Catedrales or Gulpiyuri. At the wrong state of the tide, one has no beach to walk on and the other has no water.

Northern Spain or southern Spain

The difference is mostly weather, and it decides when each half of the country is at its best. These are long-term averages published by Spain's state weather agency, AEMET, through the World Meteorological Organization.

Place	Average high, May	Average high, August	Rain days, August	Average high, January
Santander (north)	19°C	24°C	11	14°C
Bilbao (north)	21°C	26°C	12	14°C
A Coruña (north)	18°C	23°C	9	14°C
Seville (south)	27°C	36°C	1	16°C
Málaga (south)	24°C	31°C	1	17°C

So the north suits a summer holiday where you want to walk in the afternoon, and the south suits winter and spring. If you are weighing up the south, our page on where Andalusia is and what it is known for covers it, and Surprising Seville is our city break there.

Pack a waterproof whatever the month. Santander averages more than ten rain days in every month of the year, which is why the hills stay green in August.

Our hosted weeks in Spain's green north

Both weeks are based at Agara, a large house in Cantabria that was once a restaurant and has been renovated with a new kitchen, new wiring and new bathrooms. It has twelve bedrooms and eight bathrooms. Three bedrooms have their own bathroom, for a supplement; the others share the remaining four. There is a very friendly dog in residence.

Breakfast, a light lunch and an evening meal are included every day, and local wine, beer and spirits in the house are help-yourself. Lunch is a picnic on walking days.

Cantabrian Walking Week

Cantabrian Walking Week: 7 nights, 9 May 2027 – 16 May 2027, from £999. Your hosts are Jen and Jim, who have been leading walks for Spice members for almost twenty years and have scouted every route themselves. There is walking on at least four days of the week at a sociable pace, and Jim will take anyone who wants to go further or faster. You need full walking kit and to be able to carry 1.5 litres of water. On the flight-inclusive option, flights go to Santander from Edinburgh, Stansted and Manchester.

9 May 2027 – 16 May 2027 · 7 nightsCantabrian Walking WeekPlaces availablefrom £9998 already goingSee this holiday →

Read, Relax and Restore

Read, Relax and Restore: 7 nights, 6 Jun 2027 – 13 Jun 2027, from £969, hosted by Jackie Whyte. This is a slower week built around a book. Mornings are yours, on the patio or at the breakfast table. On good days the group can take its books to the beach, and there are local walks, a lunch out and a day trip to a nearby city, decided on the spot according to the weather. Evenings are home-cooked meals at one table, with a murder mystery and a literary quiz planned.

6 Jun 2027 – 13 Jun 2027 · 7 nightsRead, Relax & Restore: A Week in Spain's Green North13 places availablefrom £969See this holiday →

Rooms, and coming with a friend

Most people book these weeks on their own, and some come with a friend. The price is for a place in a shared twin room, and sharing costs nothing extra. If you would rather have a room to yourself, there is a supplement, and the figure for each holiday is on our single rooms and supplements page. At Agara the ensuite rooms carry their own supplement, so ask us which rooms are left when you book.

If walking is the main thing you want from a holiday, our other solo walking holidays are graded on each page, and our holidays in Spain include city breaks and ski weeks as well as the north.

If you would like to know whether one of the Cantabria weeks suits you, send us a message and the office will answer with the details for that departure.