Santander

longboarder

Got some cheap flights to Santander in the north of Spain for the end of October.

Anybody any experience of this area? Should we stay near the beach or in town and if so how long does it take to get to the beach? Any advice on board rental would be great.

What should we expect of the weather and water temp?

We are of reasonable ability but still only surfing beaches.

MayoForSam

We were on holidays in Santander in July, fantastic surfing beach at Las Dunas, near Liencres about 15km west of Santander.

There were boards for rent there too if I remember. Very similar surroundings to here in Ireland but a few degrees warmer. Not sure about local accommodation out of season though.

whynotwhycanti

yeah man, great spot to surf. There are one or two city beaches, on eof the sardinero. Then if you get a boat across the bay there is another beach at the village of somo. There is a real goos surf school there and accommoadation is also available so might be worth a look. Its away from the city which is nice but also the city is accesible and right ona surf beach. The beach liencres the is the swell magnet of the area so go there if surf looking ab it on the small side.

Nanoman

Yeh i did the same last Spetember. Flew in to Santander and spent 10 days in an apartment with surfholidays.com in Noja (don't think they rent in October though). Its about 25 mins from Santander. Its a great intemediate spot - perfect for longboards (Ris beach). Also went to Ajo and Somo - great beach breaks, 20 mins from Santander.

If i were you i would rent a car and stay in Zarautz and you have one of Spain's best longboard beaches to surf on your doorstep every day and then for nightlife/cuisine get a taxi/train to San Sebastian 20 minutes away. You'll have a sick time, very jealous...

longboarder

Thanks for the replies.

As we are a mixed group (ie some non surfers) would Playa De Somo be a nice place to stay?

Nanoman

Somo is a nice long beach. Won't be sunbathing weather. Their is one or two bars in somo but not much atmosphere that time of year - probably better off going into Santander for restaurants etc. Picos do Europa mountain range are 30 away - amazing this time of year.
San Sebastian is the nicest city in that area. Bilbao is ok for a day - guggenheim is about it.

makker

Went over there this time last year and stayed in Somo the first couple of nights. Would not reccomend staying there as the place was dead. The surf is good there however and Somo picks up plenty of swell and there are some good spots nearby.

Moved into Santander town where it was more lively. It's fairly lively in the town at weekend with plenty of tapas bars and retro bars\clubs, there's also a couple of irish bars and an Aussie bar, although it's relatively quiet during the week. There are plenty of rooms available down by the beach where you can just turn up and pay night by night at very reasonable prices. You can surf the beach in the town (El Sardinero) when the swell is big. The following link takes you to the webcam where you can see live feed of the beach, you can rent boards for €80 a week.
http://tiempo.fiochi.com/indice.php

If you drive East I would advise checkin out Laredo, its a beach break with some sweet peaks. Also if you go further deffo check out Zarautz and San Sebastian

longboarder

Thanks for all the help. We stayed in Somo for a couple of nights but as posted it was very quiet. After that we stayed in Santander itself. Weather was beautiful - 23 and sunny. Swell was actually very big and tended to close out a lot but you could always find somewhere along the beach to get in. As we were a mixed group with total beginners and non surfers we ended up just staying around Somo. There was no surf on El Sardinero.
With the ryanair flights it is certainly a very easy spoy to get to for a weekend break.