Comillas is a village of about 2,200 on the Cantabrian coast, and it contains a Gaudi building, a palace by the architect of Barcelona's Sagrada Familia crypt, and an enormous neo-Mudejar pontifical university. For a place this size that is absurd, and the explanation is emigration.
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In the nineteenth century men from this coast left for Cuba, Mexico and Argentina, and some of them made very large fortunes. Those who came back were called indianos, and they built. Antonio Lopez y Lopez, who became the Marquis of Comillas and founded the shipping line that carried Spanish troops to Cuba, was the central figure: he commissioned the Sobrellano Palace, the chapel-pantheon and the seminary, and his circle brought the Catalan architects of the day north with them. Comillas is what happens when colonial money meets Catalan modernism in a Cantabrian fishing village.
El Capricho is the one most people come for, built between 1883 and 1885 for Maximo Diaz de Quijano, a relative of the marquis. It is early Gaudi, before the Sagrada Familia, and it is one of only three buildings he completed outside Catalonia. A tower covered in sunflower tiles, a cast-iron and glass conservatory, and windows weighted so that they play musical notes when opened. It is open as a museum.
The village around all this is a working Cantabrian one of steep cobbled lanes and stone houses, with a beach below and the Picos de Europa an hour inland.
What you pack is set by a wet green Atlantic climate, which makes this the odd one out in a Spanish batch.
El Capricho, Sobrellano and the Seminary
Early Gaudi, a Martorell palace, and a cemetery with a famous angel.
El Capricho takes about an hour. The tiles, the ironwork and the oddities are the point: the windows with counterweights tuned to notes, the bench by the door positioned so the owner could watch the sun, the deliberate asymmetry everywhere. It has its own ticket and the gardens are included.
The Palacio de Sobrellano is a few minutes away, a neo-Gothic pile by Joan Martorell, who was Gaudi's mentor, with a separate chapel-pantheon holding tombs and furniture Gaudi himself designed. Both are visitable and the pantheon is the more interesting of the two.
The Universidad Pontificia stands on the hill above the village, a vast neo-Mudejar building by Martorell and Domenech i Montaner, which trained priests until 1968 and is now a Spanish language and culture centre. The exterior and the terrace are the draw and the view from it takes in the whole coast.
The village cemetery is worth the short walk, built around a ruined Gothic church on a clifftop, with Josep Llimona's Angel Exterminador standing on the wall above the sea. It is free and it is the most atmospheric thing in Comillas.
In the village itself, the Plaza del Corro de Campios, the arcaded Plaza de la Constitucion and the stepped lanes between them take an hour to wander. The old fountain, the Fuente de los Tres Canos, was designed by Domenech i Montaner, which tells you how much architectural talent passed through this village.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Coast, Santillana and the Picos
A dune reserve, a painted cave, and the highest ground in northern Spain.
The Playa de Comillas is below the village, backed by low cliffs, and Playa de Oyambre a few kilometres west is the bigger one, a long sweep of sand inside the Oyambre natural park with dunes, estuary and marsh behind it. This is a surf coast and both beaches get real Atlantic swell.
Santillana del Mar is fifteen kilometres east and is one of the best-preserved medieval villages in Spain, cobbled, aristocratic and very busy in season. Beside it is Altamira, whose painted cave is among the most important Palaeolithic sites in the world. The original is closed to protect the paintings, so what you visit is the Neocueva, a precise replica, and the museum with it. Saying that plainly matters because visitors arrive expecting the cave itself.
Inland, San Vicente de la Barquera has a long estuary bridge and a castle, and the Picos de Europa begin about an hour south: limestone peaks over 2,500 metres, the Fuente De cable car, the Covadonga lakes and the Cares gorge. That is a full day and a different climate zone.
Santander is fifty minutes east with its ferry port and the Magdalena Palace, and Bilbao with the Guggenheim is about two hours.
Getting around: the village is small and steep, with the buildings spread between the centre, the hill and the clifftop, so everything is a short walk uphill. There is no railway station in Comillas; the nearest is Cabezon de la Sal, and buses run along the coast from Santander. A car is genuinely useful here for Oyambre, the Picos and Santillana, more so than anywhere else in this batch.
When to Go
June to September, and expect rain in any of them.
Cantabria has a wet oceanic climate and this is the thing that distinguishes it from the rest of Spain: daytime highs from about 13C in January to 23C in August, rain on a great many days spread through the year, and the greenness that follows from it. It is cooler and far wetter than the Mediterranean coast, and comparisons with Andalusia are useless here.
Summer, June to September, is the season. It is warm rather than hot, the beaches work, the days are long and the Picos are clear of snow on the lower routes. August is the Spanish holiday peak and the village fills.
Spring and autumn are green, mild and wet, and perfectly good for the architecture and the museums. The light on this coast in autumn is excellent.
Winter is mild at 13C, grey and very wet, with Atlantic storms hitting the coast hard. Some restaurants close, the village is quiet, and the buildings are still open. It is a reasonable time for an architecture trip and a poor one for the beach.
The practical point, and it is the same as Lille and Nantes rather than anything Mediterranean: you will rarely be cold here and you will often be wet.
Is Comillas Safe for Women Travelers
Comillas is a small, prosperous village and about as safe as travel gets.
The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in Spain, and the country is one of the most straightforward in the world to travel in. Its safety and security page concentrates on petty theft, which is the realistic risk, and on the fact that Spanish police require you to report a theft in person to get the denuncia your insurer will ask for.
In a village of 2,200 the theft risk is minimal. What there is applies to the beach car parks at Oyambre and the Picos trailheads, and to bags left on the sand. An empty boot and a closed bag cover it. The FCDO's procedural point is worth noting here because of the geography: the denuncia an insurer requires needs an in-person report, and the nearest comisaria is at Torrelavega or Santander rather than in the village.
Day to day this is extremely easy. The village is busy with visitors in season and quiet otherwise, eating alone is unremarkable, and the lanes are short and lit. Out of season it is very quiet by early evening.
Spain is in the EU, so a UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care on the same terms as a resident. That is not the same as free, it does not cover repatriation or a private clinic, and on the islands and the costas many clinics aimed at visitors are private and will bill you, so check before you are treated. Spanish public hospitals are good and a farmacia handles minor problems without an appointment. Tap water is drinkable across the mainland and the Balearics. Heat is the realistic summer health risk rather than anything exotic.
The real hazards are the sea and the weather. This is open Atlantic with proper surf, rip currents are the standard cause of rescues on this coast, and the beaches are lifeguarded only in summer and only within flagged zones: swim between the flags and treat an unflagged beach as unsupervised. The cliff paths around the cemetery and along to Oyambre are unfenced in places with drops, and the grass on them is slippery when wet, which here is often. The village lanes are steep, cobbled and wet, which is how visitors turn ankles. And if the Picos are in the plan, that is a serious mountain range where weather changes quickly and the Cares gorge path is narrow with long exposure; dial 112 for mountain rescue and for anything in the water.
The Comillas Packing List
A hooded waterproof, which is the first item on this coast
A packable rain jacket for women, in your bag every day in every month. This is the wettest destination in this Spanish batch by a wide margin, the rain arrives in bursts between bright spells, and the cliff paths and the beaches have no shelter. A hood you can put up without thinking matters more than full storm protection.
Base layers, for mild persistent damp
Cantabria is the Atlantic pattern rather than the Mediterranean one: 15 to 22C with real humidity and a likely shower, which is exactly where a cotton layer under a jacket leaves you cold for the afternoon and wool does not. Merino at 160gsm keeps insulating when damp. Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron with no synthetic blend. A long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is the right layer here in most months.
Shoes that cope with wet cobbles and wet grass
Walking shoes with grip, ideally waterproof. The village is steep cobbles, the cemetery and coast paths are wet grass on clifftops, and all of it is wet more often than dry. If the Picos are in the plan, waterproof hiking boots are the right answer instead. Merino wool socks, which keep working wet.
A warm mid layer, most of the year
A fleece mid layer from September to June. The sea wind here is what makes a 16C day feel cold, and the Picos are ten degrees below the coast.
Swimwear and the right expectations
A swimsuit, and know that this is cold Atlantic water with surf rather than a Mediterranean dip: 19C in August is a good day, and the currents are the reason to stay between the flags.
Sun protection, despite the grey
A wide brim sun hat and sunscreen. A bright Atlantic coast with high cloud and a sea breeze is the classic way to burn without feeling it, and the beaches have no shade.
The small things
Cash in euros for small bars. A European two-pin adapter. A refillable bottle; tap water is drinkable. Separate tickets for El Capricho and Sobrellano, which are not combined. A car if Oyambre, Santillana or the Picos are on the list, because the bus will not get you to them conveniently. And a note that Altamira is a replica cave, not the original, which is worth knowing before you arrive.
Essential Resources for Women in Comillas
Emergency numbers: 112 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile, with operators who will find an English speaker. It is the single number across the whole European Union.
Non-emergency police: dial 112 for any emergency, 091 for the Policia Nacional and 092 for local police. Comillas has a small local police presence and the nearest comisaria for the in-person denuncia an insurer requires is at Torrelavega or Santander. English is spoken at the monuments and the language centre, less so in the village generally.
Main hospital or clinic: Comillas has a health centre for minor matters, with the nearest emergency departments at Torrelavega, about thirty minutes, and the Hospital Universitario Marques de Valdecilla in Santander, about fifty minutes, which is the major one for the region. Dial 112 for an ambulance.
Official health authority: the Spanish Ministry of Health. Spain is in the EU, so a UK GHIC or EU EHIC gives you state-provided care on the same terms as a resident, largely free at the point of use, but not at private clinics and not for repatriation
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Madrid. Madrid, with a consulate in Bilbao about two hours away, which is the relevant one for the north coast
Official tourism authority: Turespana, the national tourism board. With the Comillas tourist office for the separate El Capricho and Sobrellano tickets and the Universidad Pontificia visiting arrangements, and note that Altamira nearby is a precise REPLICA cave, the original being closed to protect the paintings
The sea: open Atlantic with real surf and rip currents, lifeguarded only in summer within flagged zones. Swim between the flags; treat an unflagged beach as unsupervised.
The weather: this is the wettest destination in this Spanish batch and the comparison to make is with the Atlantic coast rather than with Andalusia. Rain in any month.
Altamira is a replica: the Neocueva, built because the original cave is closed to protect the paintings. Worth knowing in advance rather than at the door.
US State Department travel advisory: the Spain advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Solo women safety assessment: Comillas is a small, prosperous Cantabrian village and about as safe as solo travel gets. It is busy with visitors in season and quiet otherwise, eating alone is unremarkable, the lanes are short and lit, and out of season it is very quiet by early evening. In a village of 2,200 the petty theft the FCDO emphasises for Spain is minimal, and what there is applies to the beach car parks at Oyambre and the Picos trailheads and to bags left on the sand. One geographic wrinkle: the in-person denuncia an insurer requires means a trip to Torrelavega or Santander rather than a local station. The genuine hazards are the sea and the weather rather than people. This is open Atlantic with proper surf, rip currents are the standard cause of rescues along this coast, and the beaches are lifeguarded only in summer and only within flagged zones, so swim between the flags and treat an unflagged beach as unsupervised. The clifftop paths by the cemetery and along to Oyambre are unfenced in places with drops, and the grass on them is slippery wet, which on this coast is most of the time; the village's own cobbled lanes are steep and wet for the same reason and are how visitors actually turn ankles. If the Picos de Europa are in the plan an hour south, that is a serious mountain range with fast-changing weather and a Cares gorge path that is narrow with long exposure. Mountain and maritime rescue are both 112.
Reading On
For the country-level picture, start with the Spain travel guide for women. For why wool rather than cotton matters when the damp is constant and the temperature mild, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
