Güemes to Santander
Boat into the city
- Distance
- 15.3 km
- Climb
- 210 m up, 250 m down
- Ground
- 0 to 120 m
- Time
- 4 to 5 hours
- Difficulty
- easy
- Underfoot
- coastal, forest, paved, urban
Where this day sits on the Camino del Norte
Above, the highest and lowest ground of each of its 34 stages. Below, the word each day is given.
From open-pilgrimages: each stage's highest and lowest ground and its interior theme.
The day
A short day ending with your third ferry of the Camino — the Somo-Santander crossing, a 10-minute trip across the Bahía de Santander. Most pilgrims reach Santander by noon and have the rest of the day to wander: the Cathedral (rebuilt after the 1941 fire that burned much of the old town), the Palacio de la Magdalena (the former royal summer palace), the Paseo de Pereda waterfront. Santander's beaches are some of the best in Spain. The city is modern because of the fire, but the rhythm of a port city is ancient.
What pilgrims often meet here
- Somo beach in the morning, often with surfers
- The ferry into Santander with the city skyline approaching
- A slow afternoon in a city after four long rural days
- The Cathedral's crypt — older than the rest of the cathedral by centuries
You arrived by water instead of by foot. What does entering a city by boat change about first impressions?
The ground
Drops from Güemes through Galizano and Loredo to the beach at Somo, then takes a short passenger ferry across Santander bay to the Santander waterfront (the ferry runs every 30 minutes in daytime). The walk from the Santander ferry dock to the cathedral is ~1 km.
The light
Sunrise and sunset in Güemes depend on the day you walk.
Walk it with Pilgrim
In Pilgrim's Honor mode you can walk this stage as it is drawn here, and save its maps for days with no signal. The morning opens with this day's word, Boat into the city, and its story. When you arrive, it asks the question above, and you can answer out loud. Your walk stays on your phone.
With Pilgrim on your phone, this opens the stage, ready to begin. Without it, you'll see the stage and where to get the app.