Experience in Santander, Laura in Spain

What's it like to live in Santander? Do you recommend it

Santander seems like an amazing city to live in. Obviously each to their own, but the city manages to combine contrasting things that you wouldn't be able to find on other cities.

What's the student atmosphere like in Santander?

Being a small city, the campus too is relatively small. However, the uni has loads of things to do and even more students. They organise parties, events, and loads of other things for the students making it really easy to get settled in to university life.

How much does it cost to live in Santander?

Living in Spain in general is cheap compared to other EU countries. Poland and Portugal are probably exceptions... they are cheaper than Spain for sure.

But yeah, you can say Spain is cheap, and Santander, as it's not one of the main cities, is even more so.

For example, a coffee costs 1. 10€ and a beer, 2. 00€

Was it hard to find accommodation in Santander? Can you give any advice?

It's not hard to find accommodation, as there's loads of places to rent near the university.

However, the easiest thing to do, in my opinion, is to go to Santander as the university's bulletin boards have tons of adverts for accommodation. Also, by doing it this way you can actually visit the flat and make sure it's what you want.

In general, the buildings and flats are in good shape (I'm comparing them to Porto, where I actually study. Lots of the buildings are really old and living in them is far from ideal), they usually have heating, are spacious... but yeah, there's a bit of everything.

What's the country's food like? What are your favourite dishes?

Spanish food is amazing. Absolutely amazing. The food is extremely varied and delicious, anyone that says Spanish food is bad hasn't tried it!

For typical dishes you could say 'tortilla de patata' and 'paella'. Paella is not actually that easy to find. In most restaurants, yeah, but not in your average bar. But 'tortilla de patata' is everywhere. This means you'll definitely find some amazing tortilla, but also some bad ones too.

My favourite dishes are carbonara, homemade mash potato, and my mum's delicious haricot, haha.

What places do you recommend visiting in Santander?

Santander has loads of beautiful places to visit. For example, taking a walk around the bay is pretty much a must. At night it's stunning. Visit the Magdalena Peninsula, and enjoy the Sardinero beaches. These 3 places are a must. Oh yeah, make sure you visit the lighthouse too.

And going out to eat in Santander? Can you give us your favourite places?

There's an Italian restaurant (I know it's not 'Spanish food') called 'Sophia' in the Valdenoja area. It's the best food I've tried, everything is homemade, even the pasta.

If you want to try the tortilla, go to Trendy, Quebec or Manila. All these three have really good tortilla.

What places do you recommend for going out in Santander?

For going out I'm not going to recommend any clubs with awful music as I don't go to those places, but Río de la Pila is a street not many people know about in the Santander Old Town that has (as the whole city burnt down in 1941) loads of bars and a really good environment. There's also Cañadío, a square surrounded by bars and where people usually meet up.

Any advice for students going to Santander in the future?

Don't waste the opportunity and visit every single part of Cantabria. It's a beautiful province, with stunning natural sights. Don't just go out etc. visit the nearby forgotten beaches and explore the stunning caves.

They aren't typical Erasmus activities, but if you're going to be there for a year, you'll have time to do it all, and they are absolutely amazing places. :)

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In the attached photos you can see the Santander bay at night, the Magdalena Peninsula and the Sardinero beach.