San Vicente de la Barquera

San Vicente de la Barquera is a historic town and municipality in Cantabria, situated on a rocky promontory between the Bío and Escudo estuaries where they meet the Bay of Biscay. The town has a compact medieval character with the Castle of the Infantes, a thirteenth-century fortress rebuilt in the fifteenth century, and the Gothic collegiate church of Santa María de los Ángeles on the headland above the harbour.

The town’s silhouette, with the castle towers and church rising above the fishing harbour and the long bridge connecting the old town to the mainland, is one of the most photographed on the entire Cantabrian coast. The Puente de la Maza, a medieval bridge of thirty-two arches crossing the estuary, leads into the old town from the south.

For pilgrims on the Camino del Norte, San Vicente de la Barquera is a major waypoint offering full services and an architecturally rewarding historic centre. The crossing of the estuary bridge is one of the more dramatic arrival moments on the Cantabrian section of the route.