Castro Urdiales

Castro Urdiales is a historic town and municipality in Cantabria on the Bay of Biscay, one of the most important medieval ports of the Cantabrian coast. The town is defined by its headland, a rocky promontory on which the Gothic church of Santa María de la Asunción and the medieval castle of Santa Ana stand side by side above the sea.

The church of Santa María is a thirteenth and fourteenth-century Gothic structure of considerable architectural ambition, with flying buttresses and a tall crossing tower giving it a profile reminiscent of the great Gothic cathedrals of northern France. The adjacent lighthouse, housed in the converted castle keep, completes the headland ensemble.

The medieval port below the headland retains a historic character, and the view of the headland from the sea or from the coastal path is one of the most memorable of the entire Camino del Norte. The town provides full services for pilgrims.