Arce

Arce is a small locality in the municipality of Piélagos, in Cantabria, situated in the valley terrain between the Pas estuary coast and the inland hills. The name is the Spanish word for maple tree, indicating that native maple woodland once defined this valley terrain. The maple toponym is relatively uncommon in Cantabrian place names, giving it a distinctive botanical identity.

The surrounding landscape has the enclosed green quality of the Cantabrian interior valleys, with pasture, mixed woodland, and the traditional stone farmhouses of rural Piélagos. The valley floor along which the settlement sits connects the coastal terrain to the north with the Pas river valley to the south.

The Camino del Norte passes through the Piélagos valley terrain on the section between the Santander approach and Santillana del Mar.