Comillas Beach and the Harbour

What it is

The village's own beach, of good size on a coast that is almost all cliff, from the Portillo inlet to the Rabia estuary. On one side it has the fishing harbour: Comillas has one of the eight fishing ports on Cantabria's coast.

The harbour

For centuries the seafaring life of Comillas was carried out from the beach: the harbour was not begun until 1603 and was finished in 1716, paid for by the residents themselves. A high polygonal breakwater protects it from north-west, north and north-east storms and forms an inner basin with a mouth of only 9 metres, which is closed with a timber-beam gate when there are strong tides or swell. Comillas was the last port of the old province of Santander to keep up whaling, until well into the 18th century, setting out in boats armed with harpoons; tradition places at the Peña Blanca, below the sailors' cellars, the spot where the cetaceans were cut up. The fish market, in the Montañés style, dates from 1942, and on the way to the pier there is a bronze plaque dedicated to the Comillas poet Jesús Cancio, the poet of the sea.

Services

Public toilets, showers and foot-washes, parking, bike racks and a public address system. In 2026 there were lifeguards and an assisted bathing service for people with reduced mobility from 6 June to 27 September. In the beach car park there are two spaces with a 22 kW charging point for electric cars.

Parking

From 1 June to 30 September the blue zone operates on the streets of Comillas, every day, public holidays included, from 10:00 to 20:00. You pay in cash, by card or with the EasyPark app, and the service office is in the beach car park. Outside those dates there is no blue zone. There is another pair of charging points in the public car park on Paseo de Solatorre.

Fishing and shellfish gathering

As well as fishing, the traditional gathering of caloca, a seaweed that washes up on Cantabrian beaches and is collected by residents of Comillas and nearby municipalities, continues on this coast. Shellfish gathering is regulated so as not to deplete the resource: find out before taking anything from the rocks.

Worth knowing

The rules about dogs are not published on the beach's listing: ask at the tourist office. Check the Cantabria Ports tide table before going down; the town council links to it from its website.

How to combine it

On the beach promenade are the Hotel Joseín, with direct access to the sand, and the Comillas campsite. To eat looking at the harbour, the Hotel Joseín restaurant, open from Easter to October. Up in the village are Gaudí's El Capricho and the Sobrellano palace, a short walk away. If you want a bigger, wilder stretch of sand, Oyambre beach is past the Rabia estuary.