Oyambre Beach and Dunes

What it is

West of Comillas, past the Rabia estuary, Oyambre begins, already in the municipality of Valdáliga: a long, open stretch of golden sand, about 1,800 metres long and 40 wide according to the Turespaña listing, with a sand spit and dunes that the Comillas tourist office singles out as a point of geomorphological interest. It is the district's big beach and is almost undeveloped.

The natural park

The beach is part of the Oyambre Natural Park, declared by the Parliament of Cantabria in Law 4/1988, which brings together coast, cliffs, beaches, dunes, estuaries and marshes between Comillas and San Vicente de la Barquera. The Rabia estuary, sheltered from the sea by the sandbank, has marsh vegetation and groves of alders, hazels and willows. According to the Comillas town council, seventeen species of bird use its waters to feed and rest in winter, among them the mallard, the teal and the great cormorant. Near the village of La Rabia there is a bird observatory. The name of the village and the estuary comes, according to the town council, from the stretches of river with particular force in their current. The sand spit and the dunes are easily seen from within Comillas itself, and the tourist office cites them alongside the fault at Punta del Miradorio, in Ruiloba, as the two points of greatest geomorphological interest in the surroundings.

Services

Turespaña lists toilets, showers, foot-washes, bins, a cleaning service and a tourist information point, as well as restaurants and ice-cream parlours. Next to the beach there is a golf course. We have not found the lifeguard calendar for Valdáliga published for this beach: ask at the tourist office before bathing with children.

Getting there

By car, along the coast road, the CA-131, towards San Vicente de la Barquera, crossing the Rabia estuary. From Comillas, the town council also proposes a route along the cycle path to the Rabia estuary, which runs along the village's coastline; it is a good way of getting there without a car in summer.

Worth knowing

It is a stretch of sand open to the Cantabrian swell: swim only where there are lifeguards and respect the flags. The dunes are fragile: do not walk on them off the paths. It is good for walking all year round. The rules on dogs are not published in the sources we have consulted: ask before taking one onto the sand.

How to combine it

To spend the day, Comillas beach and the harbour are a few minutes away by car, and in the village are Gaudí's El Capricho and the Sobrellano palace. If you want to eat with a sea view, the El Remedio restaurant, in Ruiloba, is on the other side of Comillas, above the cliffs.