Best Tapas in Santander: Where to Eat and What to Order
Our pick of the best tapas bars in Santander, from marble-bar pinchos to old bodegas, with the dishes to order, euro prices and honest trade-offs.
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Tapas in Santander mean pinchos first: small, elaborate constructions laid along the bar, priced per piece and eaten standing or perched on a stool. The city sits in Cantabria, west of the Basque Country, and its bars combine Basque-style pintxos with a broader tapas menu and a serious habit of preserved Cantabrian anchovies, or anchoas del Cantábrico. Budget around a few euros per pincho and rather more once you move to raciónes, the larger plates shared at a table.
What Santander Tapas Looks Like
The format is straightforward once you know the two words. Pinchos are the single bites on the counter, priced individually and often assembled with more ambition than their size suggests; raciónes are plate-sized portions for the table, which is where costs climb. Ordering a couple of pinchos with a glass of wine keeps a snack cheap, while a round of raciónes turns the same bar into a full meal.
Anchovies are the local obsession, and they appear in the tapas bars in several forms: fillets served as anchoas del Cantábrico, skewered in a gilda with olive and pickled chilli, or draped over a slice of bread. The covered Mercado de la Esperanza is the place to see the wider catch that supplies the city's kitchens. For a broader look at the region's cooking, from seafood to cheeses and stews, our guide to Santander food sets out the dishes worth building a day around.
Cañadío: Elegant Pinchos and a Serious Tortilla
Cañadío, on Plaza de Cañadío, is the polished option: an airy room with a long marble bar, side tables and an open kitchen at the back turning out very fresh seafood. The pinchos are intricate little compositions, perhaps aubergine with tomato and salmorejo or a toast piled with gulas, fried egg and anchovy, and they cost €1.80–€2.80 each. The tortilla is the dish to make sure reaches your table, soft in the middle and worth pairing with a glass of Ribera del Duero.
Expect a well-dressed crowd and a busier bar than most of the addresses on this list, which is the trade-off for the setting and the cooking. Come early in the evening if you want elbow room at the counter.
Bodega del Riojano: Wine Bar, Barrels and Big Portions
Bodega del Riojano began in the 1930s as a wine bodega and grew into a large bar and restaurant, with dozens of wine barrels hand-painted by 20th-century artists filling the room. You pay for the setting, and portions are generous: Russian salad with trout eggs, olives and anchovies is €6.50 for a half ración, and creamy scorpionfish pudding with tartare sauce is €10. The pincho choice is deliberately short, a spicy sardine sputnik and a riojanito of chorizo cooked in wine, both suited to a glass of rioja, Ribera del Duero or albariño.
The bar area, with rafters, flagstone floor and seats, fills at peak times, so treat this as a sit-down stop rather than a quick one. If you want a proper meal before a late evening, it works better than a bar-top crawl.
Vermutería Solórzano: Vermouth and Seafood Pinchos
Solórzano opened on its street in 1941 and has moved on from the days of plain winkles, mussels and squid to imaginative pinchos such as seaweed bread with thyme jelly and anchovy, or battered prawns with mango mayonnaise, both €2.50. The original tiled and marble bar is the right place to work through the Cantabrian vermouths, which start at €2.20, and the creamy cheesecake with red fruits comes in at €5. The room looks unassuming, but the cooking is anything but basic.
This is a good first stop of the evening, when the counter is quiet and a vermouth and two pinchos make sense. Pair it with the nearby market if you want to see the raw ingredients behind the city's seafood.
Casa Ajero: Lunch and the Menú del Día
Casa Ajero, round the corner from Plaza Pombo, is a local favourite for a sit-down lunch, with a slick interior and efficient service. The menú del día is good value, and classic pinchos cover several tortilla styles plus goat's cheese and jamón, with wines by the glass to match. Arrive early in the lunch service, which in Santander runs roughly 1.30–4pm, if you want a table without a wait.
This is the practical choice for a weekday midday meal: a set menu, a proper table and no scramble at the bar. It also suits anyone who wants lunch to be the main meal of the day, as it often is here.
Casimira: Wine by the Glass and Free Nibbles
Casimira, near Puerto Chico, is a young, eco-leaning wine bar with a huge range of wines by the glass, from everyday pours up to a bottle of Vega Sicilia Único for a splurge. It specialises in tortillas and unfussy pinchos such as a toasted bun with aioli, mushrooms and jamón, with a daily stew in winter. The free touches are the reason to linger: mini tortilla pinchos on the counter and beakers of soup sent round by a waiter.
It is the best address here for a wine-led evening without committing to a full restaurant meal, and the free nibbles make a modest spend go further. The trade-off is a small, chilled room that fills quickly.
Bodega Cigaleña: An Old-School Wine Museum
Bodega Cigaleña has occupied its premises since 1949 and is now run by the third generation of the Conde family, with thousands of old bottles covering the walls, barrels, stag heads and a small bar. Wines by the glass are modestly priced, and pinchos with gildas, croquetas and black pudding are always in the mix, alongside a solid range of raciónes. Plan around its closing days, Tuesday and Wednesday, and check the current opening hours before you travel, as the bar publishes its own schedule.
The draw is atmosphere as much as food: an eccentric, old-fashioned room where the wine list is the point. It rewards a slow hour rather than a quick bite, and pairs well with the old streets around the former market.
La Cátedra: Anchovies, Croquetas and a Late Table
La Cátedra, behind the former market building and dating from 1866, puts bare stone walls, tiled floors and shelves of wine bottles around a bar and a small wine list. Rioja crianza and Rueda are both cheap by the glass, with tapas of Iberian ham and blue cheese croquetas, Cantabrian anchovies and a filling half-ración of jamón ibérico with potatoes and eggs. Grilled sardines are the simple order, and the outside tables keep going late.
Use it as the bridge between a daytime visit and dinner, or as the last stop when other bars have slowed. The anchovies here are the local benchmark to compare the rest of the city against.
La Mar: Oysters and Tinned Fish
La Mar is a small industrial-chic bar run by a young couple, with exposed brick walls and a counter devoted to oysters from Ireland, France, the Netherlands and Cantabria, plus charcuterie, cheese, canned fish, foie gras and sturgeon caviar sold in small tins. Local oysters are the cheapest way in, with French Pousse en Claire from Oléron costing a little more. Order a glass of Behetria albariño alongside them.
This is the pick for a short, standing snack of the highest quality, not a long meal; portions are small and the price per bite is the highest on this list. If you want oysters and a glass of white before dinner, go here.
Arrabal 11: Late Plates and Bigger Appetites
Arrabal 11 sits on a pedestrianised side street and draws a younger crowd for big breakfasts, daily specials with an Asian twist, salads, pinchos and raciónes at sensible prices. A mini-hamburger with caramelised onion and tomato, toast with garlic prawns and alioli, and a glass of Rioja crianza are all inexpensive. Bigger plates include grilled octopus and potatoes and bluefin tuna tartare with wasabi ice-cream.
The long bar ends in seating at the back, and on warm nights the crowd spills onto the street. It is the most flexible option for a group with mixed appetites, since the menu ranges from a small snack to a full plate of octopus or tuna tartare.
Casa Lita: Bay Views and Bread-Based Pinchos
Casa Lita sits down at Puerto Chico looking across the bay, an old-timers' favourite turning out freshly made, bread-based pinchos from lunchtime onwards, with cheap wines by the glass. Alternatives include mushroom quiche, crab and langoustine tartlet and mountain cheeses, served at a U-shaped counter or in booths and at pavement tables. The chef holds a Michelin star, and the pinchos are correspondingly elaborate; simpler raciónes are also on offer.
The bay view and the space to sit make this the best choice for a longer, more relaxed stop rather than a quick counter snack. For a wider choice of sit-down restaurants, including ones with proper kitchens and service, see our best restaurants in Santander.
Key Dishes to Order: Tortilla, Gildas, Croquetas and Anchoas
Tortilla appears in every register here, from the gooey version at Cañadío to the budget pinchos at Casimira and the many styles at Casa Ajero, so it is worth ordering in several places to find your favourite. Gildas, the skewers of olive, anchovy and pickled chilli, are the standard bar snack, and they are always on at Bodega Cigaleña. Croquetas are another constant, whether blue cheese or ham at La Cátedra or the classic versions elsewhere.
Anchoas del Cantábrico are the local signature and the reason many visitors come: order them plain with bread and oil at La Cátedra or in a salad at Bodega del Riojano, and judge the bars on that alone. Once you move from pinchos to raciónes, seafood takes over, from grilled sardines and octopus to oysters at La Mar. A market visit earlier in the day makes the connection between the catch and the plate.
Prices, Timings and Days to Plan Around
A pincho is cheap at the bars here, and so is a glass of wine, so a bar-top snack for two stays modest. A sit-down lunch is the better value: Casa Ajero's menú del día is the benchmark, while larger raciónes at Arrabal 11 and Bodega del Riojano cost more. Expect to spend more at La Mar, where oysters and caviar push the bill up quickly.
Spanish meal times shape the day: lunch runs roughly 1.30–4pm, and dinner starts from 8.30–9pm, so a bar at 7pm is for vermouth and a pincho rather than a meal. Bodega Cigaleña closes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which is the one firm closure among these addresses. For the rest, check each bar's own site or social page on the day, since schedules shift by season.
What to See Nearby: Mercado de la Esperanza and Centro Botín
The covered Mercado de la Esperanza is the city's food hall, and its fish counters show the catch that ends up as grilled sardines, octopus and anchoas across town. Renzo Piano's Centro Botín stands on the waterfront, a striking modern art centre that makes an easy pairing with a bar crawl along the bay. Altamira's cave paintings lie half an hour away, and the sandy beaches are close to the centre, so tapas fit into a wider day.
Build the day around a market visit and a late lunch, then a gallery or a walk on the beach before dinner at 8.30–9pm. Our Santander itinerary shows how to fit the bars around the sights without eating at the wrong hour.
Plan Your Tapas Evening
Start with a vermouth and a pincho at Solórzano, move to oysters at La Mar or a table at Casa Lita, and finish with a wine at Bodega Cigaleña on any night but Tuesday and Wednesday. If lunch is your main meal, Casa Ajero's menú del día is the simplest good decision, and if you are weighing this city's bar scene against another coastal stop, our guide to the best tapas in alicante makes a useful comparison.
One final check of each bar's own website or social page covers the rest. For how many days this city deserves, read how many days in Santander before you book the ferry, and if you are here in summer, Santander in July covers the beach-and-tapas rhythm of the month.
Explore more Santander guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a pincho in Santander?
A pincho is a small single-portion tapas piece, usually laid out along the bar and priced per piece, often more elaborate than its size suggests. It is similar to a Basque pintxo, and on top of it Santander bars offer raciónes, larger plate-sized portions for the table.
How much does a tapas meal cost in Santander?
Pinchos are priced per piece and raciónes per plate, so the bill depends on how far you move from the bar to the table. Each bar publishes its own prices on its menu or website, and the bars in this guide are quoted at the figures in the sections above. A fixed menú del día is usually the cheapest way to eat a proper lunch, while oysters and caviar push the bill up fastest.
Where do locals eat tapas in Santander?
The bars in this guide draw a local crowd, especially Casa Ajero round the corner from Plaza Pombo and Casa Lita at Puerto Chico. For a taste of the city's own cooking, look for anchoas del Cantábrico, gildas and tortilla rather than international menus.
Which tapas bars in Santander close midweek?
Bodega Cigaleña closes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so plan around that. The other bars publish their own schedules, and opening days can change by season, so check the bar's own website or social page on the day you plan to visit.
What time do people eat tapas in Santander?
Lunch runs roughly 1.30–4pm and dinner starts from 8.30–9pm, so the late afternoon and early evening are for vermouth and a pincho rather than a full meal. Eat at Spanish hours and you will find the bars at their best.
What food is Santander famous for?
Anchoas del Cantábrico, preserved Cantabrian anchovies, are the local favourite, alongside fresh fish and seafood from the Bay of Biscay. Look for them as fillets, in a gilda skewer, or in a salad, and pair them with a glass of albariño or a Cantabrian vermouth.
Sources
Notes for eating well in Spain
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