Spain / Cantabria
Playa de Somo
Playa de Somo is a 1.7 km-long sandy beach facing north-west, 5.6 km east of Santander (Cantabria, Spain). The sea averages 21.6 °C in August, its warmest month, and 12.5 °C in February; it is 21 °C or warmer in August.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
Month by month
October at Playa de Somo
Beach-day index 4.4/10 · Spain median 6.7
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 13.0 °C | 12.5 °C | 12.6 °C | 13.3 °C | 15.1 °C | 17.9 °C | 20.4 °C | 21.6 °C | 20.5 °C | 18.2 °C | 15.8 °C | 14.1 °C |
| High °C | 12° | 12° | 13° | 15° | 17° | 20° | 23° | 23° | 22° | 20° | 15° | 13° |
| Low °C | 8° | 8° | 9° | 11° | 13° | 16° | 18° | 19° | 18° | 15° | 11° | 9° |
| Rain mm | 126 | 98 | 94 | 80 | 64 | 56 | 35 | 36 | 53 | 95 | 146 | 120 |
| Cloud % | 82 | 78 | 75 | 73 | 73 | 70 | 65 | 66 | 65 | 73 | 79 | 80 |
| Wind m/s | 6.2 | 6.1 | 5.6 | 4.8 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 4.2 | 5.1 | 6.2 | 6.2 |
| Daylight h | 9.3 | 10.5 | 11.9 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 14.0 | 12.6 | 11.1 | 9.7 | 9.0 |
| Record high/low | 20°/2° | 20°/1° | 21°/1° | 25°/7° | 28°/8° | 34°/12° | 35°/14° | 36°/15° | 31°/13° | 28°/7° | 24°/5° | 19°/-0° |
| Beach index | 1.8 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 5.2 | 7.2 | 7.9 | 6.8 | 4.4 | 1.9 | 1.9 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
The beach-day index peaks in August; August scores 7.9/10 with highs of 23 °C, sea at 21.6 °C and 36 mm of rain.
In August that is 1.0 points below the median of the 2,246 beaches in Spain covered by this atlas.
At its warmest the water here is 1.6 °C cooler than the Spain median for August (23.2 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 16.2 °C, cooler than 67% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
November is the wettest month (146 mm) and July the driest (35 mm); the yearly total is about 1,000 mm.
Daylight runs from 9.0 hours in December to 15.4 hours in June; in mid-August the sun rises at 07:19 and sets at 21:20 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces north-west (320°). Open water fills about 36% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
The sun sets over the sea in March–October; in mid-June it goes down at 21:56 local time on a bearing of 304°.
Straight out to the north-west there is open water for more than 2,000 km, so the beach is exposed to long ocean swell.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 5 m deep and 21 m at 3 km, a shallow, gently shelving sea floor. Behind the beach the ground is about 36 m above sea level 500 m inland and 14 m at 1.5 km, a flat coastal plain.
Within 1 km, the land is 32% grassland, 31% tree cover and 22% built-up land (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a partly built-up setting. Water makes up 49% of that circle.
- Grass 32%
- Tree 31%
- Built 22%
- Bare 15%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
Bathing water quality
The official EU bathing-water site “Playa Somo Pm1”, 630 m from the beach centre, was rated Excellent for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 11 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.
- 2015Excellent
- 2016Excellent
- 2017Excellent
- 2018Excellent
- 2019Excellent
- 2020Excellent
- 2021Excellent
- 2022Excellent
- 2023Excellent
- 2024Excellent
- 2025Excellent
Source: European Environment Agency, EU Bathing Water Directive assessments · national site profile. Classes are based on four seasons of bacteriological sampling.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Facilities within 1 km
- 10Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 3Public toilets
- –Showers
- 4Drinking water
- 10Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 8Hotels & guesthouses
- 2Campsites
- 2Grocery shops
- 5Bus stops (1.5 km)
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 5 restaurants, 1 café and 4 bars. Accommodation: 8 hotels and guesthouses.
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Around the beach
Nature
- Las Quebrantas reef 830 m NW
Islands in view
- Isla de Santa Marina 1.6 km N
- Islote la Corbera 2.4 km NW
- Isla de Mouro 2.5 km NW
Campsites
- Área de Autocaravana Somo 710 m S
- Camping El Arbolado 890 m E
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seve Ballesteros-Santander Airport Santander | SDR | 7.7 km | south-west |
| Bilbao Airport Bilbao | BIO | 69.0 km | east |
| Vitoria Airport Alava | VIT | 104 km | south-east |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 5 bus stops within 1.5 km and 10 mapped car parks within 1 km.
2 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 191.7K residents); within 30 km there are 39 (about 385.2K).
Reference
Playa de Somo has an article on the ES Wikipedia: Playa de Somo.
Wikidata item Q6079020.
When people look it up
The ES Wikipedia article was read 1,300 times in the 12 months to August 2026. Interest peaks in July (255 views), 12.1× the quietest month.
Map
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Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 20.5 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w516058323; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Water body, status and length: Wikidata (CC0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2B_30TVP_20230215_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site ES130M061554).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 3.6K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.