Gaudí by the Atlantic: El Capricho and Comillas

Nobody expects a Gaudi on the Cantabrian coast. El Capricho (1883-85) is young Gaudi at his most playful: a villa wrapped in sunflower ceramics with a minaret-like tower, built for a music-loving bachelor and full of jokes, including sash windows that chime.

The visit

Interior visits take under an hour and leave every group grinning; the audio history is short and good. It sits in Comillas, thirty minutes from the house.

Make it an afternoon

• Sobrellano Palace next door, full-fat neo-Gothic from the same golden era.
• The Pontifical University crowning the hill over the sea: Comillas' postcard.
• The old town's arcaded square for a vermouth, and the town beach for a leg-stretch.

Where it fits

Pair it with Santillana and Altamira for a full culture day, or use it as the soft afternoon after a big walking morning. Then home to the valley for dinner: the standard happy ending of every plan on this site.