
Laredo
Laredo is a small town in eastern Cantabria with around eleven thousand residents. It is known for La Salvé beach: five kilometres of sand in a single curve, one of the longest in northern Spain. The old town, the Puebla Vieja, stands higher up below the hill and has survived intact.
In the sixteenth century this was an important port: Charles the Fifth last set foot on Spanish soil here, returning from Flanders. Today Laredo lives on summer: in August the population multiplies with visitors from Madrid and the Basque Country, and in winter it empties noticeably. Housing costs less than in neighbouring Castro Urdiales. The sea is cold and it rains in every month.
- Castro Urdiales · 25 km — the town on the Basque border
- Santoña · 5 km — the fishing port and its anchovies across the bay
- Santander · 50 km — the Cantabrian capital and its bay
Laredo sits in Cantabria, right on the water. Winters are damp at 79% humidity, so ask about mould before you sign. Summers are packed: tourist load hits 5 out of 5 at the peak against 1 in winter. A small town of 10,675: for anything beyond groceries you will be driving.
Hospital, terrain, getting around
Where from: the Ministry of Health hospital catalogue, road time · elevations from the Copernicus terrain model · OpenStreetMap · ratings for car-free and hospital minutes are ours.
Laredo sea temperature by month
3 months above 20 °CsourceAverage sea surface temperature, °C, for 2015–2024 — NOAA OISST satellite series, grid cell 23.2 km from the centre.
Tourist load
Laredo beaches and water quality
sourceLaredo has 1 beach tested under EU bathing water rules, at 2 sampling points. In the 2025 season, it was graded excellent. The last “poor” grade here was in 2011: Playa Salve.
The grade is bacteria in water samples over the last four seasons — not sand, views or crowds. “Poor” means bathing there is advised against.
| Beach | From the centre | Grade 2025 | “Excellent” in a row | Last “poor” |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playa Salve | 0.5 km | excellent | 10 seasons | 2011 |
Where from: European Environment Agency, bathing water register, seasons 1990–2025, licence CC BY 4.0. Distance is from the centre in a straight line. Every place in one table
On the map
What tenants actually pay
sourcedThis is the median rent on active leases — tax records for 2024, a sample of 338 leases. It includes long-standing contracts at unchanged rents, so it sits below what is asked today: our estimate of asking rent is 750 € for a two-bedroom.
The point of the 75th percentile: it is closer to what is being signed now than the median. The gap between them shows how much a new tenant overpays relative to long-standing ones.
Where from: SERPAVI, Ministerio de Vivienda · municipality: Laredo
Rent by number of bedrooms
asking price, estimate| 1 bedroom | 580 €/mo | |
| 2 bedrooms | 750 €/mo | |
| 3 bedrooms | ≈ 980 €/mo | model: two-bed × 1.3, no measurement yet |
| Median of active leases, 2024 | 500 €/mo | SERPAVI · 79 m² |
Asking prices are what long lets are advertised at today; the registry is what tenants pay on signed leases, including old ones. The gap between them is your negotiating argument.
Schools nearby
estimateInternational schools counted in the base: 0. Names and curricula for this place are not verified yet — the school registry covers the thirty most-requested places so far.
Renting without a Spanish contract
How realistic a long lease is without a nómina — on foreign income, savings or prepayment.
- —6.3% foreign residents — the market is built for locals with a contract
- —Prices rising 22.8% a year — the landlord picks, and the first filter is a nómina
- —Stock goes to tourist lets: long leases are scarce and competed for
This is our model, not a measurement: demanding a nómina is an individual landlord's practice and nobody publishes it. The rating is derived from the share of foreign residents, the presence of a community with services, price growth, seasonality of the stock and the size of the town.
Who lives here
INE 2025- Peru145
- Colombia68
- Romania61
- China44
- Senegal38
- France34
- Dominican Republic26
- Brazil22
- enEnglish~200
Where from: INE, Censo Anual de Población · the register-based census counts padrón registrations by citizenship on 1 January, not everyone living here: seasonal owners and the unregistered are outside it, and naturalised residents count as Spanish.
Winter direct flights from SDR
January 2026/2730 min to the airport- United Kingdom2
- other countries2
- Ireland1
- Belgium1
- France1
- Italy1
Destinations served at least weekly in January; checked 2026-09-17.
Paperwork and practicalities
From OpenStreetMap — an open map filled in by volunteers. Something missing there may still exist: read this as «we found this many», not «there are no more».
Articles that include this place
Where to look next
- Castro Urdiales2 812 €/m²
- Santander2 656 €/m²
- Tías2 400 €/m²
- Gijón2 339 €/m²
- Santa Cruz de Tenerife2 326 €/m²