Set on one of the most magnificent bays in northern Spain with 4km of golden sandy beach Laredo has long been a firm favourite with the people of Bilbao and Santander and is perhaps the biggest and brashest of all the seaside resorts in the north.
On the last Friday of August the town puts on a show to rival the best carnivals in the world – 20 floats each with up to 110,000 flowers parade around the town squares.
The tradition began in 1908 and involves almost everybody in the town in some way. The ‘carrozistas’ organize themselves into groups or ‘peñas’ to compete for the big prize. The flowers are grown and harvested locally by the peñas themselves with the utmost care and must be harvested and pinned, one-by-one, to the floats in the final 72 hours leading up to the big day.
Practicalities: The show starts at 17:30 but parking and access can be difficult so go early and enjoy an afternoon at the beach. Regma, on the corner of the large square Avda Marqués de Comillas do fantastic ice-creams and it’s quite a good spot from which to watch the parade.
