Cantabrian Coast

The region includes nearly all of Galicia, Asturias, and Cantabria, in addition to the northern parts of the Basque Country, as well as a small portion of Navarre.

It is often referred to as Green Spain (a direct translation into English of the Spanish España Verde) because its wet and temperate oceanic climate helps lush pastures and forests thrive, providing a landscape similar to that of Ireland, Great Britain, and the west coast of France.

This denomination has been made a territorial brand (in 1989) by the autonomous communities of Galicia, the Principality of Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country, with the support of Turespaña, whose objective is to position the Cantabrian coast as an alternative tourist destination in the international market.

The average precipitation is about 1,200 millimetres (47 in), higher than in most areas in inland central Europe, and wetter than almost anywhere in Spain, a country generally considered dry (the main exception to this northernly rainfall trend is the Sierra de Grazalema, in the southern province of Cádiz, with mountains that block the Atlantic moisture-carrying winds and which is, indeed, the most rainy place in Spain).

The Pyrenees, which sometimes are considered in the same geologic system as the Cantabrian Mountains, were once included in Green Spain, even though the rainfall there has different patterns and the general landscape is more alpine rather than genuinely oceanic.