Home › Getaways › Picos de Europa
By carEcelan — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)Asturias, Cantabria and León, Spain · Spain
Three limestone massifs between Asturias, Cantabria and León, with two-thousand-metre walls less than twenty kilometres from the sea. It was Spain's first national park, declared in 1918, and the kingdom of Asturias began here too: at Covadonga, tradition holds, the battle was fought that halted the Muslim advance. Today the massif is driven around by its three sides, each with its own access and its own landscape.
Cangas, the Lakes and Arenas · 43 km
Ecelan — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)history
The first capital of the kingdom of Asturias, and therefore where everything that followed began. Its bridge, called Roman, is in fact medieval, from the Late Middle Ages, and a replica of the Cross of Victory hangs from it.
It is the last sizeable place to buy supplies: from here on the villages are tiny and many have no shop at all.
15 min to the next stop · 10 km
Markus Braun — Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)nature
The shrine is set inside a cave in the mountain, and above, at eleven hundred metres, lie the Enol and Ercina lakes, two glacial lakes ringed by pastures where cattle still come up in summer.
From June to mid-October and on peak dates (Easter, May weekends, bank-holiday weekends) the road to the lakes closes to private traffic and you go up by bus from Cangas or El Repelao. Check before setting out: it is the rule, not the exception.
40 min to the next stop · 33 km
Joaquinceb — Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)gastronomy
The centre of Cabrales cheese, cured in natural mountain caves where constant humidity and temperature do the rest. There is a show cave where the whole process is explained.
It was traditionally wrapped in sycamore leaves. Today the one with protected designation of origin comes in green foil with its seal: that is what to look for.
Poncebos, Bulnes and Sotres · 17 km
Maider (Tagzania user ID: 5660) — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)nature
The start of the Cares Route, the path cut into the gorge wall that links Asturias with León. It was opened in the early 20th century to service a hydroelectric channel, not for tourists.
Even if you do not do the whole route, walk the first stretch: half an hour in you are already in the spectacular part. And in season the car park fills up early: arrive early or take the bus from Arenas.
Dubas from Oviedo, España — CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)heritage
A village no road reaches. Until 2001 you could only walk up by a path taking an hour and a half; now a funicular climbs through the inside of the mountain in seven minutes. Only a few dozen people live there.
The funicular leaves from Poncebos, is paid, and in season it is best to arrive early or buy your ticket in advance. If your legs are up to it, walk up and come down by funicular: the path is part of the place. The car stays in Poncebos.
20 min to the next stop · 11 km
Mick Stephenson mixpix — CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)viewpoints
The highest inhabited village in the Picos de Europa, at one thousand and fifty metres, at the end of a road that leads nowhere else. For centuries it was a village of shepherds and cheese, and the summer huts are still visible on the pastures above.
Carry on along the track towards Tresviso as far as the Jito de Escarandi if the weather is clear: some of the best panoramas of the massif, and almost nobody there.
Potes and Fuente Dé · 88 km
Luis Fermín TURIEL PEREDO — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)history
The capital of Liébana, with medieval bridges over two rivers and the Infantado tower in the centre. It is the liveliest village on the Cantabrian side and the departure point for Fuente Dé.
Try the orujo, distilled here for centuries, and the cocido lebaniego. And if it is Monday, there is a market, as there has been since the Middle Ages.
25 min to the next stop · 23 km
Javier Pais — CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)viewpoints
A glacial cirque closed in by walls of over seven hundred metres, and a cable car that covers that climb in four minutes to the Cable viewpoint, at one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three. Up there you walk across the top of the massif with the peaks all around.
In summer and at Easter there are queues of hours. Arrive first thing, check whether advance tickets are on sale before you go, or go out of season: and in fog you see nothing from up there anyway.
This getaway is in the app, day by day, with every stop on the map, the drives between them and where to sleep, and the option to save it for when there is no signal.
Open in JourGuide
JourGuide