Asturias Voyage Tips and guide

Asturias, officially the Principality of Asturias (Spanish: Principado de Asturias, Asturian: Principáu d'Asturies), is a region in the north of Spain. It sits in the narrow strip between the Cantabrian Sea and the Cantabrian Mountains, forming part of "Green Spain". It has been given the nickname "little Switzerland" because of the greenness of its meadows and the height of its peaks.

43°18′0″N 5°51′0″W

Map of Asturias

• 43.3625-5.8502781 Oviedo is the capital of Asturias. It has a fine old town and cathedral.
• 43.52931-5.677322 Gijón (Xixón), the largest city of the principality, has beaches and a railway museum.
• 43.616547-5.7881313 Luanco is a fishing village with a historic centre.
• 43.556111-5.9222224 Avilés near the airport is mostly industrial, but has several museums and old buildings.
• 43.56-5.9765 Piedrasblancas is a small town with a mining museum beneath the sea.
• 43.389426-6.0686966 Grado is a town on Camino Primitivo to Santiago.
• 43.410945-6.1607867 Cornellana has an 11th-century monastery.
• 43.41-6.2558 Salas has an old castle and church.
• 43.33765-6.414529 Tineo is a village on Camino Primitivo.
• 43.272161-6.60886710 Pola de Allande is a smaller village on the Camino.
• 43.217659-6.87572311 Grandas de Salime is the last village before the Camino crosses into Galicia.
• 43.177-6.5512 Cangas del Narcea is a wine-making village in the hills.
• 43.305144-5.69444713 Langreo is post-industrial, with several mining museums.
• 43.25363-5.77799814 Mieres del Camino is another former mining town on the route between León and Oviedo.
• 43.083052-5.79222315 Pola de Lena is a village on the route between León and Oviedo.
• 43.391224-5.66098616 Pola de Siero is on the link route between the Northern and Primitivo trails.
• 43.481332-5.43346217 Villaviciosa is a cider-making town on the coast.
• 43.513519-5.26975418 Llastres is an attractive fishing village.
• 43.445927-5.08345119 Ribadesella has a cave decorated with prehistoric art. In August it hosts the Descenso rowing race down the river.

• 43.312107-5.0588791 Covadonga saw the first Christian victory against the Moors, in 722 AD. The Shrine of Covadonga is a complex of commemorative religious buildings.
• Picos de Europa are the chain of mountains and forests isolating Asturias from the rest of Spain. Much of the range is a national park, with multiple access points.

The Cantabrian Mountains cut off this region from the rest of Spain. Coursing parallel to the coast, they're Carboniferous limestone, rising to 2600 m in their eastern range the Picos de Europa. They draw the clouds and rain, so Asturias has a cool wet climate, a world away from the arid centre and sunbaked south. Winters are mild but this is one of the few parts of Spain best visited at the height of summer - even then it's not crowded with tourists.

This isolation has left traces of very early habitation, by those pushed to the margins of Europe as later peoples advanced. The Celts arrived from 1000 BC, and from 29 BC the Romans subdued Asturias but were never a major presence. The Visigoths settled from the 5th century as they were displaced from central Europe, and when the Umayyad Moors overran Spain in the 8th century they could never quell this stubborn rain-lashed territory. They briefly occupied it from 714 AD but in 722 were defeated at Covadonga: this encouraged widespread rebellion, and Asturias grew into an independent kingdom that included present-day Galicia and Castile & León. Thus it was under Asturian rule that the legend of St James and pilgrimage centre of Santiago were founded. But power gravitated east, and in 910 the capital moved from Oviedo to León, which supplanted Asturias as a kingdom. Later dynastic unions of León, Castile, Aragon and Navarre created the nucleus of present day Spain. The title of "Prince of Asturias" was created in 1388 for the heir to the Castilian throne, Henry the Suffering, on the occasion of his wedding to Catherine of Lancaster. This had the desired effect of reducing internecine murder between claimants to tolerable levels, so it's been conferred ever since on the heir whenever (as now) Spain has a monarchy.

The fabulous wealth from 17th / 18th century exploitation of the Americas passed this region by, all sucked in by Toledo and Madrid. It had an intellectual resurgence as a centre of the Spanish Enlightenment, then heavy industry arrived in the 19th century with the mining of coal and iron ores. This was not enough to forestall mass migration to the Americas, though a wealthy few known as "Indianos" returned to build grand mansions and modernista villas. But there was unrest among the labouring majority: Asturias in the Civil War stood out for the Republicans, but was crushed by the Nationalists in autumn 1937. Postwar those industries went into long-term decline, to be replaced by service industry, education and IT. Tourism is on a small scale and mostly domestic, though the revival of the pilgrimage trails and occasional football match draw an international audience.

Spanish in its Castilian version is universally understood: this is the version that most visitors learn.

Asturian is similar to Castilian Spanish but recognised as a separate language. It has co-official status here and in the Miranda de Douro area of Portugal, with efforts to promote it in schools and public life. It's used for place names and road signs, so you need to know that Uviéu is Oviedo and Xixón is Gijón. Nevertheless it has nothing like the predominance of, say, Euskara in the Basque country, Catalan in Catalonia and the Balearics, or Galician in Galicia.

English may be understood in the service sector, but this region has few English visitors and away from the cities you need Spanish to converse.

43.559-6.0331 Asturias airport (OVD ^IATA) is 10 km west of Avilés, with buses to that town and to Oviedo and Gijón. It has frequent flights from Madrid, also from Barcelona, Sevilla and Palma de Mallorca, but lacks international flights.

Santander airport has international budget flights (eg Ryanair from London Stansted) and is 3 hours by bus from Oviedo. Otherwise fly to Madrid and take the bus or train onward.

Renfe trains run from Madrid via Segovia, Valladolid and León to Oviedo and Gijón. High-speed services take 3 hours to Oviedo.

ALSA buses from Madrid take 5 hours to Oviedo.

Asturian cities sprawl but most areas of interest are concentrated in a compact walkable area. City buses and taxis reach outlying attractions; you need your own wheels for the mountains and tucked-away coves along the coast.

Cercanías are local trains operated by Renfe. Eight standard-gauge lines fan out from Oviedo and Gijón, with trains every 30-60 min. Fares are inexpensive, as they're heavily subsidised. This means that for places such as Langreo with a good train service there may not be a bus: the Spanish taxpayer won't subsidise both.

"Metro anchoa" means metre-gauge, the separate railway operated by FEVE, until they were taken over by Renfe who let it fall derelict. Elsewhere along the north coast this is still a useful system (eg to reach San Sebastián from France) but there is no prospect of it resuming in Asturias. Renfe are ripping up the tracks just to make the position clear.

Churches, churches, churches, every community has at least one at its core. Unique to Asturias are pre-Romanesque churches, over 1000 years old, reflecting the region's Christian isolation from Moorish rule. Two fine examples are near Oviedo. The following centuries brought Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque styles, at all scales from cathedral to parish basilica, chapel and wayside shrine.

Industrial heritage reflects the 18th to 20th century coal and iron-mining era. It's most visible around Langreo (where you tour down the mine shafts) and Avilés, while Piedrasblancas has a coal mine reaching under the sea. Those industries collapsed in the late 20th century, leaving shabby brownfield sites that needed reinvention: Centro Niemeyer in Avilés is a successful example.

Stone Age artefacts are in every town museum, with a good collection in Oviedo's Archaeological Museum. That era did not leave megaliths in this region, instead material has survived by being sealed away in caves, with examples at La Peña de Candamo in the hills above Pravia, and Cueva del Pindal on the coast near Pimiango. The most remarkable is Tito Bustillo Cave in Ribadesella: its art was the work of Cro-Magnons from 33,000 to 10,000 years ago, predecessors to modern European humans.

Oviedo, the capital city of Asturias, is home to Santa María del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo, a pre-Romanesque church and a palace respectively, which were built by the first Asturian kings on Mount Naranco, to the north of the city (World Heritage Site). In modern architecture, the Palacio de Congresos de Oviedo (or Modoo) was designed by Santiago Calatrava.

Covadonga is a shrine marking the first victory against the Moors, in 722 AD. The name derives from cova domenica, "Cave of Our Lady", where the Virgin Mary supposedly initiated the 800-year Christian reconquest of Spain. The victory was more to do with an already-battered Moorish force trying to attack in rugged terrain that greatly favoured the defenders. The Visigoths of Asturias led by Pelagius had already rebelled against the Moors, who didn't put too much effort into subduing the region: their target was further north in Gaul. But they were trounced at Toulouse in 721 and retreated across the Pyrenees, fearing the reception they'd get back home in Andalusia at ending a brilliant winning streak. Say, why not sweeten the news by knocking off these paltry Asturian rebels? They advanced into a narrow valley to be showered with arrows and rocks from above, and sustained heavy losses. The Reconquista had begun.

Picos de Europa are the mountain range sundering Asturias from the rest of Spain: much of them are a national park. The most spectacular peak is Picu Urriellu (2519 m), also known as El Naranjo de Bulnes as its limestone glows orange in the evening sun - view it from Camarmeñas, south of Arenas de Cabrales. The west face is a 550 m wall, a daunting rock climb.

A series of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves flank the Picos, with protected areas at Muniellos, Somiedo, Redes, Las Ubiñas-La Mesa and Ponga.

Beaches are mostly shingle coves, with sandy strips here and there. The sea is the Atlantic not the Med, so it's chilly and better for wind-surfing than beach-lazing, and you need to seek out sheltered spots for kiddy-bathing. And it's tidal, so at high tide the beaches are covered.

Fiestas - festivals - are a mix of religious and secular. Easter is the big one, and each town has a patron-saint day when a huge Madonna is toted swaying through the streets. Most include civic entertainments, and especially in the cities some are entirely modern raves.

El Camino is the collective name for the pilgrimage trails converging on Santiago de Compostela. The main trail from the French border passes south of this region through León, but Camino del Norte along the coast through Asturias was adopted in medieval times to avoid Moorish territory. Camino Primitivo was the first documented trail, starting from Oviedo. Camino del Salvador is a modern invention, crossing the mountains from León to Oviedo.

Senda del Oso is a 50 km hiking and cycling trail through the mountains along the track of a former railway. Villages along the route include Proaza, Teverga and Quirós.

Golf: courses are in the urban strip between Oviedo and Gijón.

Skiing: Valgrande-Pajares is a winter sports resort in the mountains south of Pola de Lena.

Fabada is a stew of white beans, chorizo sausage, morcilla black pudding and diced bacon.

Cachopo is breaded veal cutlets.

Cheese comes in over a hundred local varieties. Best known is Cabrales, a blue cheese classically from goat milk, but it can be from sheep or cow milk. It's only produced in a group of villages in the mountains of eastern Asturias. Gamoneu is similar, with a lightly smoked flavour.

Frixuelos are similar to French crêpes, and eaten as a dessert.

Arroz con Leche is a rice pudding dessert.

Cider is the staple drink of this region, made from local apple varietals such as Raxao and Xuanina. Escanciar is the ritual of serving it, from a bottle held above your head to a glass held below the hip. This aerates the cider, and you're meant to drink the fizzy mix in one gulp. Set down your glass on the table to await the next serving. Meanwhile your shoes get splattered and the sawdust on the sidrería floor turns to slush.

Wine is produced in Asturias in small amounts: very little is exported so sample it here. Cangas de Onis is a DO region in the eastern hills.

Calimocho is a 50-50 mix of red wine and cola, sometimes with blackcurrant or blackberry syrup. It slides down ever-so-smoothly while you dream that you're still an under-age drinker.

The towns have mid-priced hotels for business travellers. Beach fronts have resort hotels, but on nothing like the scale of the concrete-lined Med.

Albergues de Peregrinos are hostels along the pilgrimage trails. They're basic but welcoming, sometimes only open April-Sep. Often there's no booking, but some only admit you with pilgrim credentials.

Beware traffic, safeguard valuables and dress for the weather, same as anywhere else. Crime is low in Asturias.

The mountains rise up to 2600 m and draw clouds, rain and strong winds; the coast is exposed to the Atlantic. Even on a fine day at the height of summer, you can suddenly be socked in by fog and drizzle, with hiking trails lost in the gloom.

• Galicia to the west is mountainous, with a rugged coastline. The must-see is the cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela.
• Cantabria to the east has a similar mix of rugged coast and scenic mountains. Its top destination is Santander.
• Castile and León to the south has cities with stout walls and grand cathedrals, asserting their Christian identity as the Moors were rolled back. León, Burgos and Valladolid are fine examples.