Picos de Europa: Spain's First National Park Has a Gorge That Drops 1,000 Metres Through Solid Limestone

1. What Picos de Europa actually is — three massifs, a naming mystery, and Spain's oldest national park

Spain designated the Picos de Europa a national park in 1918 — the same era the concept was being established across Europe. The park covers 67,127 hectares straddling three autonomous communities: Asturias, Cantabria, and Castilla y Leon. The mountains belong to the Cordillera Cantabrica, running parallel to the northern coast, and they rise fast: Torre Cerredo, at 2,650 metres, sits less than 30 kilometres from the Bay of Biscay's beaches.

The name has a contested origin. The most widely accepted explanation is nautical: these were the first significant peaks visible to sailors returning from the Americas, the literal first 'peaks of Europe' their bows pointed toward after crossing the Atlantic — a designation that would date to the 16th or 17th century height of transatlantic trade from ports like Santander and Gijon.

The park organizes around three limestone massifs: the Western Massif (Cornion), the Central Massif (Los Urrieles), and the Eastern Massif (Andara). The Central Massif is the most dramatic. This is where the Naranjo de Bulnes (Picu Urriellu) stands — a 2,519-metre sheer limestone tower first climbed in 1904 by Pedro Pidal, the same man who later campaigned for the park's legal protection. Casual hikers don't ascend it, but the walk through the Bulnes valley to a point where it fills the skyline is one of the finest approaches in the park.

2. The Cares Gorge — eleven kilometres carved through solid limestone

The Ruta del Cares is the most visited trail in the park and probably the most famous gorge walk in Spain. Eleven kilometres of narrow path run through the Desfiladero de los Beyos — walls rising 1,000 metres on either side, the path carved not for tourism but for infrastructure. In the 1940s, a maintenance track was cut into the cliff face to service a water channel diverting flow from the Cajo reservoir to hydroelectric plants in Asturias. That track became the trail you walk today, and the original channel still runs alongside for most of the route — occasionally visible as a narrow concrete trough, occasionally disappearing into short tunnels through protruding rock.

The walk runs between Poncebos on the Asturias side (91m elevation) and Caín on the León side (470m). Technically it is nearly flat — less than 400m of total ascent over 11km — making it accessible to most walkers. Most people do it as an out-and-back from Poncebos. A better but more logistically complex approach is point-to-point: park at Poncebos, walk to Caín, arrange a return taxi (roughly €50–70, booked in advance via Potes or Arenas guesthouses). Several basic guesthouses in Caín accommodate walkers who split the route across two days.

The gorge's best section is the final three kilometres before Caín, where the walls narrow, the path crosses bridges over the Cares River below, and sections of the trail are protected by metal handrails bolted directly into the cliff. It is entirely safe for anyone comfortable with some lateral exposure — but that exposure, combined with the length of the walk, causes some walkers to turn back before the gorge's most impressive section. For more on the Asturias region beyond the park, there is much more coastline and culture on the northern side.

3. Covadonga — where the Reconquista was said to begin

Before the Picos is a hiking destination it is a pilgrimage site. In 722 AD, a Visigothic nobleman named Pelayo led a small force against a Moorish army in a mountain valley near what is now Covadonga and won. The scope of the battle was probably modest — later chronicles amplified the numbers considerably — but its symbolic weight was enormous: this was the first significant Christian military victory after the Moorish conquest of most of the Iberian Peninsula in 711, and it became the founding myth of the Reconquista, the 770-year process that ended with Ferdinand and Isabella's conquest of Granada in 1492.

The site has attracted pilgrims since the 8th century. The current Basilica de Covadonga — a pink granite neo-Romanesque church built between 1877 and 1901 — stands at the base of a limestone cliff. Built into the cliff face directly above is the older Cueva de Covadonga, a cave sanctuary containing a statue of the Virgin of Covadonga (La Santina), patron saint of Asturias, with Pelayo's tomb set in the rock just outside. A waterfall drops behind the cave continuously. The combination of the cave church, the waterfall, the pink basilica below, and the constant movement of pilgrims gives Covadonga a quality different from the rest of the park — quieter and more complicated.

Seven kilometres above the basilica (by road, or a 2-hour walk with 600m ascent) are Lake Enol and Lake Ercina, two glacial lakes at 1,100 metres. The 9km circuit connecting them is the easiest and most photogenic walk in the park, with open meadowland and clear views across to the central massif on a good day.

4. Fuente De and the Aliva plateau

At the southern end of the park in Cantabria, the Teleferico de Fuente De is among the highest cable cars in Spain — a single gondola lifting you 753 vertical metres in approximately 4 minutes, from the village of Fuente De at 1,070 metres up to the Aliva plateau at 1,823 metres. The approach to the base station follows the valley of the Deva River between vertical limestone walls: the drive itself is one of the more dramatic park entries available by car.

From the top, the landscape changes completely from the forested valleys below. The plateau is open, wind-exposed, covered in alpine meadow and limestone pavement. Trails fan out from the summit station, ranging from easy plateau walks to a multi-hour descent on foot into Espinama in the valley. The most rewarding option for a full day from the summit is the walk to the Collado de Liordes (approximately 3 hours, gaining another 500m), which gives a view directly into the central massif and looks down into the upper section of the Cares Gorge from above — the same gorge accessible from Poncebos below, seen at a completely different scale.

The village of Fuente De itself has four hotels and a parador. The Parador de Fuente De sits at the cable car base and typically books months in advance in August. In September it has full availability, and the terrace views at dusk — limestone walls going orange, the Deva River audible below — justify the price.

5. Cabrales cheese — aged in the limestone caves themselves

The village of Arenas de Cabrales is the commercial and cultural center for one of Spain's most distinctive food products: Queso de Cabrales, a blue cheese with DOP (Denominacion de Origen Protegida) status aged in the natural caves of the Picos limestone massifs. The caves maintain a constant 8–12°C and 90–95% humidity — conditions that allow the cheese to develop its distinctive blue-green veining through *Penicillium* mold strains present naturally in the cave atmosphere.

Cabrales must be made from raw (unpasteurized) milk and can blend cow, goat, and sheep's milk in any combination. It must be aged in natural limestone caves — not purpose-built cellars — assigned to individual cheesemakers within the Cabrales municipality. Cheesemakers check their cheeses every 2–4 days during a 2–4 month aging period; the difference between a young Cabrales (2 months: milder, creamier) and a fully aged one (4+ months: intensely pungent, slightly spicy) is substantial.

In Arenas, the Museo del Cabrales (on the road into town from Panes) runs 45-minute guided cave tours with a tasting — the easiest entry point to understanding the aging environment and how to evaluate the cheese. The main street has several shops selling directly to visitors. In the local bars, Cabrales arrives alongside sidra (Asturian cider), poured in the traditional Asturian style: held high above the glass, poured thin to aerate before drinking.

6. September in the Picos — why this specific month works better than August

August in the Picos is popular to the point of being difficult. The Covadonga Lakes road closes to private vehicles from mid-July through late August; Fuente De cable car queues run 45–90 minutes by 10:00 AM; and the Cares Gorge fills with walkers by 9:00 AM on summer weekends. In September, all of this changes. The Covadonga Lakes road reopens around September 1st. Fuente De queues rarely exceed 20 minutes. The Cares Gorge in the first morning hours belongs almost entirely to walkers who stayed overnight in Poncebos or Arenas and started early.

September weather in the Cantabrian range is the practical optimum for hiking. The Picos receive some of Spain's highest rainfall — the northern face intercepts Atlantic fronts directly from the Bay of Biscay — but September is typically the driest month after July and August. Valley temperatures sit at 18–22°C by day, dropping to 10–13°C at night. At altitude, subtract 5–8°C from those figures. Carry a waterproof regardless: the Picos generate local cloud systems fast, and the transition from clear sky to full cloud takes under 30 minutes in this terrain.

The ecological highlight of September is the beginning of the hayedo (beech forest) color change. Beech forests cover the lower slopes throughout the park; by mid-September the first trees at higher elevations turn yellow-gold. Peak autumn color comes in mid-to-late October, but September gives you the earliest gold against still-green lower slopes — a more varied palette than the full autumn season, and with better hiking weather. The Cantabria's coast and medieval towns coast and medieval towns are easy additions to a Picos base trip if you enter from the south.

7. How to get there and where to base yourself

The park has no train access. Most visitors arrive by car rented from Oviedo Airport (OVD) or Santander Airport (SDR). Drive time from Oviedo to Cangas de Onis is approximately 50 minutes; from Santander to Potes (southern Cantabrian gateway) is about 1 hour 20 minutes. ALSA runs buses from Oviedo to Cangas de Onis several times daily and from Santander to Potes, but frequency is low enough that basing yourself without a car limits day-hiking options significantly.

8. Is hiking in the Picos dangerous? Fitness level, gear, and what to expect

The Ruta del Cares is not a technical trail — it requires no climbing equipment, no guide, and no specialist fitness beyond the ability to walk 11km on a narrow path with some exposure to one side. The main risks are heat (start before 9:00 AM, carry 2+ litres of water per person), the absence of shade, and overconfidence about the return leg. The path back from Caín to Poncebos adds no difficulty but is the same distance — most walkers underestimate how tired they will be on the return.

For the Fuente De plateau and higher trails, the equation changes. Above 2,000 metres, weather can shift in under an hour. The terrain above the cable car summit is marked but not guarded — if cloud drops, visibility can fall to 20 metres on limestone pavement where trails are intermittent. The rule for the upper massif is simple: carry a paper map or downloaded offline GPS track (IGN 1:25,000 maps are available; apps such as Wikiloc and AllTrails have the Picos covered), check the morning forecast at the Asturias Meteorology service, and turn back early if cloud starts building.

A guide is not required for standard routes but makes sense for anything above 1,800 metres if you are unfamiliar with mountain navigation. The Escuela de Montaña de Picos de Europa in Potes offers day guiding and skills courses. For the Naranjo de Bulnes — the iconic limestone tower — professional guiding and technical gear are necessary; this is a serious mountaineering objective, not a day hike.