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Has anyone been for a non-cycling holiday?
We're thinking of going for a week in Sept for some walking, good food and wine, oh and cider too.
What can you recommend to do whilst there or nearby?
Lovely area, are you hiring/taking a car?
Covadonga is probably worth a visit, maybe get down to the coast to San Vicente de la Barquera.
Good climbing. Obvious stunning walk down the Cares Gorge - don't fall off the path - and deadly local blue cheese. It's not far south to the Rioja region, which is worth bearing in mind as the Picos can get proper wet from time to time, it's not called 'the green coast' for nothing, Bilbao's not that far off if you want urban recreation and art (Guggenheim Museum).
The mountains themselves are quite a compact range, hard to get around without a car I think, unless you fancy bike touring.
Yep, got a hire car for 8 days and have no plan yet other than staying at San Vicente on the first night.
I know there's lots to do there but was hoping to just try to see the highlights if the weather is good; so places to visit, walks to do etc.
More familiar with the area around Cabezón de la Sal (just to the east of the Picos park), the villages of Barcenillas, Ruente and Ucieda are pretty, and the area around there (Parque Natural del Saja-Besaya) is gorgeous.
As BWD has pointed out, it can get VERY wet there, as in all day pissing down wet.
Nice line of beaches near Llanes. Fuente de looks good for a visit. I wish we'd gone there when we were in the area a month ago. Outside the Picos but Santillana del mar is worth a look.
we did a bike tour through the area a few years ago. santillana del mar is definitely worth a visit, some nice beaches near san vincente good for surfing too
if you do have a bike or want to head out on some mountain walks get the cable car up the mountain from fuente de and explore the higher paths/routes up there (i rode up too on a separate day, but with all our touring gear the lift is loads easier!) some really good walking/mtb'ing and you can cross the picos on the jeep track and drop down to sotres/la hermida if you wanted to push that far. we climbed one of the nearest peaks to the fuente de cable car station - not too difficult a walk with a bit of scrambling near the top, worth it for the view of the naranjo de bulnes and the high plateau area
the cider bars are great and the queso the cabrales makes stilton taste like dairylea (goes great with the local red wine though!) - if you order a cheese sandwich expect it to be very ripe 😆
cheers, this is all great info
btw: I know the weather is variable in that part of Spain as we went to Galicia & Asturias in 2007 and were warned about the rain. We didn't see a drop for 2 weeks but we were probably very lucky.
I visited the Picos for a fortnight a couple of years back.
Great place & I'd go back.We went on motorcycles but I also did quite a lot of walking.I'd recommend getting the cable car from Fuete de & go for a hike from the top.We camped near Potes,that's a nice little town.
When I go back I want to take the road bike & the mountain bike,lovely part of the world
We were there last year. Beautiful.
As said there are great walks from the cable car & [url= https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TJ9Aa6N0ECs/UDyjERBskHI/AAAAAAAACKM/EVi_vN8Hgjo/s1042/2012-08-28 ]you can take your bike up as well[/url].
If you have kids then getting the cable car & walking back down is a good walk but start early & take loads of water. There is a restaurant/lodge about a third of the way down.
We camped at a lovely little campsite about 200 m from the cable car.
The northern coast is great & there are a series of neolithic caves some of which are open to the public but you need to book in advance. There is one that has a very good life size scale of one of the caves that you can get in without booking.
The cheese is amazing. It's like swallowing fire but strangely nice.
Next year, this is going to be on the Portugal to Santander route for a three week bike tour.
Vuelta goes to Fuente De tomorrow.
Vuelta goes to Fuente De tomorrow
Cheers for the heads up. The Picos is one of my favourite cycling destinations. I might even get to see it in sunny weather for a change, even if it's actually on TV 🙂
Cares gorge walk is the "must do" thing in the region.
The walk up to the hut under Narajo de Bulnes west face is a stunner (approached from the north-east).
If you continue to the road end from where you leave the car on this route you can go down the great mule track down to La Hermida.
Santillana del mar is nice (but dont be tempted to stay the night, it's dead when the tourists go).
Barcena Mayor is a nice little place, with some good walking nearby (think you can walk to Cabezon del sal).
Potes is a good base with nice bars and restaurants.
Covadonga is a pleasant place to visit, impressive church.
Cangas de Onis is another nice town to wander around.
Basically, most of the villages/towns a re worth a stop. Small cheese makers, nice old buildings etc..
Decent maps are easy to get.
Should be there now, but ill. Grrrrrr.