Asturias Spain

The Region Where Sidra Pours From Chest Height and No One Finds This Strange

Walk into any sidreria in Asturias and watch the waiter raise the bottle above shoulder level, tilt it out, and pour the cider into a wide-mouthed glass angled below the knee – a thin stream falling perhaps 80 centimetres, aerating the drink and releasing its characteristic slight fizz. This is the escanciar, and doing it correctly requires practice. Asturian cider (sidra) is dry, low-alcohol (4 to 5 percent), fermented from local apples, and consumed in enormous quantities across a region that has been making it for centuries. You drink it quickly after pouring, before the carbonation dissipates, then pour the next round and repeat. This is not a tourist experience. It is lunch.

Asturias occupies the Bay of Biscay coast of northern Spain and runs south into the western edge of the Picos de Europa – one of the most dramatic mountain ranges in the country. It is called Green Spain for a reason: the Atlantic climate keeps the hills lush year-round, which makes the landscape visually unlike anything in the south. It is also significantly less crowded than Andalusia or the Basque Country, which means you can have access to good food, excellent hiking, and genuine rural character without competing with other tourists for it.

Where to Go

Oviedo is the regional capital and the starting point for most visitors. The pre-Romanesque churches just outside the city – Santa Maria del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo, both built in the 9th century and both UNESCO-listed – are among the oldest intact Christian buildings in Spain. They predate the Romanesque style by centuries and have an austerity and confidence that more ornate later buildings do not match. The Cathedral of San Salvador contains the pre-Romanesque Camara Santa, a 10th-century chapel holding relics that made Oviedo one of the major pilgrimage stops on the Camino de Santiago.

Gijón on the coast is Asturias’s largest city, a working port with a modern personality. The Playa de San Lorenzo stretches 1.5 kilometres through the city centre. The Roman baths at the Cimadevilla historic district are unexpectedly interesting.

Cudillero is the most photographed village in Asturias: pastel-painted fishing cottages stacked in a deep narrow valley above a small harbour. It looks as if someone arranged them for effect. The seafood restaurants on the harbour serve some of the best Atlantic fish in the region.

The Picos de Europa National Park fills most of the southern border. The Ruta del Cares – a 12-kilometre trail through a limestone gorge with vertiginous drops on both sides – is the most famous walk in northern Spain. Book accommodation in the gateway villages (Arenas de Cabrales, Cangas de Onis) in advance in summer; the gorge trail gets crowded on weekends.

What to Eat

Fabada asturiana is the signature dish: large white fabes beans slow-cooked with blood sausage, chorizo, and cured pork fat until the broth becomes thick and creamy. It takes 4 hours to prepare properly and is available in every sidreria. Heavy, restorative, and specific to this region.

Queso Cabrales is made from a mixture of cow, goat, and sheep milk aged in mountain caves in the Picos de Europa. It is one of the more pungent blue cheeses in Europe – sharp, mineral, creamy – and is correct paired with sidra rather than wine.

The Atlantic coastline means exceptional seafood: hake, monkfish, fresh percebes (goose barnacles), sea urchin. Gijón’s harbour district has the best concentration of seafood restaurants.

Asturias holds more Michelin stars per capita than most other Spanish regions. This is not accidental – the combination of exceptional raw ingredients and serious culinary tradition produces results.

Getting Around

A car is essential for seeing Asturias properly. The ALVIA train connects Madrid and Oviedo in about 4.5 hours. Internal bus networks work for town-to-town movement but are slow for the mountain areas. Spring (April to May) and autumn (September to October) are the best months: pleasant weather, wildflowers or autumn colour, and functional sidrerias without August crowds.