Lovely Liebana, Spain: a holiday guide

Naturally enclosed and clearly defined by mountains on all four sides, with four verdant valleys converging on its capital at Potes, the Liébana region is one the most marvellously picturesque and thrillingly unspoilt holiday destinations in Europe.

La Liébana can only be reached from Spain’s northern coast via the steep-sided Desfiladero de la Hermida, a spectacular gorge cut through the glorious Picos de Europa mountains. The vertical rockfaces of the narrow canyon eventually open wide to invite you into a 550 km² bowl of deep, lush mountain countryside.

For scenic vacations in Spain, especially walking holidays, this extraordinary area is hard to beat. The protected enclave enjoys a rare microclimate that is universally Mediterranean in the localities where Cantabria holiday villas are to be found, and excitingly alpine at altitude among the peaks.


We already give an introduction to La Liébana in our guide to holidays in Picos de Europa; and as one of your holiday documents, Rustical Travel will send you a personalized guide for the property where you are staying. Based on our intimate knowledge of the area it goes into helpful detail, describing walks mentioned below, explaining how to find out-of-the-way beaches and directing you to restaurants that only the locals know about.















Here we give you a good idea of what to expect.

What to do in La Liébana

1. Potes & Tama
Potes is the tourism hub for the region. It’s where you’ll find shops selling maps and guidebooks, agencies offering adventure tourism (canyoning, 4 x 4 trips, mountain biking, horseriding) and a buzz of other holidaymakers. It’s the one place in La Liébana that tends to be busy: not what most people come to Picos de Europa to experience, but for the practicalities of shopping and such like, Potes is the town.

If you go there, the Monday morning market is a lively occasion (it’s said to be the oldest continuously running street market in Spain, originating in medieval times) and we will point you towards at least 3 good restaurants that offer good fare at reasonable prices, unlike many of the fast-food outfits that you will see everywhere.

Tama village, 5 minutes up the road from Potes, is much quieter. It is here that you will find the extensive Visitors Centre for the Picos de Europa. In addition to interesting displays explaining the biodiversity of the National Park and audio-visual experiences, you can also ask about free guided walks that they often organize for the Liébana area. Tama is also famed for its pungent, crumbly cheeses.

2. Fuente Dé cable car
It’s impossible to spend long among the Picos and not want go up the mountains! Well, it’s very easy. A half hour’s drive from Potes brings you to Fuente Dé, from where a cable car rises to a heady 1,800 metres. It’s an impressive ride (vertigo sufferers be warned…) which leaves up top amidst amazing alpine scenery, looking out at bare rock face and snow resting on the jagged peaks, another world from the mild valley below. Well signposted walks lead off from here for those who want to explore: the Picos de Europa lie before you for some terrific high altitude treks. Many simply enjoy the views and take the cable car back down again. Not to be missed.


3. Walks (easy, medium and challenging!)
Hiking is the main activity and reason to come to the Liébana. And for good reason: you really are spoilt for choice. In fact, the possibilities are so numerous that it can be confusing. We’ll suggest at least two walking itineraries specific to the local Cantabria cottage where you are staying in the information we send with your booking confirmation, but here we would like to explain the major and most enjoyable options.




Easy walk (a picnic)
Just above Tama, the wonderful Pendes forest is ideal for lazy walks and families with small children. Pendes is a little village, surrounded by tremendously old chestnut trees, some of them many hundreds of years old. There are meadows here, too, and it’s simply a beautiful spot to stroll, or take a picnic. You may see wild orchids, alpine newts, Pyrennean chamois, wild ibex and the European Griffon or smaller Egyptian vulture.



Medium
From Potes, one road leads out west through the Valdebaró valley via Camaleño to Fuente Dé. As it meanders through the valley, following the course of the River Deva, the road passes by a succession of well-preserved, pretty villages that you will see dotting the hillsides. Pathways often join one village to another and represent opportunities for good hikes in this very attractive natural landscape. Our recommendation is the route between Pembes (not be confused with Pendes above!) and Cosgaya which crosses the river along the way.

Another road from Potes, this time leading south then west through the Valle de Cereceda via La Vega, brings you to another medium-grade hike of a different kind. From Dobarganes, a path goes all the way up to the summit of Pico Jano. From here the panorama is (as they say) stunning. It takes an hour and a half each way: plenty enough to work up an appetite and we’ll indicate a decent place for lunch on your way home.

A third walk ascends to the high village of Tresviso, famous in Spain for its spicy cheese, on a two-and-a-half hour route that follows a clear, rushing river then climbs past giant ferns up through a fabulous and craggy landscape to a cliff rest point, home to a colony of Griffon vultures, where the views are an adrenaline-rush! The path winds up further to Tresviso at 845 metres, where simple local hostelries cater to the hungry and thirsty.


Challenging
Our choice here is a circular 5-hour route that requires physical fitness but involves no climbing or other mountaineering skills: older children should be able to manage it, too. First, go to Fuente Dé, but don’t take the cable car: it’s you who will be rising up through the mountains like some latter day smugglers! From there, a path leads you on a winding route up and up, with spectacular views, as far as Liordes.



4. Cultural Liébana
The traditional culture of the Liébana has the popular character typical of outlying rural areas. If Catholic rites were and remain the mainstay of social activities at village level, they were embellished by local customs as well as myths and legends passed on orally in story and song, especially in winter months when families would gather round the kitchen hearth.

Folksongs, occasionally bawdy, would accompany church weddings, and the groom would make a gift of jugs of wine or a roast lamb to the young men in the village his bride-to-be was from.
Christian tradition is maintained in local romerías, or devotional pilgrimages, on which villagers gather together to walk to holy sites or carry an image of the Virgin. They may wear traditional dress, sing and if the distance is considerable take food and wine for a picnic. Easter Week is also marked by processions.


Folklore is kept alive at annual village fiestas in dance and song and the occasions are fêted with marvellous and typically generous Cantabrian cooking.



Architectural culture is similarly expressed in popular and ecclesiastic forms. Dwellings are still charmingly constructed in stone and wood ensuring an unbroken line of heritage style, the new fitting seamlessly with the ancient. On casual strolls around the villages and hamlets of the Liébana you can see examples of old village bread ovens and pillaried grain stores, now protected listed buildings.


For visits to significant historical monuments, we suggest three outstanding edifices:


Santa María de Piasca church
In the village of Piasca, this architectural jewel dates back to 1172, when it complemented a monastery. Today, it is the Gothic interior that is particularly memorable. There is a beautiful illustration of the adoration of the Three Wise Men. A superb Limoges crucifix, normally kept in Santillana’s Regina Coelli museum, is brought to the church for the Holy Week services.

Santa María de Lebeña Church
This delightfully harmonic church is situated on a rise outside the village of Lebeña, where it has pride of place among vineyards, meadows and planted fields. Its history extends back over 1,000 years. The front of the main altar is a single, massive stone that once formed part of the flooring. Found during restoration works in 1971, it depicts a wheeling sun symbol and may once have been a Celtic stela.

Santo Toribio de Liébana Monastery
First mentioned in documents in 828 AD, the impressive monastery has undergone a good deal of remodelling and enlargement over the centuries and is now administrated by the Franciscan order, who rescued it from abandonment in 1961. Its overwhelming claim to greatness, though, is the Lignum Crucis: said to be the largest existing remnant of the cross on which Jesus Christ died. The relic is believed to be have been brought from Jerusalem by Saint Toribio, when the city was threatened by a Persian invasion. You can see it in a gilded, baroque inner sanctum. For this reason, the Monastery is an important pilgrimage destination: it is noteworthy that the Catholic Church celebrates only four Jubilee years (of remission and pardon): Rome, Santiago de Compostela, Jerusalem and Liébana.


5. Coastal attractions

San Vicente de la Barquera
San Vicente is a remarkably pretty and genuine fishing town. The old quarter, including the street that goes up to the old church and castle, is very quaint. You can look back to the impressive Picos de Europa in the distance, usually snow-covered all year round, while fishing boats bob in the sea: it’s quite spectacular. People typically come to San Vicente to eat fish or seafood in one of its lively bars or popular restaurants. It is less than one hour’s drive from Potes.


Oyambre Natural Park
A protected area of sand dunes, impeccable beaches of fine sand, cliffs and forest. There’s not much infrastructure and you need to be intuitive, but it’s quite easy really: just park the car and take one of the many paths in to discover the area. We like the little chiringuitos (beach bars) around Oyambre, although bear in mind that in peak season this area gets quite packed.
Rustical Travel will send you more recommendations and directions to the best out-of-the-way beaches, as part of the local information for your holiday booking in Cantabria.



More beaches
For holidaymakers in La Liébana, our tip from the Cantabrian coast is to drive – or take the FEVE train (see below) – a few minutes to cross the Asturias border, where you will soon come to two of the most interesting beaches in Northern Spain. For more information, please see our guide to the 10 best beaches in Asturias.




6. A natural wonder
Inland from San Vicente de la Barquera are the extraordinary Soplao Caves in the Sierra de Arnero mountain range. They are regarded as one of the natural treasures of the world due to the quality and immaculate whiteness of the rock formations. There are 17 kilometres of cave in total. Two different types of visit take you inside either on an old mining train and then by foot to one of the largest chambers; or a longer and more exciting tourism-adventure visit on foot, for which you are provided with boots, overalls, helmet and lamp.



7. Feve train
If you go to the coast and fancy exploring by train, the narrow-gauge FEVE train is a big hit with many visitors. It runs all along the northern Cantabrian coast and continues west to Asturias and east into the Basque Country. It’s pleasant, cheap and efficient, and you can get off at interesting fishing villages and beach destinations.

 

8. The Cantabrian brown bear
This very rare, endangered animal has chosen the wilds of Liebana as one of its breeding grounds. There are just 30 of them here, jealously protected by an official foundation, and a very lucky few sometimes sight one. Read about it in the Financial Times article on the Liebana.

Find out more about Cantabria

Cantabria villas & cottages: self catering holiday accommodation in La Liebana and other areas of Cantabria 

Cantabria guide: holiday guide for Cantabria

Cantabria highlights: 20 reasons for choosing Cantabria

Picos de Europa: the superb alpine-style mountain range is a magnet for walkers
 

Cantabria for children: 15 holiday ideas for families