Spain and Portugal for Visitors

The regional tourist board's very colourful, enjoyable and informative website.

From a country hotel, as informative a website as I have found on the subject in English.

The River Eo rises in Galicia, but where it opens up into a ría (a sunken estuary, like a fjord or firth), it forms the natural boundary between Galicia and Asturias. Galicians call it the Ría de Ribadeo, Asturians the Ría del Eo. So if you are travelling along the coast - for example, on the fabulous narrow-gauge FEVE railway - Castropol, on the east bank of the ría, is either the last place you leave in Asturias or the first place you come to. It's a nice little place, and has been rich in the past, which is why a number of palaces of various ages contribute to its historic centre being classified as "of cultural interest" in terms of Spanish heritage. So it is a good introduction to Asturias, or a pleasant memory of it to savour, depending on the direction of your train.

In the western coast of Asturias, Cudillero is one of the most picture-postcard-perfect fishing ports you could hope to find anywhere, its houses clinging to the hillsides which are nearly cliffs forming a natural amphitheatre around the harbour below. Not many years ago, almost the only possibility visitors had of staying the night was the informal network of rooms let out by las viudas, the widows, who you had to find by asking around in the village. Inevitably, it is more professional about things nowadays, but not off-puttingly so, as you can see from this charming website. What to Do??? (sic). Answer - walk around the town looking at the houses and churches, walk up to the lighthouse, attend the Friday market, watch the fishing boats come in and land their catches, do the fishermen's bar crawl...

Asturias tourism website from an Internet advertising firm. Clicking "in english" takes you to the northofspain.com listed elsewhere on this page.

Ropey English, but some great pics and a wealth of information on this lovely rural area.

Splendid photographs of pre-Romanesque churches, Oviedo, Ribadesella and Teverga, including pictures of bears.

Luarca, "capital" of the borough of Valdés, is not as quaint as its neighbour Cudillero but more important as a working fishing port, which gives it an appeal of its own. With its adjacent beaches, it is popular with tourists in the summer and a destination for excursions at weekends, and the queues for tables in the harbour-side fish restaurants can be epic in scale.

The typical drink of Asturias is not beer or wine, but sidra, cider, served from the bottle held high overhead with the glass held as low as possible in the other hand and tilted so that the cider falls hard on to the side of the glass. Only a couple of mouthfuls of cider are poured at a time. The process, called escanceado, whips the dregs out of the cider and onto the sides of the glass, and adds a tiny bit of fizz to the otherwise nearly flat drink. The annual Festival de la Sidra, Cider Festival held in the town of Nava, thirty-odd kilometres east of both Gijón and Oviedo, is the most compelling reason to visit it. The link goes to its municipal website.

Actually the English-language version of "Desde Asturias," listed elsewhere on this page. Not all the articles have been translated, but the navigation in English seems to work well.

Portal de ocio y turismo de Asturias, fiestas populares, comida típica asturiana, hoteles, turismo rural, playas y rustas de montañas, Picos de Europa, ruta de la Sidra, monumentos, museos, ...

Rural region in the west of Asturias, bordering with Lugo in Galicia. This regional website puts it like this: "Between the Oscos mountains and the Eo riverside there’s a region to discover, valleys and rivers that conserve their original purity; typical houses and mills that speak about forgotten times, hospitable people, friendly lodgings and delicious gastronomy."

Very rural region in the west of Asturias, which has been turned into a kind of living theme park, the Parque Histórico de Navia. It has fishing villages galore, gorgeous landscapes, prehistoric and Roman remains, and the typical casas palacio, manor houses. The link goes to the Spanish-only but fascinating website of the parque histórico.

The official website of the Asturian government, with four major sections - Visit Asturias, Work in Asturias, Live in Asturias and Study in Asturias.

The easternmost municipality in Asturias, bordering on Cantabria. The link goes to its Spanish-only municipal website.

These web pages of photos and videos show the coastal hamlet of Viavélez in the borough of El Franco, Asturias, to be a gorgeous little place. What attracts most visitors, though, is that it was the birthplace of the astoundingly prolific Spanish romantic fiction writer Corin Tellado, who died in April 2009. Tellado is considered the most read writer in Spanish with the sole exception of Miguel de Cervantes, and the biggest selling author in the Spanish language, at over 400 million copies. By working to a strict daily timetable (and rarely correcting or rewriting), she published over 4000 titles, and is credited with being at least partially responsible for the emergence of the telenovela in Central and South America. She has a street named after her in Viavélez, and it doesn't seem enough.

Nice online guide. Here is the only slightly too breathless blurb submitted by young Phil of Visit Asturias - take the adspeak out of it and it's a fair enough description: "A practical and pictorial guide in English to the natural paradise of Asturias on Northern Spain's beautiful Costa Verde. VisitAsturias includes information on the coast, countryside, cities and culture of this unique and delightful region."

Remarkably comprehensive guide to the Principality of Asturias, in directory format. Spanish only, which in this case is really bad luck for non-speakers.

Thematic packages for visiting Asturias, offered by various travel agencies through this site of the regional tourist board. A few are classed as "circuits," lasting around a week, but most of the packages are for two or three days, with Adventure, Culture, Cuisine, Nature, Health, Car, Golf and Snow as the themes.