To make your stay with us perfect, today we want to recommend the Ruta del Cares, which is considered one of the most beautiful hiking trails in the world. Nestled in a gorge over the Cares River between the villages of Caín de Valdeón (León) and Poncebos (Asturias) and during a 14-kilometer journey, it is located within the Parque Nacional de los Picos de Europa, approximately one hour from our hotel.
An approximate average is between 3.5 and 4 hours each way, at a leisurely pace, contemplating the scenery and making stops to rest and take pictures. If you walk there and back it takes approximately 7 to 8 hours.
The orography has also made it known as Garganta Divina (Divine Throat). In order to cross from one rock to another, in addition to bridges, some 73 tunnels had to be opened, many of them concentrated between the second section of the route and the last kilometer before reaching Cain.
The Ruta del Cares is not circular, so the return is done by the same route as the outward journey. You can start in Poncebos (Asturias) or in Caín (León), indistinctly. At both entrances there is a small area where you can park your car, although it should be noted that depending on the season it will be more or less crowded.
The difference between the two villages is that in Poncebos, Asturias, the initial section has a slight slope of 2 km.
If we start the route in the part of Cain, on the other hand, the road has hardly any unevenness.
The entire route, round trip, is about 24 km and takes about 6 hours and 15 minutes on average.
The Ruta del Cares was opened between 1945 and 1950 so that the operators of the Camarmeña hydroelectric plant could access the water channels that reach the Cain dam (León), built between 1916 and 1921.
It was a complicated work in which more than 45 people worked. Like the canal, the way is carved into the rock, 50-60 meters above the Cares River.
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