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Recommendations for Picos de Europe National Park

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Hi,
I am new to this group and hope to get some good incites. We are going to be in northern spain for 8 days in early May of 2024. We plan to start in Bilbao and then move on to San Sebastian and the French Basque area for a couple of days. We definitely would like to spend a day or two visiting the Picos de Europe park. We are 77 years old but still enjoy some mild hiking so we would love some suggestions on what we should do and where we should go in the park. I don't mind driving mountain roads.

Also, should we plan to stay in Leon or Burgos on our way back toward Bilbao? We will be spending a night in the La Rioja region before we head back to Bilbao where we will fly back to Barcelona. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated! At this point our travel plans are very fluid other than our arrival and departure dates and locations.

Posted by
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There are plenty of hiking areas in Picos de Europa park. The Sanctuary of Covadonga is interesting and worth visiting. I entered the park via Cangas de Onis, but you’d be entering it on the eastern side, so I don’t know the hiking areas there. The roads leading to the park are rural with twists and turns going through the hills. They are in good repair and traffic should be light.

From it, León is out of the way, so I’d go with stopping in Burgos with a possible side trip to the Cartuja de Miraflores outside of Burgos. Bilbao and La Rioja are an easy drive from Burgos. Popular towns in La Rioja are Briones and Laguardia. We also enjoyed walking up to the castle in San Vicente de la Sonsierra. In Laguardia, if you don’t want to walk to the upper town, take the elevator (Ascensor de Laguardia). There is free parking near the PISCINAS MUNICIPALES and the elevator is a couple minutes walk from it. Also outside of Burgos is the archeological site at Atapuerca if you’re into those.

If you’re a fan of the movie The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, you could visit the filming location of Sad Hill Cemetery. It’s about 30 minutes southeast of Burgos in a very remote location. You take a dirt road to get to it. Near it is a hiking area Desfiladero de La Yecla.

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