Spain · Asturias / Cantabria / León · Premium route guide
Picos de Europa
450 kilometres of Asturian and Cantabrian mountain roads — Covadonga's glacial lakes, the Desfiladero de los Beyos gorge, the San Glorio pass over the range, and Fuente Dé's cable-car cirque. Full loop on the map, a GPX for your GPS, and the motorcycle-friendly stays other riders have vetted.
- Distance
- 448.1 km
- Peak elevation
- 1,606 m
- Elevation gain
- 6,151 m
- Best months
- May–Oct
The route
A loop from Cangas de Onís: up to the Covadonga lakes, south through the Desfiladero de los Beyos gorge to Riaño, across the range via the Puerto de San Glorio (1,609 m) into Potes and Fuente Dé, then back to the coast at Panes and along to Llanes and Ribadesella. Pins are motorcycle-friendly stays other riders have vetted.
Interactive map needs cookie consent.
Accept cookies at the bottom of the page to load OpenStreetMap tiles for this route.
Works with Garmin, TomTom, BMW Navigator, Calimoto, Kurviger, komoot, MyRouteApp. Import as a track to ride the exact line. Road data from OpenStreetMap (ODbL); elevation from SRTM.
Track vs. route — how to load this into your GPS
What you're downloading is a GPX track — a dense, road-snapped breadcrumb of the exact line, with elevation on every point. It's not a GPX route (a short list of turn waypoints your device re-plans between). Tracks preserve our road choice; routes let the device pick its own way and can send you down a boring motorway shortcut.
How to use it on your navigator:
- BMW Navigator / Garmin Zumo / zūmo XT: import as a track, then Convert to Route (or Trip Planner → new trip from track) if you want turn-by-turn prompts. Keep Recalculation off so it stays on our line.
- TomTom Rider: import the GPX in MyDrive — it loads as a track / itinerary. Enable Follow the exact route so it doesn't re-plan.
- Calimoto: open the GPX and choose Import as tour — Calimoto follows the track line.
- Kurviger / komoot / MyRouteApp: open the GPX and pick Import as track to keep the road choice. Only choose Import as route if you want the app to re-plan for your bike profile.
- Google Maps / Apple Maps: these don't read GPX. Use the map on this page for turn cues, or import the file into a GPX-capable app first.
Rule of thumb: if your device asks "track or route?", pick track to ride our exact line — pick route only if you want the device to re-plan.
Elevation profile
From ~3 m at the base to 1606 m at the top — 6,151 m of total climbing across the route.
The Picos aren't the tallest range in Spain but they're the most concentrated: three massifs of vertical limestone pushed straight out of the Atlantic, split by three deep gorges — the Cares, the Deva and the Sella — with roads threading up all of them. This loop touches each side without doubling back.
Two days is the honest pace. Cangas de Onís or Potes both make a great overnight base — Cangas puts you on the Covadonga climb first thing, Potes puts you at the foot of Fuente Dé.
The road, honestly
This is under-rated riding country. The N-621 through the Desfiladero de los Beyos is one of the finest gorge roads in Europe — narrow, cambered, with the Sella river below and 300 m rock walls above. San Glorio is a proper alpine pass that most non-Spanish riders have never heard of. The coast road home along the Costa Verde swaps mountains for cliffs and green-blue Atlantic bays.
Traffic is Spanish-normal: light on weekdays, busy in August, and the only real bottleneck is the Covadonga lakes road on summer weekends. Ride the lakes early in the morning and the rest of the loop is yours.
Cangas de Onís or Potes as a base
Cangas is the Asturian side — pilgrimage town, Roman bridge, plenty of sidrerías and easy access to Covadonga. Potes is the Cantabrian side — smaller, medieval, and 20 minutes from Fuente Dé. Best pattern: sleep one night in Cangas, ride the loop clockwise, sleep the second night in Potes, and reverse the coast leg back the following morning.
Weather, fuel and cider
Rideable May to October, though the high passes can carry snow into June and again from late October. Coastal weather is Atlantic — expect rain and mist even in summer; the mountains often clear as the coast doesn't. Fuel is easy on the coast and in Cangas, Riaño and Potes; nothing between Riaño and Potes, so tank up.
This is cider country — Asturian sidra is poured escanciada (from a great height, to aerate it) and served in every restaurant on the loop. Order it after riding, not before.
What to see along the way
- Lagos de Covadonga (1,100 m) — Two glacial lakes above the pilgrimage basilica. Toll road up in summer, otherwise a 12 km climb of switchbacks.
- Desfiladero de los Beyos — The Sella gorge on the N-625 — narrow, cambered, and completely spectacular.
- Riaño reservoir — The old town was drowned in 1987 and the new one built above — the ridgeline views over the lake are the reason to be here.
- Puerto de San Glorio (1,609 m) — The pass over the range from León to Cantabria. Wide sweepers, an unfussed café at the top, and the classic photo of the Picos in the distance.
- Fuente Dé — Cable car straight up a 800 m rock face to a viewpoint at 1,850 m. Park the bike, take the car up, ride out.
- Llanes & the Costa Verde — Fishing town on the way home. Rocky coves, cider houses on the harbour.
Rent a bike
Rent a motorcycle or scooter for Picos de Europa
Flying in? Pick up a bike near the start of the route. We've pre-filled the pick-up city with Cangas de Onís / Potes — change it if you're basing elsewhere.
Rentals powered by BikesBooking. StayToRide may earn a small commission — no extra cost to you.
Rider-verified stays within 30 km
Automatically selected by proximity to the traced route — no editorial cherry-picking. Sorted by how close they are to the road.
Ridden this road and stayed somewhere great?
This whole directory grows one rider recommendation at a time. Add a stay and it'll appear on this guide automatically if it's within 30 km of the route.
Suggest a stay