Colunga, Asturias: municipality guide

Colunga is a municipality in eastern Asturias, in the Sidra comarca, between the Sueve mountains and the Cantabrian Sea. Its capital is the town of Colunga, and it has 3,143 inhabitants (INE 2025) over an area of 97.57 km².

The municipality of Colunga highlighted in gold (eastern Asturias) on the map of Asturias

What to see in Colunga

The Jurassic Museum of Asturias (MUJA), in Rasa de San Telmo, is one of the region’s most visited museums. With its characteristic dinosaur-footprint shape, it showcases the palaeontological richness of the Asturian coast, one of the world’s most important sites for Jurassic dinosaur footprints. An essential visit for families.

Lastres, its most famous fishing port, descends like an amphitheatre towards the sea and is a listed historic ensemble. It is one of Asturias’s main fishing ports and preserves its seafaring charm with steep streets, the church of Santa María de Sabada and the 18th-century Clock Tower. Its Carmen festival includes a maritime procession.

The Sueve mountains, with the Fitu viewpoint, offer one of the most celebrated panoramas in Asturias, from the sea to the Picos de Europa. At La Majada de Espineres, the Fiesta del Asturcón is held every third Saturday in August, declared of regional tourist interest, during which the year’s newborn Asturcón horses, an autochthonous breed, are branded.

The church of Santiago de Gobiendes is one of the most important churches of Asturian art, representative of the last stage of Asturian pre-Romanesque. Declared a Historic-Artistic Monument, it preserves capitals, shafts and windows from its former splendour, with a probable Mozarabic influence in its arches.

The palace of Gobiendes, also a Historic-Artistic Monument, grew from a medieval tower that belonged to the Oviedo diocese until Philip II sold it to Gonzalo Ruiz de Junco. With two perpendicular wings and an attached chapel with a barrel vault, it is one of the most notable palaces in eastern Asturias.

La Griega beach, with its famous dinosaur footprints visible on the cliffs, and the church of Santa María de la Isla complete the municipality’s coastal offering. Ideal places to combine beach, nature and heritage.

Camino de Santiago: the Camino del Norte — a UNESCO World Heritage site — crosses Colunga through La Isla and the town of Colunga, on the Ribadesella–Sebrayo stage.

Getting there

Colunga is well connected: the A-8 motorway and the N-632 national road cross the municipality from east to west. The regional roads AS-257, AS-258 and AS-260 lead to Lastres, Infiesto and Arriondas respectively, and the AS-330 to Villaviciosa. The town of Colunga lies about 58 kilometres from Oviedo.

The municipality of Colunga and its main towns · the capital, Colunga, in gold

Municipality map: data © OpenStreetMap (ODbL). Own rendering, no Google, no cookies.

Festivals and gastronomy

The festive calendar includes the sea-urchin festival on the first weekend of February in Huerres; the Nuestra Señora de Loreto festivities on the second Sunday of July in Colunga; the Carmen festival with a maritime procession in Lastres on the Sunday after 16 July; and the San Roque festivities in Lastres on the second-to-last Sunday of August. On the December bank-holiday weekend, the Festival of the Asturian faba bean is held, a fair-exhibition with the different beans grown in the municipality, a tasting of bean dishes and gastronomic days.

Municipality data

Capital: Colunga
Population: 3,143 inhabitants (INE 2025)
Area: 97.57 km²
Zone: East (Sidra comarca)
Demonym: colungués, -a
Parishes: 13 (Carrandi, Colunga, Gobiendes, La Isla, La Llera, La Riera, Lastres, Libardón, Lue, Pernús, Pivierda, Sales and San Juan de Duz)
Town Council phone: 985 85 60 00
Address: Plaza del Ayuntamiento, 1 — 33320 Colunga