Parres, Asturias: municipality guide

Parres is a municipality in eastern Asturias with 5,141 inhabitants on 126.08 km². Its capital is Arriondas (officially Arriondas/Les Arriondes), a town crossed by the river Sella which every August becomes the starting point of the municipality’s most international event: the Sella Descent, the only Festival of International Tourist Interest in Asturias.

Things to see in Parres

To the north, the Sierra del Sueve provides the municipality’s backdrop. It is a Protected Landscape whose summit, the Picu Pienzu (1,161 m), marks the boundary with Colunga and is one of the classic climbs of eastern Asturias: the waymarked PR-AS 71 route starts at the Mirador del Fito and ascends through meadows and beech woods —such as La Biescona— to a summit with views over the Cantabrian Sea and the Picos de Europa. Its slopes are grazed by asturcones, the native Asturian horse breed.

The Picu Pienzu (1,161 m), summit of the Sierra del Sueve, on the boundary between Parres and Colunga. — Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Conchi Pardo (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The capital, Arriondas, hugs the river Sella, one of Spain’s great salmon rivers. Every year the Descenso Internacional del Sella (International Sella Descent), known as Les Piragües, starts from its waters: thousands of canoeists set off beneath the Puente Emilio Llamedo on the first Saturday of August after the 2nd to paddle down to Ribadesella. The race was founded in 1930 through the efforts of Dionisio de la Huerta and is declared a Festival of International Tourist Interest, the only one in Asturias.

Inland, the hamlet of Colláu L’Andrín is a natural balcony over the Sella valley with views of the Picos de Europa. The historic heritage is led by the church of San Martín de Escoto, in Llames de Parres, of pre-Romanesque origin and declared a Historic-Artistic Monument, and the cave of El Taragañu, in Arobes, where Palaeolithic stone and bone remains have been found.

View of Arriondas, capital of the municipality of Parres, with the Sierra del Sueve behind. — Photo: Wikimedia Commons / McBodes (CC BY 3.0)

The Sella is also the setting for salmon and trout fishing and adventure sports: the canoe descent between Arriondas and Ribadesella is one of the most popular activities of the Asturian summer.

Getting there

The N-634 (Oviedo–Santander) crosses the municipality and the N-625 connects it with Cangas de Onís and Covadonga; the AS-260 leads to the Caravia coast. Arriondas has a station on the narrow-gauge commuter line (the former FEVE) between Oviedo and Santander, with stops also at Soto de Dueñas and Ozanes. Oviedo is about 64 km away.

Festivals and gastronomy

The big event of the year is the Descenso Internacional del Sella (Les Piragües), on the first Saturday of August after the 2nd, declared a Festival of International Tourist Interest. The festive calendar includes the Fiesta del Bollo de La Peruyal (last Sunday of July, regarded as the festival of the parragueses), the Virgen del Carmen in Arriondas (July), Santa Rita (22 May), La Reina (1 and 2 August) and San Miguel in Cofiño (29 September). At the table, Parres boasts of being the first municipality in Asturias with two Michelin-starred restaurants —those of Nacho Manzano (three stars) and José Antonio Campoviejo (one star)—, of its chestnut-based desserts and of Sella salmon and trout.