Coaña, Asturias: municipality guide
Coaña is a municipality in western Asturias, in the Eo-Navia comarca, between the Navia estuary and the Cantabrian Sea. Its capital is the town of Coaña, and it has 3,321 inhabitants (INE 2025) over an area of 65.80 km².
What to see in Coaña
The Castro de Coaña, also known as El Castrillón or Castellón, in Villacondide, is one of the most important and most visited hillforts in Asturias. Built at the beginning of our era, it reached its peak during the Flavian period and declined from the 3rd century onwards. Declared a Historic-Artistic Monument, it preserves walls with towers and a moat, and circular and rectangular huts built in slate and mud. It has been linked to the gold mining operations of the Navia basin.
The Castro de Mohías, set on a flat coastal area, is the municipality’s other great hillfort. It already existed in the 1st century of our era and is also declared a Historic-Artistic Monument. It had a wall a metre and a half wide and three moats carved into the rock, and its dwellings are predominantly rectangular with rounded corners.
Ortiguera is the municipality’s harbour and one of its most charming corners. Its rugged coastline and beaches such as Arnelles complete a territory where history and the sea go hand in hand. In Ortiguera stands the Quinta Jardón, an eclectic building promoted by a wealthy family, with schools, a park and the bust honouring the benefactor.
Santa María de Cartavio, in the parish of Cartavio, preserves a circular Romanesque window from its original building. Nothing else remains of the primitive temple, dated to the year 976, but its age makes it one of the oldest places of worship in the municipality.
The palace of Mohías, of the Cienfuegos-Jovellanos family, Marquises of Mohías, is an 18th-century «U»-shaped building with an attached chapel. Its sober, symmetrical façade, with arrow slits on the ground floor and windows above, represents the manorial architecture of western Asturias.
The Navia river and the Arbón reservoir mark the eastern boundary of the municipality. In the 19th century an iron bridge was built over the Navia connecting with the town of Navia, and upstream the Arbón reservoir dam, on the border with Villayón, harnesses the river and its tributaries, the Meiro and the Palmión.
Camino de Santiago: the Camino del Norte — a UNESCO World Heritage site — enters Coaña at El Espín/Barqueros, after crossing the Navia estuary, and passes Jarrio — with a pilgrims’ hospital founded in 1370 — and Cartavio.
Getting there
The municipality is crossed by the A-8 motorway and by the national road N-634, between kilometres 525 and 531. The regional road AS-12 connects with Boal, Illano and Grandas de Salime, and the local roads CÑ-1 to CÑ-6 provide communication within the municipality and with El Franco. Coaña lies about 113 kilometres from Oviedo, in western Asturias.
Municipality map: data © OpenStreetMap (ODbL). Own rendering, no Google, no cookies.
Festivals and gastronomy
Coaña’s festive calendar is very busy: on 16 July the Carmen in Ortiguera is celebrated, with the tradition of carrying the image of the Virgin from her chapel down to the fish market; from 24 to 27 July, Santiago and Santa Ana in Jarrio and Folgueras; on 7 August, San Cayetano in Sequeiro; and from 5 to 7 August, San Salvador in Loza. In September, the first weekend brings La Caridad and San Agustín in Ortiguera, with regattas and a country picnic, and the second half of the month the Rosario festivities in Cartavio. The 26th and 27th of September are San Cosme and San Damián in Villacondide, in October the festivity of Nuestra Señora del Rosario in the town of Coaña, and on 26 December San Esteban in San Esteban.
Municipality data
- Capital: Coaña
- Population: 3,321 inhabitants (INE 2025)
- Area: 65.80 km²
- Zone: West (Eo-Navia comarca)
- Demonym: coañés, -a (cuañés, -a in eonaviego)
- Parishes: 7 (Cartavio, Coaña, Folgueras, Lebredo, Mohías, Trelles and Villacondide)
- Town Council phone: 985 47 35 35
- Address: Plaza del Ayuntamiento, s/n — 33795 Coaña
Coat of arms: Wikimedia Commons / SanchoPanzaXXI (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Neighbouring municipalities
Useful links
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See on the interactive map: The 78 municipalities of Asturias
