Grandas de Salime, Asturias: municipality guide
Grandas de Salime is a municipality in western Asturias, in the interior of the western comarca. It borders the province of Lugo (Galicia) to the south and west, and the Asturian municipalities of Santa Eulalia de Oscos, San Martín de Oscos, Pesoz and Allande. Its capital is the town of Grandas. With 767 inhabitants and 112.55 km², it is one of the least populated municipalities in the Principality, an eminently rural territory where Eonavian, the Galician-Asturian language of the area, is spoken.
Things to see in Grandas de Salime
The land lies between 400 and 800 metres above sea level, with gentle, rolling relief crossed by the Sierra del Acebo. Its highest point is Mount Pedras Apañadas, at 1,204 metres. The sierra acts as a barrier against oceanic influences, so Grandas has a drier climate with a more continental character than most Asturian municipalities. Its river basins are those of the Navia and the Agüeira, and it has protected areas in the sierras of Carondio and Valledor, where native oak and chestnut predominate.
The great landmark of the municipality is the Salime reservoir, opened in 1954 on the River Navia. Its construction held the population for a few years —in 1952 the municipality reached its historic peak of 3,785 inhabitants— but the flooding of the most fertile valley lands then accelerated an unprecedented rural exodus from which the municipality never recovered. Today the reservoir is also a leisure resource, and its hydroelectric power station, designed by architect Joaquín Vaquero Palacios with murals by his son Joaquín Vaquero Turcios in the turbine hall, is recognised by the Docomomo organisation as an outstanding piece of modern architecture.
The municipality is divided into 7 parishes —Grandas de Salime, La Mesa, Negueira, Peñafuente, Trabada, Villarpedre and Vitos— and its main population centres are the town of Grandas, where most of the population is concentrated, Santa María, Cereijeira and Castro. The Iron Age left one of the most important archaeological sites in western Asturias here: the Chao Samartín hillfort, with its Roman domus, alongside the hillforts of Pelou and Valabilleiro. Roman gold mining also left its mark: at Penafurada the tunnels dug to carry water to the Valabilleiro workings survive.
Religious and civil heritage completes the visit: the parish church of San Salvador de Grandas, which keeps its Romanesque doorway; the chapel of San Lázaro de Padraira, on the site of a medieval leper hospital on the Primitive Way; and 18th- and 19th-century emblazoned manor houses such as Casa Román, Casa Magadán in Santa Marina or the Alonso-Magadán ancestral home in Vitos. The Grandas de Salime Ethnographic Museum, created in 1986 in the old rectory, holds more than 8,000 items and works as a living museum: visitors can watch turners, weavers and blacksmiths at work, as well as orujo distillation.
Camino de Santiago: Grandas de Salime is a stage on the Camino Primitivo and forms the last Asturian stretch of the route before it enters Galicia over the Puerto del Acebo (1,116 m). The classic stages are Berducedo – Grandas de Salime, skirting the reservoir, and Grandas de Salime – A Fonsagrada, already on Galician soil.
How to get there
Communications are those of a mountain municipality in the western interior. The AS-12 road follows the River Navia and continues into Galicia, while the AS-14 links Grandas with the AS-15 at Puente del Infierno. The town of Grandas lies about 149 kilometres from Oviedo.
Festivals and gastronomy
The festive calendar revolves around the parishes: San José in Villarello (19 March), San Isidro in Fogosa (15 May), San Antonio in Villabolle (13 June, with its traditional auction of local produce), Nuestra Señora del Carmen in Grandas (2 and 3 July) and, in August, the great San Salvador festivities —As Festoas—, on the first weekend, joined on the last Sunday of the month by the Sardine festival. The economy remains rooted in the primary sector, with livestock farming as its base, and blueberry plantations have grown over the last decade to cover some 10 hectares.
Municipality facts
Coat of arms: Wikimedia Commons / SanchoPanzaXXI (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Capital: Grandas
- Population: 767 inhabitants (INE 2025)
- Area: 112.55 km²
- Zone: West
- Demonym: grandalense
- Town hall: Plaza de la Constitución, 1, 33730 Grandas de Salime. Tel. +34 985 62 70 21
Neighbouring municipalities
- Santa Eulalia de Oscos
- San Martín de Oscos
- Pesoz
- Allande
- Province of Lugo (Galicia)
Useful links
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See on the interactive map: The 78 municipalities of Asturias
