Peñamellera Alta, Asturias: municipality guide

Peñamellera Alta (in Asturian, El Valle Altu de Peñamellera) is one of the smallest and least populated municipalities in Asturias: 496 inhabitants on 92.19 km². Its capital is Alles. Set in the far east of the region, between the Sierra del Cuera and the Picos de Europa and bordering Cantabria, it is a land of deep valleys, cave art and a great cheese-making tradition.

Things to see in Peñamellera Alta

The capital, Alles, keeps the air of the indiano villages of the east: grand houses built by emigrants returned from the Americas. Its most notable building is the baroque church of San Pedro (1787), founded by Juan de Mier y Villar, with its tower rebuilt in 1847. Nearby stands the Torre de Lombero, a medieval defensive tower reformed in 1646.

Baroque church of San Pedro de Alles, capital of the municipality. — Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Ramón (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The municipality’s great prehistoric treasure is the cave of Llonín, also known as the cueva del Quesu, with Palaeolithic engravings of horses, deer and bison discovered in 1971 and regarded as among the finest examples of European cave art.

Next to Alles, the ruins of San Pedro de Plecín are the remains of a late-Romanesque 12th-century church declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC): its doorway and stone walls, half-eaten by vegetation, make one of the valley’s most evocative sights.

Late-Romanesque (12th century) ruins of the church of San Pedro de Plecín, an Asset of Cultural Interest. — Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Ramón (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The landscape is dominated by the Pica de Peñamellera (765 m), the crag that gives the municipality its name and separates it from Peñamellera Baja. To the west, the Cares river gorge —with the Niserias salmon preserve and the Puente La Vidre— marks the boundary with Cabrales; to the north stretches the Sierra del Cuera, a Protected Landscape crowned by the Turbina peak (1,315 m), and to the south rise the summits of the Ándara massif, in the Picos de Europa.

Getting there

The municipality is reached by road: the AS-114 follows the Cares valley and the AS-345 climbs to Alles via Besnes. There is no railway; the most usual access is from the N-621 (Unquera–Panes), in neighbouring Peñamellera Baja.

Map of the municipality of Peñamellera Alta: the capital, in gold. Data © OpenStreetMap (ODbL).

Festivals and gastronomy

The festive calendar spreads its dates across the valley’s villages: San Antonio (June) and La Sacramental (August) in Alles, Nuestra Señora del Monte in Ruenes, the Fiesta del Cabritu in Oceño, San Justo y Pastor in Mier, San Fausto in Trescares (October), San Francisco de Asís in Rozagás (October) and San Millán in Besnes (November). Ruenes also hosts the Jana livestock fair, held since the 18th century. At the table, the stars are Peñamellera cheese, with a great tradition in the municipality, Cares salmon, Peñamellera honey and cider.