Ponga, Asturias: municipality guide
Ponga is a municipality in eastern Asturias with 576 inhabitants on 205.98 km². Its capital is San Juan de Beleño, a village embedded in the Cantabrian mountains whose territory, declared a Natural Park and Biosphere Reserve, is a paradise for active tourism: hiking, canyoning and thermal waters among beech forests and gorges.
Things to see in Ponga
All of Ponga is nature. The Ponga Natural Park protects a Cantabrian massif of very rugged relief, combining carboniferous limestone, slate and quartzite in steeply pitched ridges. Its most emblematic spot is the dense Peloño beech forest, one of the best-preserved woodlands in Asturias, and the Vibuli and Carangres canyons, a canyoning venue. The high-mountain rivers are the Ponga, which gives the municipality its name, and the border river Sella, arriving from León along the only stretch of the range where the provincial boundary does not follow the watershed.
Another geological wonder is the Foz de la Porquera, where the Vallizón river joins the Ponga in a spectacle of limestone walls, and the Beyos Gorge, the defile the N-625 follows along the upper Sella. To recover, the Mestas Spa offers high-quality thermal waters and a public swimming pool with views of Tiatordos and the Ponga range.
Ponga’s cultural heritage lives on in its hamlets: the Beleño Ecomuseum, devoted to woodcraft, in the capital; the Ventaniella and Arcenorio hermitages, on the old historic routes that crossed the range; the Sobrefoz palace and the Señoriu de Cazu; the Cazo tower and the 17th-century church of San Juan de Beleño; and the hamlets of Tarañes and Viegu, balconies hanging over the valley.
Getting there
The N-625 (Cangas de Onís–Riaño) is the municipality’s main artery: it runs through the Beyos Gorge following the course of the Sella. From it branches the AS-261 at Puente de los Grazos, an 18.6 km regional road leading to San Juan de Beleño via Sellaño. From the capital, the local roads PO-1 to PO-4 connect with Sobrefoz, Ventaniella, Abiegos and Viego.
Map of the municipality of Ponga: the capital, in gold. Data © OpenStreetMap (ODbL).
Festivals and gastronomy
The most unique festival is the Aguinaldo and the Guirria (1 January, San Juan de Beleño), declared a Festival of Regional Tourist Interest: the aguinaldo horsemen and the Guirria’s retinue set off for Cainava, where the Guirria kisses every lass he can. On 13 May the Queso de los Beyos cheese fair is held, and in summer the festivals of Nuestra Señora de las Nieves (4, 5 and 6 August, Cazo and Sellaño) and San Lorenzo (10 and 11 August, Abiegos). Autumn ends with the Santina de Ventaniella (1 September), the Santina de Arcenoriu (8 September) and the Caza game-food days (last weekend of November). At the table, Beyos cheese and game rule.
Municipality facts
Coat of arms: Wikimedia Commons / Manuelfb55 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Capital: San Juan de Beleño
- Population: 576 inhabitants (INE 2025)
- Area: 205,98 km²
- Zone: Eastern
- Demonym: pongueto, pongueta
- Town Hall: Plaza José Antonio Muñiz Jove, 6, 33557 San Juan de Beleño. Tel. +34 985 84 30 01
Neighbouring municipalities
- Parres
- Piloña
- Amieva
- Caso
- Burón (León, Castilla y León)
- Maraña (León, Castilla y León)
- Oseja de Sajambre (León, Castilla y León)
Useful links
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See it on the interactive map: The 78 municipalities of Asturias
