Asturias & Picos de Europa Cycling Climbs

Mountains

The Asturias region is not as well known as The Alps, The Pyrenees or The Dolomites for cyclists, but they should be. The mountains here are stunningly beautiful, offer varying challenges and are extremely quiet in terms of both tourists and traffic.

The Picos de Europa National Park is the most famous range in the region, but the Somiedo Mountains also offer incredible scenery that takes nearly all visitors to the region by surprise with its beauty.

Situated so close to the coast, the mountains are not as high as Europe's other great ranges; however, the climbs are every bit as long and challenging as anywhere else on the continent.

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Scenery

Words can't do justice to the beauty of Asturias. The Picos de Europa are breathtaking in their shape and contours; similar to The Dolomites in Italy, but with more vibrant colors and without any crowds.

Western Asturias is similarly quiet and beautiful, with both rolling hilltops and rugged, rocky mountains. Don't let the lack of 2,000m+ giants put you off - the scenery here is as impressive as any high mountains we have visited in Europe.

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Roads

The road surfaces are of a consistently high quality in Asturias and are a pleasure to ride on a road bike.

There is very little traffic on nearly all of the climbs throughout the year.

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Getting There

Asturias has one major aiport near the city of Oviedo (Asturias Airport). Otherwise train connections are available to Gijon or Oviedo from Bilbao and Madrid.

To get into the heart of the mountains with a bike, a car is needed.

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Weather

These are high mountains and the weather is predictably unpredictable! Summers are usually hot with a lower chance of rain than the rest of the year. Rain is not especially uncommon, but usually comes in the form of short showers, rather than lingering around for an entire day, and you can expect most days to be sunny and dry.

Many of the climbs are open throughout the year, with the roads going over 1,400m most vulnerable to closure in winter.

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Cycling Holidays

We currently run two cycling holidays in Asturias. Our Picos de Europa & Asturian Coast is the slightly easier option, with the option of doing valley routes or high mountains each day.

While our Great Climbs of the Vuelta is a difficult tour, tackling the most iconic climbs in the region, and with tough rides every day.

You can find more details and links to the full itinerary in the tour information below.