Getaways and things to do in Green Coast

The Costa Verde of Asturias stretches along 350 kilometres of Cantabrian coast between the Tina Mayor ría to the east, on the Cantabria border, and the Eo ría to the west, where Ribadeo already looks across to Galicia. It is a jagged shore of slate and quartzite cliffs, dotted with coves, sheltered estuaries and countless half-hidden beaches, many of them reached only by tracks plunging through heather and eucalyptus. The name is no marketing trick: rain falls year-round and meadows reach the very edge of the sea, so the landscape stays green while the ocean turns, depending on the day, emerald, leaden or turquoise.

The eastern stretch begins at Llanes and its beaches, where Torimbia, Toranda, Andrín and San Antolín line up in succession. This is also the kingdom of the bufones, natural blowholes through which the sea fires jets of water and deep roars on stormy days, above all at Pría and Arenillas. Ribadesella hosts the international Sella canoe descent every August and shelters in Tito Bustillo one of the world’s most important rock art ensembles, a UNESCO site. Lastres, perched above the sea, looks out from the Fitu viewpoint toward the Picos de Europa.

The central Costa Verde mixes town and nature. Villaviciosa, capital of cider, has its own ría declared a Partial Natural Reserve. Gijón unfolds its seafront quarter of Cimadevilla, Roman baths and the urban beach of San Lorenzo. Avilés combines medieval old town with the stark white of the Niemeyer Centre. And before heading further west, Cudillero appears as an amphitheatre of painted houses above a tiny fishing port.

The western flank is the wildest. Cape Vidio and Cape Busto offer oceanic viewpoints, the Playa del Silencio lives up to its name, Salinas and Verdicio are surf meccas, and Luarca keeps an intimate harbour and a sailors’ cemetery overlooking the Cantabrian. Tapia de Casariego hosts international surf championships, while Castropol closes the coast facing the Eo estuary, a biosphere reserve shared with Galicia.

Gulpiyuri, an inland beach declared a natural monument; the Cuevas del Mar sea caves; sea urchins, spider crabs and cachopo on the table; fabada and Cabrales and Gamonéu cheeses; the cider house where the drink is poured from arm’s height. The Costa Verde is the fold of Asturias where the sea slips in everywhere and the green never gives up.