weber6560

Several years ago I spent a couple of hours in Luarca on the north coast. A beautiful setting and my size town. I'd welcome any thoughts on whether it would it be a good base for a week or so, places to stay in the "downtown" area, etc.

One of the prettiest coastal places I have seen anywhere.

Thanks.

ribeirasacra

Downtown? I don't think there is one. Wiki gives the population as begin around 5,500 and that includes some villages around this town.

ekscrunchy

I am afraid I am of no help with your question but I will chime in to say that I agree with you--the Astiurian coast is so beautiful and it rarely gets a mention here..we spent two nights in Cudillero. Wow!

Viajero2

weber-- I love when I see posters bringing up the small gems, the unbeaten paths. It is too often on this board that travelers tend to do "cookie cutter" vacations; stay in the same hotels, follow the same path, don't divert from the main road. Please go to Luarca and come back and tell us more!

mikelg

Weber, please keep all those beautiful places secret...

CathyM

mikelg - you're giving all the "secrets" away in your blog!

Robert2533

We've managed to get in a few weeks in the area over the last few years, hard to beat for beauty. The first place we stayed was at Torre de Villademoros in Cadavedo, in western Asturias (www.torrevillademoros.com), using it as a base to explore the coast during our first week in Asutrias. Luarca is about a 20 minute drive west of the Tower, but would still make a good place for exploring the costal region. The A-8 is finished, which makes driving along the coast a lot easier then following the N-632.

JulieVikmanis

We enjoyed Luarca but liked Cudillero even better. Trouble with Cudillero is it's at the base of a hill with limited parking and would IMO be difficult to use as a base for the problems of getting in and out each day. We have gone twice now to Ribadesella, a bit further east than both of these towns but very easy to use as a base, both for more exploration of coastal towns and for a quick trip into the Picos de Europa. We have stayed there at one of our favorite hotels of all of our travels--the Villa Rosario, directly on the water in a small cove and on a great boardwalk. The downtown is either a short drive or a long walk from the hotel and we found it delightful. Villa Rosario is one of the Los Indianos mansions built by Spanish people who returned with money they had made in the Americas. There is some fantastic architecture all along the boardwalk. My trip report from our 2008 trip in Northern Spain might help you. It's got info about Ribadesella and Villa Rosario. Prices are up over the rate we paid in 2008. I think our room was 130 euros in 2010. Here's the link to my report. Wherever you go on the Northern coast of Spain, you'll be rewarded with plenty of beauty. Enjoy

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...hern-spain.cfm

weber6560

Many thanks for the responses.

Ribeirasacra, your point re "downtown" is a reasonable one. What I was trying to describe was the area down near the marina as opposed to "up on the hill". Last I checked, the lodging I could find on the internet was on the hill or back near the coast road. I am sure there is something in near the marina B&B, etc. May have to write the "tourism" board.

Julie: great trip report. Agree re Ribadeo, Hogar San Francisco, San Vicente.

In my hazy memory, Luarca, Cudillero, and Llanes are very similar - bottom of the hill, small interior marinas, and compact areas around the marinas. I may be favoring Luarca simply because the sun was out while it was cloudy when in Cudilleros!

Mikelg: You will recall how much I enjoyed my weekend in Lekeitio. What I am trying to do find a similar place but a bit larger that might keep me going for 4-5 days. I'll probably then run back to Bilbao/San Sebastian and just eat for another week or so.

I am not one to make a lot of reservations in advance, preferring to make it up on the fly. My thinking is that if I go in mid-May the weather will be clearing up and crowds won't be there yet and and I could probably get away wlith reservations in most places. What do you think?

Thanks agin to all!!

lreynold1

Hi, weber,

I have walked the Camino del Norte, which goes through many coastal towns in this part of Spain. I would say the stretch from Tapia de Casariego on the west to Castro de Urdiales on the east is about 350 kms of pure pleasure (excluding a few very ugly kilometers near Aviles). Lots of great places to stop in between. Llanes and San Vicente de la Barquera are two nice destinations that are more centrally located on that strip and are also nice jumping off places for heading south to the Picos de Europa if you tire of the coast. Plus a day trip to Oviedo would be easy -- Oviedo is one of my very favorite Spanish cities, just beautiful.

I have spent some nights in Luarca, always at the same place up on the top of the hill. http://www.villalaargentina.com/ It's a short walk down to the harbor where more restaurants are. I've enjoyed the free internet (a big deal when walking and not carrying a computer)and good breakfasts. Nice garden outside for relaxing, too.

This area is a great place to spend some time!

JulieVikmanis

lreynold1, Thanks so much for that hotel reference in Luarca. Partial as I am to Ribadesella and Villa Rosario there, the Villa Argentina looks terrific too. It's going into my file.

lreynold1

Hi, Julie,
It's a very different type of location from the villa in Ribadesella, as you've probably seen. Villa Argentina is up away from the harbor (no views at all), and it's in a funny kind of neighborhood, with a few other of these places nearby and then some not so pretty new development. But it is a very nice place.

While we're talking about coastal town accommodations, I also really liked the Casona del Pio in Cudillero. The problem with Cudillero is parking, but the best thing to do is to park in the huge free lot back behind or beyond the tourist office. I'm sure that even that lot gets filled in summer, but it's only about a 5 minute walk from the harbor area, which is where Casona del Pio is.