The Picos de Europa by car: itinerary, Covadonga lakes and gorges

The classic Picos tour links Cangas de Onís (north-west, Asturias side), Arenas de Cabrales and Panes (north-east), Potes and Fuente Dé (south-east, Cantabria side), then the León flank via Riaño before returning through the Los Beyos gorge. About 200 kilometres on the clock — but narrow, winding mountain roads where the average rarely beats 40 km/h: the full loop comfortably fills three days, five with the hikes.

Counter-clockwise (Cangas de Onís to Potes along the coast, returning through the south) puts the two great gorges on descents and keeps the best — Fuente Dé and the climb to the Covadonga lakes — for morning slots, when light and crowds are at their most favourable.

The little road climbing from the Covadonga sanctuary to lakes Enol and Ercina — 12 km of hairpins gaining over 1,000 metres — is one of the trip's summits, literally and figuratively. But in high season (summer, long weekends and spring holidays, with dates set each year by the park), it is closed to private cars for most of the day: you park below, in Cangas de Onís or at the sanctuary car parks, and ride up by shuttle bus or licensed taxi.

This switch to shuttles is no local quirk but a proven policy of Europe's mountain parks: a study by Francesco Orsi and Davide Geneletti published in 2014 in the Journal of Transport Geography on the effects of access policies in an Alpine tourist destination (the Dolomites) shows that regulating car access combined with a public transport offer effectively reorients visitors' mode choices, which are highly sensitive to site crowding (scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Orsi+Geneletti+assessing+effects+access+policies+travel+mode+choices+Alpine). In practice: off season you savour the climb at the wheel; in summer you take the first shuttle of the morning and come out ahead — the lakes without the queues of cars.

Three gorges structure the tour of the massif. The Desfiladero de los Beyos (N-625, between Cangas de Onís and Riaño) threads the road through a limestone slot of startling depth; La Hermida (N-621, between Panes and Potes) strings together 20 km of bends between walls that barely let the light through; finally the little AS-264 climbs from Arenas de Cabrales to Poncebos, gateway to the legendary Ruta del Cares hike, the 'divine gorge' carved into the cliff face.

These roads are shared: plenty of cyclists, coaches in La Hermida, herds coming down from the summer pastures in late summer. Drive with the window down, give a short horn tap in the tightest blind bends as the locals do, and use the widenings to let others pass — the logic of Scottish passing places, limestone edition.

A road dead-end at the head of the Liébana valley, Fuente Dé justifies the detour on its own: the cable car swallows 750 metres of wall in minutes and sets you down in the heart of the central massif, from which trails of every level radiate. First departure of the morning is imperative in summer — the queue grows fast — and bring a warm layer even in August: it is often 10°C colder at the top.

For walkers, the two drive-to classics remain the Ruta del Cares from Poncebos (12 km each way, vertiginous yet technically easy) and the loop of the Covadonga lakes (an easy 2-to-3-hour circuit). Start early, for the light as much as for the parking.

The ideal window runs from May to October, with two caveats: Atlantic mist can drown the summits in any season — checking the lakes webcam before climbing spares disappointments — and August crowds saturate car parks and shuttles. June and September offer the best light-to-crowd ratio. In winter the massif is snowbound and some high roads close: the loop remains feasible, the lakes much less so.

No 4x4 is needed: every road described is paved. A compact is actually an advantage in the gorges and villages. The most convenient bases are Cangas de Onís and Arenas de Cabrales in the north, Potes in the south-east — book early in summer. The itinerary grafts naturally onto a green-Spain road trip between Bilbao and Galicia, to combine with our Spain guide.