El Refugio de Redo sits in the heart of the Camaleño Valley, in the district of Liébana (Cantabria), at the foot of the Picos de Europa National Park. A mountain corner where stone villages, green valleys, history and breathtaking nature live side by side.
From the house, a few minutes by car will take you to some of the most beautiful places in northern Spain. Here is what awaits you nearby.
Nature on your doorstep
Valleys, meadows and peaks rising above 2,600 metres. The countryside around Redo is the Picos de Europa at their purest.
Villages full of charm
Mogrovejo
The closest village and one of the prettiest in Cantabria. Listed as a Historic Site, it keeps its medieval tower, seventeenth and eighteenth-century manor houses and privileged views of Peña Sagra and the Picos de Europa.
Potes
The capital of Liébana, crossed by the river Quiviesa. Its medieval old town — cobbled streets, stone bridges, the Torre del Infantado and the church of San Vicente — is listed as a Historic Site. This is the place to try cocido lebaniego, the local chickpea stew.
Espinama
A mountain hamlet on the road to Fuente Dé, with stone houses and traditional grain stores. An excellent starting point for walks in the eastern massif of the Picos.
Cosgaya
A small, quiet village beside the river Deva, among meadows and woodland, with stone houses and a mountain feel that invites you to switch off.
Places you should not miss
Fuente Dé cable car
About 20 minutes from the house. In just 4 minutes the cable car climbs 750 metres to the El Cable viewpoint (almost 1,850 m), with vertiginous views over the central massif of the Picos de Europa.
Monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana
One of the five holy sites of Christianity, alongside Jerusalem, Rome, Santiago and Caravaca. It guards the Lignum Crucis, the largest surviving fragment of the Cross of Christ, and celebrates the Lebaniego Jubilee Year.
La Hermida gorge
The longest gorge in northern Spain (some 22 km), carved by the river Deva between limestone walls up to 600 metres high. A spectacular natural pass at any time of year.
Church of Santa María de Lebeña
Tucked away in the gorge, this is one of the most beautiful and best preserved pre-Romanesque churches in the north, built in the tenth century in Mozarabic style and ringed by mountains.
Picos de Europa National Park
Spain's first national park and one of the most spectacular natural areas in Europe: limestone peaks, gorges, woodland and wildlife such as the bearded vulture, the chamois and the capercaillie.
Photographs of the surrounding area kindly provided by their authors through Wikimedia Commons (CC BY / CC BY-SA licences).