Cape Vidío and Its Lighthouse

The wildest cape in the council area, in Oviñana, about 15 minutes by car west of Cudillero. You park next to the lighthouse and look out over cliffs of almost 100 metres; from here you can see the beaches of Peñadoria and Cueva and, on clear days, the coast for a very long way. Beneath the cape opens the cave of La Iglesiona.

What you will see

Cudillero's tourist office calls Vidío one of the most important capes in Asturias and the greatest example of the council area's cliffed coast, with walls of quartzite and slate of almost 100 metres. Cudillero Aventura, which tours it by boat, gives the cliff of the cape 87 metres. On clear days you can see the Estaca de Bares, in Galicia, and Cape Peñas, according to the town council.

The lighthouse is inside a walled enclosure, on the edge of the cliff, and forms part of Turismo Asturias's lighthouse route. At the foot of the cape is La Iglesiona, a sea cave about 60 metres high shaped like a temple dome; Cudillero Aventura gives it 67. Turismo Asturias warns that it can only be visited at low tide and watching the time of high tide very carefully. The safest and most comfortable way to see it is from the water, on the boat trip to Cape Vidío, which goes close to its entrance.

Birds and protected landscape

Almost the whole Cudillero coast lies within the Protected Landscape of the Western Coast, a strip of about 35 kilometres. On the Vidío cliffs seabirds breed, above all the European shag and gulls, and the peregrine falcon lives in the area. A pair of binoculars in your rucksack makes all the difference.

How to get there and safety

You reach the lighthouse by car via Oviñana. If you feel like walking, the town council links a coastal path joining Oviñana, Valdredo, Albuerne and Novellana along the cliffs and the Vidío lighthouse. It is linear: sort out your return before you set out.

There are no fences on the cliff edge. With children, keep them by the hand away from the edge, and with a dog, on a lead. In strong wind or fog, do not go near the drops. The visit to the viewpoint takes between 30 and 45 minutes; in summer, sunset is a good time to go.

What to combine

From Oviñana you are a step from San Pedro de la Ribera beach, with facilities, and from Silencio beach, further west. If you are travelling with a dog, Salencia cove, in Novellana, admits them all year.