Sunday in Llanes: the painted harbour, the grass cliff and the roaring sea.

Llanes is an hour from Santander and a little more from Oviedo along the A-8, and it is the village on Asturias's eastern coast that you can walk around entirely on foot. This Sunday combines its three walks: the harbour with the breakwater painted by Agustín Ibarrola, the walled old town with its Gothic basilica and the Paseo de San Pedro, a grass path above the cliff. You eat at the El Retiro bistro, in Pancar, and in the afternoon, if there is a ground swell, you go to watch the Pría blowholes roar.

The Day, Hour by Hour

9:30 · Departure. From Santander, take the A-8 towards Asturias, an hour to Llanes. Park near the harbour: in winter there is room without any trouble.

10:30 · The Cubos de la Memoria. Walk round the fishing harbour and the old fish market and continue along the Paseo de San Antón, over the concrete blocks of the breakwater painted by Ibarrola, to the lighthouse. It ends at Toró beach: from its eastern end there is a viewpoint over the Cubos.

11:30 · The old town. The old town is a historic-artistic site. Pass the northern stretch of the 13th-century wall and the tower, the Posada Herrera palace and the basilica of Santa María del Concejo, from the 13th to the 15th centuries, with a Plateresque altarpiece.

12:30 · The Paseo de San Pedro. West of the village, the grass path with a railing opened in 1847 above the cliff, with the village, the coast and the Sierra del Cuera behind. It can be done with a pushchair.

13:45 · Lunch at Le Bistró de El Retiro. In Pancar, five minutes by car, or on foot along the Carrocedo path from the Llanes bridge. It is the informal side of the Michelin-starred restaurant of Ricardo González Sotres, and has held the Bib Gourmand for 2026. It is open at midday from Wednesday to Sunday, from 13:30 to 16:00. Book by phone.

16:30 · The Pría blowholes. In Llames de Pría, twenty minutes to the west. With a ground swell and high tide, the water shoots out of the chimneys in the rock in columns several metres high and with a roar. Check the tide table and do not go near the openings.

18:00 · Return. In Santander around a quarter past seven.

What to Order at the Bistro

Asturian fabada, homemade tripe or hand-line squid in its ink, and to share Cantabrian anchovies or oysters with cider vinegar. If there are two of you, the rice with pigeon. For dessert, the caramelised rice pudding. Pets are not allowed: if you have a dog, in the old town there is the Sidrería El Antoju, simpler and with no reservations.

If the Sea Is Calm, with Children or with Teenagers

On a calm day the blowholes do nothing. Swap the afternoon for a guided sea-kayak route from Celorio with Naturasturias: two or three hours past coves, caves and islets, from €25 per person in a double kayak and from age 4. For teenagers, the same company gives two-hour surf lessons at Palombina, Torimbia or San Martín, from €35 with board and wetsuit. With small children, the Cubos and the Paseo de San Pedro are flat and entertaining.