# Two nights in Somiedo to see bears, an hour and a quarter from Oviedo

A guided outing to see the brown bear at dawn, the Saliencia lakes and the La Pornacal summer pasture, sleeping in Pola de Somiedo, an hour and a quarter from Oviedo.

Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/asturias/somiedo/itineraries/somiedo-bear-watching-two-nights-from-oviedo · Revisado: 2026-11-12

Dónde: Somiedo

Somiedo is one of the few places in Europe where you can see a wild brown bear, and the best time is dawn. That is why you have to sleep there. This plan arrives on Friday, goes out with a guide first thing on Saturday and splits the rest of the weekend between a braña of thatched huts and the glacial lakes.

## Where to sleep

In Pola de Somiedo. The Hotel Castillo del Alba, three stars, has rooms with bunk beds for families and prepares picnics; it closes from 10 January to 10 March. Casa Miño has a hotel, apartments and the restaurant; it closes from 15 December to 1 March.

## Getting around

By car: each valley has its own road and none crosses to the next, so everything goes through Pola. To La Farrapona you go up via Saliencia, a mountain-pass road.

## El plan

### Friday · 19:00 · Arrival in Pola de Somiedo
An hour and a quarter from Oviedo via Grado and the Pigüeña valley. Dinner at Casa Miño and early to bed.

### Saturday · 7:30 · Bears with a guide
Somiedo Experience leaves from Pola with groups of two to eight: waiting with a telescope first thing and an interpretive walk afterwards. About four hours, €50; ages 8 to 12, €25.

### Saturday · 13:30 · Lunch in Pola
Casa Miño, with cabbage pot and meat from its own cows. Closed on Tuesdays.

### Saturday · 16:30 · La Pornacal braña
From Villar de Vildas, 3.6 km to the best-preserved thatched-hut summer pasture in Somiedo, and back. If you have legs left, carry on to Los Cuartos.

### Sunday · 9:30 · Saliencia lakes
From the Alto de la Farrapona, at 1,708 m, a 7.6 km circuit past four glacial lakes. Ask the hotel for a picnic.

### Sunday · 15:00 · Drive back
Via Pola and the Pigüeña. In Oviedo about 17:00.

## Un consejo más

If the morning outing doesn't suit you, the guide also goes out in the afternoon, around 17:30, and comes back at dusk.

## Cuándo no ir

If you go in mid-winter: several hotels close and the passes may have snow.

## Preguntas frecuentes

### Is seeing a bear certain?
It isn't guaranteed: it depends on the weather and the animal. The best seasons are April to June and mid-August to mid-September.

### From what age?
The bear outing, from age 8.

### How much does it cost?
Two nights, the bear outing and meals, between €220 and €300 per person.

### Can it be done from León?
Yes: via Babia and the Somiedo pass it is a little under two hours to Pola.

## Dónde dormir if you're driving
- **Hotel Castillo del Alba**, desde 60.5 € / night: The Castillo del Alba is a three-star hotel built in 2001 on Calle Flórez Estrada in Pola de Somiedo, the capital of the council and the geographical centre of the Natural Park and Biosphere Reserve. It is small, with seventeen rooms, and medieval in feel inside and out: it was decorated by the interior designer Chus Quirós with slate, wood and marble.
Slate, wood and marble by Chus Quirós
The building, of stone and wood, has a garden and a children's play area. One detail worth knowing beforehand: in some of the rooms the bathroom is open to the bedroom, with the bath or washbasin in view and the toilet behind a door. Others have a closed bathroom. If you prefer that, ask when you book.
Doubles of 20 m², suites of 28 and bunks for four

Doubles, about 20 m², with a double bed or two beds, a shower, flat-screen television, minibar, hairdryer, toiletries and free wifi.
Suites, about 28 m², roomier and with panoramic mountain views: a hydromassage bath, a separate shower cubicle and a sitting area with a desk.
Family rooms: several doubles have a small sitting room that converts into a bedroom with two 90 cm bunk beds, for families of up to four.

The suites and the upper floor have air conditioning. Turismo Asturias counts 35 places, three of them on extra beds, and a laundry service, a meeting room and a television lounge. Parking is private and free for guests. Check-in is from 15:00 and check-out before 12:00.
Picnics for the braña and guided outings
The hotel restaurant serves traditional Asturian cooking, with the gochu asturcelta, the native pig, and is also open to those not sleeping here. It prepares takeaway food and made-to-measure picnic bags, which suit a day at the Saliencia lakes, where there are no services up top, or at the braña of La Pornacal.
The hotel sells the Enjoy Somiedo package, which combines the stay with a guided outing: bear watching, of about four hours; a route through the park of six to eight hours; a one-night bivouac; the deer rut; reptiles and amphibians; the wolf, or environmental education. It does not publish prices: ask for them. If you prefer to go on your own, Somiedo Experience's bear-watching outing meets in the Pola.
No charge on booking, cancellation fifteen days ahead
Turismo Asturias gives indicative rates of €60.50 to €77 a night. High season runs from 15 July to 10 September, plus Easter and long weekends. It closes from 10 January to 10 March.
Book on its website, by phone or WhatsApp on 669 303 542, or on 985 763 996. You are not charged on booking: the card is held as a guarantee and they may charge the stay in the fifteen days beforehand. Cancellation is free up to fifteen days before; if you do not arrive or warn of a delay before 21:00, the booking is lost with no refund.
- **Hotel Casa Miño**, desde 60 € / night: On calle Rafael Rey López, in the centre of Pola de Somiedo, the capital of the council area and the gateway to the Natural Park, Casa Miño is a two-star mountain hotel. The family that runs it also has rural apartments, a guesthouse in the village and the ground-floor restaurant, with meat from its own cows. It was renovated in 2019.
In the Pola, where the routes start
Sleeping in the Pola has a concrete advantage in Somiedo: the guided bear outing meets in the village, at about 7:30 in the morning or 17:30 in the afternoon, and you walk to the meeting point; from there you follow in your own car to the start of the route. The park reception centre, where you can ask about routes and the state of the passes, is also in the Pola. Turismo Asturias notes a public transport stop less than 500 m away.
Fifteen rooms, apartments and a guesthouse
The building is mountain-style and the fifteen rooms are rustic in feel, with bathroom, heating, television and free wifi. There are doubles and quadruples, and Turismo Asturias counts 29 places, three of them on extra beds. The same family rents four rural apartments with two bedrooms and one with three, with kitchen, and a six-room guesthouse in the centre of the village: ask which suits you when you book, because they are separate establishments with different conditions.
The common areas have a bar-café and a lounge with television and fireplace. Cards are accepted. For the car, there is free public parking.
The ground-floor restaurant
Downstairs is its restaurant, serving Asturian cooking: pote with cabbage from its garden, onions stuffed with tuna, cachopo with smoked Tineo cheese and meat from its cows. It serves lunch from 13:30 to 15:30 and dinner from 20:00 to 22:30, and closes on Tuesdays except in August and on public holidays. After an afternoon bear outing, dinner is in the same building.
Closed from mid-December to March
It closes from 15 December to 1 March. High season is August, Easter and long weekends; the rest of the year is low season. Turismo Asturias gives indicative rates of €60 to €75 a night. Book on 985 763 730 or at informa@hotelcasamino.com.
The Lakes and Bears Day in Somiedo plan is designed as a return trip from Oviedo or León; sleeping here, the dawn bear outing does not require an early start from far away.
- **Palacio Álvaro Flórez Estrada rural hotel**, desde 80 € / night: Sleeping in a palace
The hotel occupies the palace of the Flórez Estrada family, in La Pola, the capital of Somiedo: a manor house whose origins go back to the 15th century, with a well-preserved late-medieval tower. The economist Álvaro Flórez Estrada, who gives the house its name, was born there, and rests there. Turismo Asturias classifies it as a two-star rural hotel, with ten rooms and 17 places: according to the Turismo Asturias blog, seven doubles, two singles and one special double. The former stables and hayloft were converted into apartments, keeping part of the original structure.
The house stands in a garden with centuries-old trees, beside a clean river and a meadow.
A hotel for silence
The owners insist that their priority is silence and rest. The Turismo Asturias blog records that there is no television in the rooms or in any lounge, and that wifi is only in the common areas; the hotel's official page, on the other hand, lists television and wifi. If one or the other matters to you, ask when you book.
Services
According to Turismo Asturias it has parking, a café bar, fireplace, garden, pool, lounge, meeting rooms, safe, heating, laundry and cot service, and you can pay by card. The house hosts the Flórez Estrada Rural School, with activities through the year: workshops, games, storytelling and poetry evenings, an introduction to birdwatching and wild plant courses.
Price and season
The indicative rate from Turismo Asturias is €80 to €115 a night, with breakfast. High season runs from 16 July to 15 September, plus Easter and long weekends; the rest of the year is low season. It opens from mid-April to early December: it closes from 1 January to 13 April and from 10 to 31 December. Its website is under construction: book by phone, on 985 763 709 or 616 170 018, or by email at info@florezestrada.com.
Who it is for and what is nearby
It suits couples and families who come to walk and want to sleep in a house with history, without screens. From La Pola start, or are reached in a short time, the park's classic routes: the Saliencia lakes, the La Pornacal brana and the bear watching outings. In the same village you have the park reception centre and, for dinner, the Casa Miño restaurant or the Castillo del Alba restaurant.