Guided brown bear watching in Somiedo

Somiedo is one of the places in the Cantabrian mountains where you can see the brown bear in the wild, and the way to try without disturbing it is with a local guide authorised by the Natural Park. Somiedo Experience, of Pola de Somiedo, sets out every day at dawn or dusk in groups of two to eight people.

Four hours between walking and waiting

The outing lasts about four hours and has two parts. One is an interpretive walk of about two hours along paths and tracks in bear habitat, in which the guide explains what it eats (acorns, chestnuts, beechnuts, bilberries and other fruit), how it moves and how the population has recovered, having been critically endangered about ten years ago. The other is the wait: from one hillside you scan the opposite slope with a telescope, at between 300 m and 2 km. There is never any attempt to get close.

The route changes each day depending on the weather, the season and the animals' behaviour. The website does not give the distance or the ascent of the walk: it follows mountain paths, so wear hiking boots.

At dawn or at dusk: the order changes

The chances are the same, but the day is ordered the other way round. In the morning you meet in Pola de Somiedo, next to the pharmacy, at about 7:30; the wait comes first, in the first light, and then the walk. In the afternoon you set out at about 17:30, walk first and wait until dark. The exact time is adjusted to sunrise and sunset in each season. From the Pola you drive in your own car, any car, along paved mountain roads, to the start of the route. In August it is hard to park in the Pola: arrive with time to spare.

When you are luckiest

From April to June and from mid-August to mid-September the bears spend more time in open areas, with less forest, and are easier to see. They are most active at dawn and dusk, and on very hot summer days they move less. Seeing a bear is never guaranteed: the company publishes a sightings calendar that is worth checking before choosing dates.

Price, equipment and booking

It costs €50 per person from age 13 and €25 from 8 to 12, VAT included. Children under 8 cannot take part. It includes the guide, with a second guide on high-demand days, binoculars and spotting telescopes, with an explanation of how to use them, and accident insurance.

Book by email at [email protected] or on 657 081 953, giving the date, whether you prefer morning or afternoon and how many of you there are. Payment is by bank transfer beforehand or in cash on the day. If the forecast is poor, for example with fog, the guide may suggest changing the day; once the outing has started it is not cancelled, and there is no refund for bad weather or for not seeing bears.

The rest of the day in Somiedo

With the morning outing you are back for lunch in the Pola, at the Casa Miño restaurant. In the afternoon you can go up to the Saliencia lakes on your own, and if you stay the night, the same company offers another day the wolf watching, from age 14. If you come for the day from Oviedo or León, the Lakes and Bears Day in Somiedo plan combines the two.