Hotel Castillo del Alba Restaurant

Restaurant and café in the Pola

The Castillo del Alba hotel, on calle Flórez Estrada in Pola de Somiedo, has a restaurant and café that are also open to non-residents. It is a three-star hotel built in 2001, medieval in style, with decoration by the interior designer Chus Quirós, in the heart of the Somiedo Natural Park and Biosphere Reserve. Coming back from a walk, it is a place to eat in the Pola without getting back in the car.

What you eat

The house describes its cooking as top-quality traditional Asturian, completed by a selection of national specialities. Turismo Asturias highlights that it works with gochu asturcelta, Asturias's native pig breed. The full menu can be seen on its website, and you can book a table from there too. The website does not publish prices: ask when you book. Hotel guests have free private parking and wifi throughout the premises, so if you sleep there you can leave the car and not move it until the next day.

For the walk

It prepares takeaway food and customised picnic bags for the mountains. It is a very useful service in Somiedo: on routes such as the Saliencia lakes or the La Pornacal brana there is nowhere to buy anything on the way. Order the picnic the day before.

Hours and season

The restaurant does not publish hours. The hotel closes from 10 January to 10 March, according to Turismo Asturias. To book or ask, the phone number is 985 763 996, and the hotel also answers on WhatsApp on 669 303 542.

What to combine it with

The hotel organises guided activities that you can book with your accommodation: guided route through the park, 6 to 8 hours; brown bear watching, about 4 hours; wolf watching, 5 to 6 hours; the deer rut in autumn; reptiles and amphibians; environmental education and a one-night guided bivouac. On Geocalia you also have bear watching, the guided route through Somiedo and the bivouac in Somiedo.

Before heading into the hills, call in at the park reception centre, in the Pola itself, for the state of the passes and routes. If you sleep there, the Castillo del Alba hotel has 15 doubles and 2 suites. For comparison, the Pola also has the Casa Miño restaurant, with meat from its own cows.