Hotel La Molinuca

Your Secret Mountain Hideaway in the Heart of the Picos de Europa. Tucked deep inside the Picos de Europa National Park, where the Cares River carves its emerald gorge beneath limestone cathedrals, Hotel La Molinuca feels less like a hotel and more like someone’s beautifully kept Asturian dream. In the tiny village of Alles (capital of Peñamellera Alta), this family-run gem sits surrounded by mountains so close you can almost touch them from the spectacular terrace – the kind of place where the air smells of woodsmoke, wet rock and fabada simmering in the kitchen.

Motorcycle parking – the good news.
The hotel has a large, flat, free car park right in front of the building with plenty of space for bikes and trailers. It’s open-air but 100% safe – this is a village of 40 people who all know the owners, and the car park is lit and visible from the terrace and most rooms. The family are used to riders (they’ve been welcoming UK groups for years) and will happily let you wheel the bike under the covered entrance porch if the weather turns, or even into the old stone ground-floor storage room if you ask nicely and it’s not being used for firewood. Just roll in, kill the engine, and you’re 10 metres from the bar.

The 31 rooms are simple, spotless and full of mountain warmth: think solid wooden floors, crisp white linens, en-suite bathrooms with proper hot showers (or bathtubs for aching legs), hairdryers, toiletries, flat-screen TV and free WiFi that actually works. Many open straight onto those ridiculous views of the river and the peaks – wake up, throw open the shutters and remember why you ride.

Downstairs the restaurant is a love letter to real Asturian cooking: Peñamellera’s own cave-aged cheese, slow-cooked fabada that hugs you from the inside, cachopo big enough for two, and venison from the surrounding hills. Pair it with a bottle of sidra poured from shoulder height at the bar, then collapse into a chair on the terrace as the sun drops behind the Sierra del Cuera. There’s even a garden for lazy afternoons and a lounge/bar that feels like your mate’s mountain cabin – only with better wine.

For riders, the location is pure gold: the Ruta del Cares (one of Europe’s greatest day hikes) is 20 minutes away, the coast and Llanes beaches just 20 minutes the other way, Arenas de Cabrales (and its cheese caves) 17km, and Santander airport an easy hour if you’re on the ferry run. Canoeing, fishing, cycling, hiking – it’s all on the doorstep, and the free on-site parking means your bike sleeps as peacefully as you do. Laundry service, tour desk, drying space for wet gear – they’ve thought of everything.

La Molinuca isn’t flashy, and that’s exactly why riders fall hard for it. It’s the authentic Picos experience you hoped still existed: family hospitality, knock-out home cooking, jaw-dropping views and total silence at night broken only by the river rushing below. Book it once and you’ll already be plotting your return before you’ve even closed the panniers.

• Free Private parking
• Free WiFi
• Non-smoking rooms
• Restaurant
• Bar
• Good breakfast

• Alles → Panes (AS-114, 18km warm-up). Instant grin: the road drops straight into the Cares gorge – limestone walls towering 400m above you, river thundering below. One of Europe’s great canyon rides.
• Panes → Poncebos → Caín (CA-1, 24km of madness). The famous narrow gorge road. Single-lane in places, rock overhangs, tunnels, and scenery that makes you forget to breathe. Stop at the hydroelectric dam in Poncebos for the classic photo.
• Caín → Posada de Valdeón (34km over the clouds). Climb out of the gorge via the insane switchbacks to Puerto de Panderruedas (1,450m). The world drops away, wild horses graze the high pastures, and you’ll be laughing inside your helmet.
• Posada de Valdeón → Puerto del Pontón (N-625, 28km sweepers). Fast, flowing descent past the mirrored Chorco de los Lobos wolf trap, then up the perfect curves of the Pontón pass (1,290m). Mirador stop at the top – the whole Picos range laid out like a postcard.
• Pontón → Cangas de Onís (N-625 → AS-114, 30km). Drop through the Beyos gorge (another limestone cathedral), grab a quick bottle of cider in Cangas if you need it, then head east again.
• Lunch: Quesería La Collada – Arenas de Cabrales (+34 985 84 61 29). Park right outside the cave entrance. Eat cabrales cheese pulled from the actual cave 20m away, paired with steak on the terrace overlooking the valley. You’ll smell like blue cheese for the rest of the day and you won’t care.
• Arenas → Poncebos → Panes (AS-114 again, 30km – yes, do it twice). The gorge from the opposite direction is a completely different ride – now the sun lights up the cliffs you were in shadow for earlier. Worth every single kilometre again.
• Panes → Alles (AS-114, 18km sunset finale). Final blast back up your home gorge as the light turns golden. Roll into the village, straight to the hotel car park, boots off, and up to the terrace for a cold Estrella Galicia while the bike ticks itself cool outside your window.

 
Do this loop and you’ll have ridden the absolute best the eastern Picos has to offer in one perfect day – gorges, high passes, cheese caves and barely another vehicle. Then let the family at La Molinuca feed you fabada until you can’t move. This is the Picos life.
 
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