Logbook · 8 places

What to see and do in La Pola de Gordón

What to see and do in La Pola de Gordón (La Montaña de Luna, León): 8 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 3 Nature · 1 Activities · 2 Food and drink

How far each place is from the centre of La Pola de Gordón

Biosphere Reserve of the Alto Bernesga 600 m
Beech forest of Ciñera 5.9 km

Towns near La Pola de Gordón

What to see in La Robla 6.8 km · 8 places
What to see in Carrocera 8.9 km · 3 places
What to see in Villamanín 9.4 km · 7 places
What to see in Vegacervera 12 km · 4 places
What to see in Matallana de Torío 12 km · 3 places
What to see in Cármenes 14 km · 3 places
What to see in Los Barrios de Luna 16 km · 7 places
What to see in Cuadros 16 km · 2 places

Spain › Castile and León › León › La Montaña de Luna › La Pola de Gordón

What to see and do in La Pola de Gordón

La Pola de Gordón
Village
La Pola de Gordón is a municipality in the province of León, capital of the comarca of Gordón and situated on the banks of the river Bernesga, with about 2,835 inhabitants. It has a station on the railway line linking León with Gijón. Its relief, within the Cantabrian mountain range, is rugged, with elevations ranging from 970 metres, next to the Bernesga, to 1,914 at El Pedroso; the municipal capital stands at 1,007 metres. The entire territory is included in the Alto Bernesga biosphere reserve, declared by Unesco since 2005. The place name Gordón, of pre-Roman origin, may allude to a rise in the terrain; Pola, as in other Asturian-Leonese localities, would derive from the Latin popula. The municipality preserves the Roman votive altar of La Vid, from the 2nd century.
Roman altar of La Vid de Gordón
Monument
A second-century votive altar with a Latin inscription found at La Vid, evidence of the Roman presence in the Bernesga corridor after the Asturian-Cantabrian wars that Rome fought between 29 and 19 BC.
Beech forest of Ciñera
Nature
A beech wood of centuries-old trees set in the Ciñera valley which in 2007 received the award for Best Cared-for Forest in Spain; the wood coexists with adits and structures of the old Ibarra pit.
Gorges of El Villar and giant's kettles
Nature
At the end of the Ciñera beech wood the stream narrows into the Hoces del Villar and forms the giant's kettles, circular pools that the swirling water has gradually carved into the limestone over millennia.
Trail of the Faedo and the Ibarra mine shaft
Activity
A short, well-appointed route linking the village of Ciñera with the beech wood, the adits and the gorges, a walk where mining industrial heritage is read inside the forest itself.
Biosphere Reserve of the Alto Bernesga
Nature
The Alto Bernesga Biosphere Reserve occupies the León side of the Cantabrian Mountains and covers the upper stretch of the Bernesga valley, between 970 and 1,914 metres in altitude, with peaks such as El Cueto San Mateo and a mosaic of upland pastures, beech woods and former mining works. Unesco declared it a biosphere reserve on 29 June 2005, under the Man and the Biosphere Programme, over some 33,442 hectares shared between the municipalities of La Pola de Gordón and Villamanín, with around 3,800 inhabitants across 36 settlements. It is a transition zone between the Atlantic and Mediterranean domains, with beech woods, oak woods, juniper stands and river systems that make it a biological corridor for the Cantabrian brown bear and the Iberian wolf.
Gordonés stew
Food and drink
The local version of the León mountain stew, with chickpeas or beans, cabbage and the products of the valley's pig slaughter; it is served in courses and was the dish with which the working day was dispatched in mining households.
Cecina of León
Food and drink
Salted beef, smoked over oak wood and cured in the dry mountain air; it has held a protected geographical indication since 1994 and figures among the products Gordón claims as its own.