Logbook · 6 places

What to see and do in Candamo

What to see and do in Candamo (Avilés, Asturias): 6 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 1 Nature · 2 Activities · 1 Curiosities

How far each place is from the centre of Candamo

Towns near Candamo

What to see in Pravia 6 km · 9 places
What to see in Grado 7.4 km · 4 places
What to see in Las Regueras 7.7 km · 3 places
What to see in Soto del Barco 7.8 km · 6 places
What to see in Illas 8.4 km · 6 places
What to see in Muros de Nalón 10 km · 6 places
What to see in Castrillón 11 km · 7 places
What to see in Cudillero 14 km · 8 places

Spain › Principality of Asturias › Avilés › Candamo

What to see and do in Candamo

Candamo
Village
Candamo is a municipality of the Principality of Asturias, on the banks of the river Nalón, with its capital at Grullos and a population of about 1,900 inhabitants. Its land, of worn relief and peaks barely exceeding 600 metres, is rich in Palaeolithic sites: the Peña cave, discovered in 1913, holds the most important and westernmost Palaeolithic cave-art ensemble on the Cantabrian coast, and is listed as a World Heritage Site. The municipality, administratively linked to Pravia and Grado from the Middle Ages until the Junta de Candamo declared itself an independent corporation in 1835, also lives from its market gardens, in which the strawberry holds an almost vital place: the first weekend of June sees the Festival de la Fresa.
Cave of la Peña de Candamo
Nature
Located in the Asturian concejo of Candamo, in the village of San Román, the cave holds one of the largest collections of Palaeolithic cave art in the north of the peninsula, dated to around 18,000 years ago, in the Solutrean period. It was discovered by a resident nicknamed El Cristo in the 19th century, officially in 1914; in 1919 Eduardo Hernández Pacheco published the first scientific study. Its main feature is the Muro de los Grabados, six metres long and eight metres high, with figures of horses and other animals; at the top of that chamber is the Camarín, with horses and a bull. Unesco listed it in 2008, within the group Cave of Altamira and Palaeolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain, and access is now very limited after vandalism and uncontrolled visitor numbers caused irreversible damage.
Palace of Valdés Bazán
Monument
A manor house of the parish of San Román de Candamo, also called Palacio de los Cuervo-Arango or de los Condes de Reparaz, in classicist style, with a rectangular plan and two storeys, declared a historic-artistic monument. The original building dates from the 16th century, although its present appearance is owed to renovations in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was passed down by inheritance for more than four centuries among the Cuervo Arango, Quirós, Valdés, Ríos, Armada and Melgarejo lineages, counts of Reparaz, until in the late 20th century it became municipal property. It is the most imposing civil building in a concejo of fortified houses and carved hórreos, and today it has been restored as an interpretation centre for the Peña cave, where full-size reproductions of its engravings and paintings are displayed.
Hórreos of Aces
Curiosity
The village of Aces preserves a notable cluster of old hórreos with carvings on their colondras, one of the best-kept ensembles of vernacular architecture in central-western Asturias and a lesson in rural carpentry.
Strawberry Festival
Activity
The Festival de la Fresa is a competition and exhibition dedicated to this fruit, held every year on the first Sunday of June in Grullos, the capital of the Asturian concejo of Candamo. Visitors can taste and buy strawberries from the concejo's growers, while a jury awards about 1000 euros to the farmer who presents the best specimen. The crop, a mark of identity for Candamo for decades, has held a designation of origin for some years now. The festival continues to mark the calendar of this concejo, located in the comarca of the Camín Real de la Mesa, beside the Nalón river.
Candamo Strawberry Festival
Activity
The Strawberry Festival, a competition and exhibition held on the first Sunday of June in Grullos, the capital of Candamo, allows visitors to taste and buy the strawberries grown in the water-meadows of the lower Nalón, while a jury awards about a thousand euros to the grower presenting the best specimen. The crop, which has held a designation of origin for some years now, has become a hallmark of a concejo located in the Camín Real de la Mesa district.