Logbook · 5 places

What to see and do in Parres

What to see and do in Parres (Oriente, Asturias): 5 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Nature · 1 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

Towns near Parres

What to see in Cangas de Onís 4.5 km · 9 places
What to see in Caravia 11 km · 3 places
What to see in Piloña 12 km · 6 places
What to see in Ribadesella 13 km · 6 places
What to see in Amieva 16 km · 4 places
What to see in Colunga 16 km · 8 places
What to see in Onís 19 km · 5 places
What to see in Ponga 19 km · 3 places

Spain › Principality of Asturias › Oriente › Parres

What to see and do in Parres

Parres
Village
Parres is an Asturian concejo in the Oriente comarca, between Cangas de Onís to the east, Piloña and Colunga to the west, and Amieva and Ponga to the south; its 5,150 inhabitants are concentrated mainly in Arriondas, the capital, which holds around half the population. In Arriondas, the first weekend of August marks the start of the International Sella Descent, a canoeing event held since 1930. To the north rises Picu Pienzu, a 1,160-metre summit of the Sueve mountain range that separates Parres from Colunga, while to the south the mountains of Cea and Cetín mark the boundary with Amieva, Ponga and Piloña. The economy combines rural livestock farming with the services and trade of Arriondas, the driving force behind recent population growth.
Viewpoint of el Fitu
Nature
A concrete balcony built in 1927 to a design by the architect Manuel del Busto on the foothills of the Sueve range; its circular platform, raised on a stairway, opens up a panorama between the Cantabrian Sea and the Picos de Europa.
International Descent of the Sella
Activity
A canoe race held since 1930 over the twenty kilometres of river separating Arriondas from Ribadesella, on the first Saturday after 2 August; it was declared a Fiesta de Interés Turístico Internacional (Spain's top official tourist-interest festival designation) in 1980. Popularly known as Las Piraguas, it is organised by the Federación Española de Piragüismo and, by delegation, by the Comité Organizador del Descenso Internacional del Sella and the Federación de Piragüismo del Principado de Asturias. Exceptionally, the 1992 edition was delayed by a week and held on 15 August, as its usual dates coincided with the Barcelona Olympic Games.
First Descent of the Sella
Historical milestone
Dionisio de la Huerta and two companions from Infiesto completed the first canoe descent in 1930, giving rise to the Descenso Internacional del Sella; since 1932 the race has started in Arriondas and finished in Ribadesella. Popularly known as Las Piraguas, it is held on the first Saturday in August after the 2nd, along 20 kilometres of the Sella river, and has been declared Fiesta de Interés Turístico Internacional (official distinction for festivals of tourist interest in Spain) since 1980; only in 1992 was it postponed by a week because it coincided with the Barcelona Olympic Games.
The mills of Parres
Curiosity
The concejo preserves around sixty flour mills spread along its streams, built with the limestone and sandstone of the ground itself; they are the most numerous testimony to the old peasant economy of the Sella valley.