The hook
A wall of sheer grey limestone rising a few miles inland from the wet northern coast, close enough to the sea that sailors used it to know they were nearly home.
01Why it's worth it
The Picos are a compact, brutal little range, all vertical rock and deep gorges packed into a small area between Asturias and Cantabria. Because the Atlantic sits right there, the weather is fierce and the greenery below the crags is Irish, which is why cider and blue cheese come from these valleys rather than anything Mediterranean. The set pieces are easy to reach: the Fuente Dé cable car lifts you most of a kilometre up a cliff face in a few minutes to a high stony world of ibex and hikers; the Cares Gorge trail cuts a ledge path through a canyon between two villages; and the Covadonga lakes sit in a glacial bowl above the shrine where the Reconquest is said to have started. You can taste all of it from a car and a lift, or disappear into it for days.
02How to experience it
Ride the Fuente Dé cable car early before the cloud comes up the valley, then walk out along the top for as long as your legs want. The Ruta del Cares is the classic day walk, a broad cliff ledge that is spectacular and popular; start early from the Poncebos end. Base in a valley village for the cheese and cider.
From the locals
Spaniards send nature-lovers north, and are blunt about how it compares: "yo soy de Bilbao y por allá hay mucha naturaleza y de fácil acceso, pero nada en comparación con Asturias," one wrote — "Asturias es mil veces más 'salvaje' y bonito. Además de mucho menos turístico." A thousand times wilder and prettier, and far less touristed. The honest framing they add is that this is not the Spain most visitors picture: "the north is your friend, but take into account it's not what most people think about Spain. It's rainy, green and people are 'colder' — but I love it."