The Lakes Route (Covadonga)

Buferrera car park - Buferrera car park 5

The Covadonga Lakes, in the heart of the Picos de Europa, are one of those places that you cannot miss when travelling in Asturias. One of those magical settings, which also offers the possibility of doing a circular route in the surrounding area, which is one of the most popular in the Natural Paradise.

This route is the PR-PNPE-2, according to the official nomenclature of this trail in the Picos de Europa National Park. You will cover a distance of five kilometres in approximately two and a half hours, and the level of difficulty is considered to be low.

As it is a circular route, it can be done clockwise or anti-clockwise. It is most common to start at the Buferrera car park, which is the largest parking area, although you can also start a little higher up, at the Ercina Lake car park.

From the Buferrera car park there are wooden footbridges that lead up to the Pedro Pidal Visitor Centre (if you walk clockwise) or to Lake Enol (anti-clockwise), parallel to the road. If you choose the first option, after the visitor centre, the best thing to do is to go first to the Mirador del Príncipe de Asturias viewpoint, and then go down to the Buferrera Mines, where there is a tunnel (not open to the public) that bears witness to the mining past of this area.

From here you can go to the Entrelagos viewpoint, from where you will have magnificent views of Lake Ercina on one side and Lake Enol on the other. But first, you will connect with the Ercina lake, more or less in the middle, to enter the lake known as El Bricial and the Palomberu forest, and then reach the Enol valley, where you will find the Buen Pastor hermitage and the refuge. Once there, you will walk along a pleasant path around the lake, and then straight to the car park.

It will have been a peaceful walk among cows, lakes and forests!