The narrow road through Desfiladero de los Beyos

Desfiladero de los Beyos is an amazing gorge located between the provinces of León in Castile and León and Asturias, in Spain. It’s one of the most scenic canyon roads in Spain.

Desfiladero de los Beyos

Where is Desfiladero de los Beyos?

Tucked away in the northern part of the country, within the Parque Nacional de Picos de Europa, the gorge is characterized by the verticality of its walls and the narrowing of the valley produced by the erosion of the Sella River. The notable features of this landscape include the upper valley of the River Sella and the rock erosion caused by the action of the river, creating a gorge with steep walls that line the river.

How long is Desfiladero de los Beyos?

The gorge is traversed by the twisty yet paved N625 road. It’s 16.6 km (10.31 miles) long, running north-south from Ceneya to Oseja de Sajambre. The road follows the natural course of the Sella River, through one of the most extraordinary defiles in Europe.

When was the road through Desfiladero de los Beyos built?

For almost 400 years, the existence of a pedestrian path that crossed this rugged gorge has been known. In the year 1665, Pedro Díaz de Oseja, Archdeacon of Villaviciosa in the Church of Oviedo, allocated part of his fortune to rebuild this path. The residents of the current municipality of Oseja de Sajambre took charge of this task in various stages that extended throughout the second half of the 17th century and the first third of the 18th century. In 1708, the works were lacking the reconstruction of one of the wooden bridges that the path possessed, which, according to a description from 1829, consisted of very high beams crossed from one side to the other.1 The Beyo Path, as it appears named in ancient documents, was traveled by men and livestock until the construction of the Sahagún to Las Arriondas road at the end of the 19th century.

How to drive through Desfiladero de los Beyos?

Expect heavy traffic on weekends and especially during the summer season. Given the characteristics of the road—narrow, winding, and without a shoulder for most of the gorge—it is advisable to take extreme precautions to avoid complicated traffic situations.