Overview
The Cantabrian Mountains or Cantabrian Range are one of the main systems of mountain ranges in Spain. They stretch for over 300 km across northern Spain, from the western limit of the Pyrenees to the Galician Massif in Galicia.
Description
The Cantabrian Mountains (Cordillera Cantábrica) are a mountain range in northern Spain parallel to the Cantabrian Sea. The chain is about 480 kilometres long and on average 100 kilometres wide and passes through several Spanish Autonomous Communities: the province of Lugo in Galicia, Asturias, the provinces of León, Burgos and Palencia in Castilla y León, Cantabria, the Basque Country, Navarre and La Rioja. It forms the boundary between the dry Spain on the south side and the green Spain on the north side.
The Cantabrian Mountains have a large number of sub-mountain ranges, including the following mountain ranges where hikingiberia.com offers routes.
The mountain range with the highest peaks, the most rugged scenery and the most spectacular scenery of the Cantabrian Mountains and thus the undisputed highlight of this chain are the Picos de Europa, which lie in three provinces: Asturias, Cantabria and León. A remarkable fact about these mountains is that they have peaks of above 2,500 metres at only 15 kilometres from the sea. It were therefore the first peaks that the sailors saw when they sailed towards the European coast, to which it owes its name of Picos de Europa – Peaks of Europe. Although the peaks here do not exceed 2,650 metres and thus are considerably lower than in the Pyrenees and Sierra Nevada, is this mountain range very popular among both walkers and climbers, thanks to the overwhelming landscape with its steep, rocky and jagged peaks, often called torres (towers).