Ribadesella

How long to stay?

An afternoon is enough, unless you want to see the cave from the inside. After almost 30 kilometres from Llanes you arrive tired, and a stroll around the harbour and along the Santa Marina promenade takes only a few hours. The Tito Bustillo cave is open only about half the year, lets in few visitors a day and needs a reservation. If you want to see it, add half a day.

Ribadesella in Ninja numbers

• 419.6 kilometres are still left from here to Santiago on the Camino del Norte.
• 29.5 kilometres lie behind you from Llanes, with 551 metres of ascent.
• 4.8 kilometres further on, in San Esteban de Leces, stands the municipal pilgrim hostel.
• 2,777 pilgrims stayed in that hostel in 2024; in 2019 it was still 4,220.
• About 700 metres long is the main gallery of the Tito Bustillo cave.

Arriving: at the ría of the Sella

The Way comes from the east to the ría and into the town with its harbour and old quarter. You only cross the bridge over the Sella when you walk on westwards; on the far side lie Santa Marina beach and the edge of town with the youth hostel.

In brief: a river, a race and a cave

The Sella is the river around which much revolves here. On the first Saturday in August the canoes race downriver to Ribadesella in the Descenso Internacional del Sella, the most important festival in Asturias, recognised as a festival of international tourist interest. If the first Saturday falls on 1 or 2 August, it is the second one.

Older than anything in town are the pictures in the Tito Bustillo cave on the edge of Ribadesella: paintings from the Magdalenian, the late Old Stone Age. Since 2008 the cave has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Even further back go the dinosaur footprints preserved in the rock of the Tereñes cliffs.

At the harbour and the ría: what to see

Everything is close together; the harbour is the centre.

• Ruta histórica del Puerto: Six ceramic murals along the harbour tell the town's history, drawn after designs by the cartoonist Mingote. The walk is accessible, with Braille and audio guide. A good first stroll for pilgrims, because you don't have to look for anything.
• Cueva de Tito Bustillo: One of the most important sites of Stone Age art, World Heritage since 2008. It is open only about six months a year, for few visitors a day, and only with a reservation. We did not find opening hours or prices; ask at the tourist office.
• Tereñes dinosaur footprints: On the cliffs you can see, over about 400 metres, tracks of two- and four-legged dinosaurs and Jurassic mud cracks. We did not find directions; the tourist office can help here too.
• Playa de Santa Marina: The town beach across the bridge, which the Way passes the next morning anyway.

Honestly

• No pilgrim hostel in town. The municipal hostel is in San Esteban de Leces, 4.8 kilometres further on. After 29.5 kilometres from Llanes that is a noticeable extra stretch.
• The youth hostel requires a hostelling card. You can apply for it on site; it does not need a pilgrim passport.
• The cave is not spontaneous. Without a reservation you usually won't get in.

Where pilgrims sleep

There is no pilgrim hostel in Ribadesella itself. At the edge of town, about 100 metres from the Way, is the public youth hostel Albergue Juvenil Roberto Frassinelli of the Principality of Asturias: 55 places in rooms of four and six, open all year, breakfast included, 21 to 27 € depending on the source (as of October 2026). There is no proper kitchen, but a terrace with a sea view.

The cheaper pilgrim hostel is the Albergue de Peregrinos de San Esteban in San Esteban de Leces, 4.8 kilometres further on and 300 metres off the Way, signposted. It is open all year and costs 15 € with breakfast (as of October 2026). In town itself there are guesthouses, hotels and a campsite with a dormitory at the edge of town.

Ninja tips

• Get your stamp at the tourist office. In 2024 they stamped 1,628 pilgrim passports there.
• Shop here if you are heading to San Esteban. Ribadesella has a supermarket, bakery, pharmacy and cash machine; fewer than 50 people live in San Esteban de Leces.
• Book the cave in advance if you want to see it, and then plan a night in town instead of San Esteban.
• Walk the harbour route with the Mingote murals. Six pictures explain the town's history without you having to look for anything.

Onward: to Colunga

Beyond Ribadesella the Way climbs to San Esteban de Leces, at 96 metres the highest point of the next stage, and drops back to the coast at Vega de Ribadesella. It is 20.4 kilometres to Colunga with 499 metres of ascent, mostly close to beaches and the N-632 road. Shortly before Colunga there is another pilgrim hostel in La Isla.

Deep dive: Where the river meets the sea

A short read, in case you want to learn more about Ribadesella. About two minutes' reading.

The pictures in the mountain

Long before anyone here caught fish or paddled canoes, people painted on the walls of a cave on the edge of today's town. Their pictures date from the Magdalenian, the end of the last Ice Age. The cave runs into the hill in a single long gallery of about seven hundred metres. Today it bears the name Tito Bustillo and has been a World Heritage Site since 2008. So that the pictures survive, only a few people a day may go inside.

Tracks in the stone

Older still are the footprints on the cliffs of Tereñes. Tracks of dinosaurs that walked on two and on four legs are preserved there, along with mud cracks from the Jurassic. Whoever walks the coast of Asturias walks over ground that tells history in very long spans of time.

What Ribadesella gives you

The Sella comes down from the mountains and ends here in the sea. Once a year the canoes race down it to arrive exactly here. You come on foot and walk on tomorrow, over the hills to the west. When this text was written, in autumn 2026, a few thousand pilgrims a year were sleeping in the hostel beyond the bridge, and most of them walked on in the morning.