Moreda brings together mining history, a long-standing festival and trails through the Río Negro Valley. The town combines cultural themes with a specific hiking route, offering different ways to plan your trip: Would you like to focus mainly on the mining heritage, plan around the Fiesta de los Humanitarios, or include a route through the landscape?
Mining History and Buildings
The San Antonio shaft was deepened from 1942 by Hullera Española and named after Antonio López, the first Marquess of Comillas. A 2016 document lists the headframe of the Pozo San Antonio in the Asturian Cultural Heritage Inventory with integral protection. In Moreda, both the history of the shaft and the headframe’s special protected status represent the mining heritage.
The sculpture “La familia minera” stands in Plaza del Campo de la Iglesia, an allegorical monument to mining. The depiction is dedicated to mining families who wanted to give their children a better future despite difficult conditions. Moreda’s parish church is also a notable part of the town’s architectural history: dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, it was inaugurated in 1946 as a three-aisled church with two towers and a central portico.
Fiesta de los Humanitarios
The Fiesta de los Humanitarios is a festival of tourist interest in the Principality of Asturias. It has been held every year in Moreda on November 11 since 1905. Its traditional elements include a Mass, a procession of floats and traditional Asturian folk music. This combination gives the date its own cultural focus; the specific programme may vary from year to year.
If you would like to plan your trip around the festival, November 11 is the key annual date. Check the programme for the year in question when making specific plans, rather than assuming that individual elements take place every year. The festival tradition and the traces of mining history offer different points of focus: one provides a recurring date on the calendar, while the others tell the story of the town.
Trail through the Río Negro Valley
The Les Fuentes PR-AS 133 route runs through the Río Negro Valley, past natural landscapes, hamlets, small villages and agricultural land. It connects Santibanes de Murias with Moreda and ends in the town. This makes it possible to combine exploring Moreda’s culture with a route through a landscape that also includes settlements and land in use. Trail conditions can change; check the current conditions before setting out.
Another option is the AE-3 minor road, which connects Moreda with Santibáñez de Murias through the Río Negro Valley. The road and the PR-AS 133 both relate to the same valley, but serve different purposes when planning a trip: one connects the towns, while the other is a route through the landscape and settlements. This distinction helps you decide what to focus on during your stay without conflating the routes and their respective details.
When looking for a holiday apartment, you can first choose what you want your trip to Moreda to focus on: mining history and buildings in the town, the Fiesta date or a route through the valley. This way, your search starts with the destination and its documented highlights. Whether the festival or the hike is the deciding factor also depends on whether you are planning a trip for a specific date in November or would like to include trails in your itinerary.
Discover more destinations: La Cruz, El Bravo, Agüeria, Soto de Ribera, Grandiella, Felgueras, Santa Cruz de Mieres, Armada.
For the broader travel overview: Montaña Central.
