Villanueva de Arriba offers two distinct route connections: the Camino Olvidado a Santiago passes through the village, while the Pueblos de la Peña MTB route heads south from here to the junction for Cueva de Guantes, then returns to Villanueva. The village also has a Gothic parish church and an archaeological site in a karst cave. If you plan your trip around specific interests, you can choose between the route through the village, a cycling trail, church architecture, and cave archaeology as different areas of focus.
The Camino Olvidado through Villanueva
On the Camino Olvidado a Santiago, a track leads from Las Heras de la Peña to Villanueva de Arriba. The Camino passes through the village. Within Villanueva, the route continues to the Church of the Assumption and the former Ermita de San Roque, known as El Campanillo. It leaves the village along Calle Real. The village section can therefore be identified by two named religious buildings and a specific street. For your planning, the key point is the order: the route continues through Villanueva rather than ending on the outskirts.
Parish church architecture
The parish church of Villanueva de Arriba is Gothic, has a single nave, and is laid out in the shape of a Latin cross. These features describe different aspects of the building: Gothic indicates its style, single-nave its spatial layout, and the Latin cross the shape of its ground plan. This makes it possible to describe the church’s architecture more precisely, even without specialist terminology.
Cueva de Guantes: karst and archaeological site
Cueva de Guantes lies in the area of Villanueva de Arriba known as La Loma. It extends for 350 metres through karst cavities and chambers of varying sizes and is part of a large karst complex with several Middle and Upper Pleistocene sites. The cave’s form and archaeological context offer two different perspectives on the same place: the shape of the karst landscape and its archaeological record.
The Cueva de Guantes archaeological site includes at least three levels in the area known as Galería 1, with evidence of human presence and a Mousterian stone industry made predominantly from metaquartzite, flint, quartz, and other locally occurring rocks. Galería 1 is therefore the specific reference point for this information about prehistory. Those interested in archaeology will find a concrete subject here alongside the descriptions of the cave chambers and the karst complex.
Cycling to the Cueva de Guantes junction
The Pueblos de la Peña MTB route heads south from Villanueva de Arriba to the junction for Cueva de Guantes, then returns to the village. On the way back, it passes the Ermita de San Pedro de Guantes, which is open to visitors. Its course is clearly different from the Camino Olvidado: the latter passes through Villanueva and continues along Calle Real, while the MTB route returns to the village after its southern section. The opportunity to visit the Ermita de San Pedro is an additional, specific point of interest along the cycling route.
Regional setting
Villanueva de Arriba lies in the comarca of La Peña, in the sub-Cantabrian foothills of the Montaña Palentina. Within the village, Cueva de Guantes is located in the area of La Loma. La Loma identifies the cave’s local setting, while La Peña and the foothills of the Montaña Palentina place Villanueva in its wider region. Together, these names provide a geographical framework for the routes, church, and cave site.
Discover more destinations
Discover more destinations: Pomar De Valdivia, Las Heras de la Peña, Quintanilla De Las Torres, Paredes De Nava, Pedraza De Campos, Villarramiel, Brañosera, Mudá.
For the main travel overview: Palencia.
