Las Médulas was the most important gold mine in the Roman Empire and has been recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The spectacular landscape of Las Médulas is the result of the Ruina Montium, a Roman mining technique that consists of piercing the mountain and the passing-through of large amounts of water, which literally caused the mountain to collapse. The hike with various viewpoints goes around this curious landscape with the highlight being the trail via the Pico de Reirigo and straight through the Médulas de Yeres.

  • From the car park (1) we walk towards the village of Las Médulas. After 15 minutes, at the signpost "Lago Sumido" (2) we turn right.
  • A little further on (3) we keep to the right and then right on to the left, marked with yellow-white marking and signposts of the "Senda de Lago Sumido".
  • We pass the Laguna Pinzais (4) and the Laguna Larga (5) and then at a crossing of trails (6) we go right. We walk along the Laguna Sumido and reach the viewpoint Mirador de Chao de Maseiros (7) from where we have views on the Dehesa de Dones and Lake Carucedo.
  • From the viewpoint we walk back to the crossing (6) where we now go straight ahead. A little further on just before the wide path goes uphill a bit (8) we go left up onto a trail, which runs between the vegetation.
  • After about 10-15 minutes we end up on a wide path (9) where we keep left. Almost immediately we ignore a path on the right and stay on the wide path. About ten minutes later (10) we ignore a side-trail to the left and walk further towards the village. A little further (11) we come out on a wide path and turn right. Here we find the marking of the "Senda Perimetral".
  • After about ten minutes we follow the marking of the Senda Perimetral and turn left at the fork (12), towards the "Mirador de Pedrices" (13). Five minutes after the Mirador de Pedrices we ignore a trail to the left and stay on the wide path.
  • Five minutes later we leave the wide path on the left onto a narrower trail, the "Senda de Reirigo". After twenty minutes we reach the Pico Reirigo (16) where we have a nice view of the Médulas.
  • From the top we continue on the trail. We walk straight through the Médulas de Yeres over a spectacular and sometimes somewhat steep trail. Twenty minutes after the Pico Reirigo at the fork (16) we follow the white-yellow marking to the left.
  • About 15-20 minutes later we arrive at the flat top of Placias (17), at 1,022 metres. From here we follow a wide path and five minutes later we end up on a dirt road (18), where we turn left.
  • This path leads us in twenty minutes to the viewpoint "Mirador de Orellán" (19), where we have a magnificent view over Las Médulas. From the mirador we initially walk back via the same path until after just over five minutes we can turn right onto a trail (Senda de las Valiñas) (20), marked with a signpost "La Cuevona/La Encantada".
  • After ten minutes we end up at a small road (21) where we turn right. Just under 10 minutes later (22) we keep right towards "La Cuevona/Mirador". We walk all the way to the end of this path, pass the cave "La Cuevona" (23) and continue to the cave "La Encantada" (24).
  • From "La Encantada" we walk back and a little further at the fork (25) we keep right, onto the "Senda de las Valiñas" towards Las Médulas. A little further on, we keep right again.
  • In more than ten minutes we reach the outskirts of the village of Las Médulas (26) where we turn right. We walk further into the village (2) and walk the last stretch through the same streets as on the way out, back to the parking lot (1).

Route Las Médulas