Northern Spain
Hotel Apartamentos El Meirel
Situated in the heart of the mountainous Somiedio Natural Park, and overlooking the Somiedio River, this traditional stone-built guesthouse offers an excellent base for exploring this wild and remote corner of the Cantabrian Mountains. The hotel is located in the charming village of Pola de Somiedo with beautiful walks on the doorstep. Rooms are small and quite simple, but all feature en suite bathrooms and flat screen TV’s and Wi-Fi is available throughout the property. There is a small restaurant serving tasty local Spanish cuisine and a terrace to enjoy the views from. Please note that English is not widely spoken at the hotel.
Facilities
Private bathrooms, flat-screen TV, free Wi-Fi, sun terrace and restaurant and bar.
Local Wildlife
Somiedo Natural Park is home to Spain's greatest population of the rare Cantabrian brown bear as well as wolf, wildcat, chamois, wild boar, red and roe deer and broom hare. Birdlife is very rich and includes numerous birds of prey with griffon vulture, golden eagle, northern goshawk and honey buzzard. Reptiles, amphibians and butterflies are another highlight as well as the wildflowers.
Optional Activities
Wildlife watching, walking and historical tours.
John Melton
Area Specialist
If you have any questions regarding our Spain tours, please feel free to contact me on +44 (0)1803 866965
…Thank you for putting together yet another amazing trip…(our guide) looked after us very well, so please thank them on our behalf, they were a delight. We are glad that the original guide of choice decided that he didn’t want to guide us as (our guide) is an exceptional naturalist. He has great knowledge, not only of the Lynx and birds but also plants, trees, bushes, insects and Geology. He made our trip very special by amending our programme several times to take in different sites and bird watching at different and better times. He was also most attentive, organising an excellent lunch on the day we transferred to Tres Cantos and brought breakfasts for us when the second hotel let us down, and lunchtime pizzas when we stayed out all day to watch the Bee-eaters at their busy time. We would strongly recommend that they becomes your first choice guide … Hotel La Caminera was excellent. The views from the hotel were wonderful. The rooms and service were excellent with amazing bathrooms, as was the food and general ambiance of the place. We would certainly recommend its use to others … We were very lucky with our wildlife sightings and the local guides at all venues were most helpful. At Penalajo Estate we couldn’t have got off to a better start. On the first morning around 9am, a female Lynx ran across the track in front of us followed by ……. 3 cubs (around 2 months old). They settled down just behind some bushes but with the female facing out into the open. The cubs made brief appearances out into the open. After a while the female disappeared, coming back into view carrying a rabbit and they headed off up the track but returning a little later. The local guides were amazed. One – they had not been seen by anyone before us and had not been picked up on the camera traps! Two – they were early in the season. Certainly they were not seen by anyone else for a couple of days at least. We had a bonus view of a Lynx sitting in the window of the derelict farm on our way back at lunchtime.