The path from El Rinconín to La Ñora follows Gijón's eastern coast: 9,280 metres and about two and a half hours, according to the city guide, from the Emigrant's Mother to La Ñora beach, on the boundary with Villaviciosa. It is one way only; bus lines 14 and 25 stop at La Providencia.
Where Gijón's seafront promenade ends, another coast begins: cliffs, rock shelves, meadows with cows and small beaches with no buildings above them. The path from El Rinconín to La Ñora follows all of it to the boundary with Villaviciosa, about nine kilometres with benches, fountains and viewpoints. It can be done whole or in sections. Here is what you find along the way, stretch by stretch.
The basics
The city's walking guide gives it 9,280 metres and two and a half hours, from El Rinconín to La Ñora beach. It can be done on foot or by bike, though not all of it by bike, and it is not accessible: there are slopes, steps and a cobbled descent at the end. Turismo Asturias calls it the Senda del Cervigón and says it opened in 1988.
It is one way only. To get back you have to retrace your steps, call a taxi or cut it short: halfway along, at La Providencia, bus lines 14 and 25 stop.
El Rinconín, the sculpture trail
You set off at the foot of the Emigrant's Mother, «La lloca'l Rinconín». A few metres on stands Sin título, by Herminio Álvarez, placed in 2001, and in the same park Solidaridad, by Pepe Noja: a huge broken chain of stainless steel that shines in the sun.
The path runs above El Rinconín beach, of rock shelves and sand, which stretches about four hundred metres to El Cervigón, with benches, fountains and lighting at night. At El Cervigón, on top of the cliff, is Cantu los díes fuxíos, by Adolfo Manzano: nine marble blocks where walkers and anglers sit. Soon after you pass the house of the writer Rosario de Acuña.
Peñarrubia
Past the house you enter Les Caseríes, in Somió, among farmsteads and concrete monoliths that served as landmarks for sailors. Many people here used to split their work between the farm and fishing. There is a monument to the Asturians who died in the Nazi extermination camps, called Nunca más, and the Joaquín Rubio Camín picnic area, where the artist installed a piece of the ship Castillo de Salas, which lay sunk off Gijón for seventeen years: a «shipwreck on land» left to rust.
Below lies Peñarrubia, five hundred metres of sand and as much again of rock shelf, a beach where, the city guide recalls, some of the earliest stories of nudist bathing took place. Its cliff of Jurassic layers turns golden at sunset. You climb steps made from railway sleepers, among lizards if the sun is out.
La Providencia
The path crosses the Cabo San Lorenzo park, with its viewpoint shaped like a ship run aground, the sculptures by Amadeo Gabino and Miguel Ángel Lombardía and a bunker from the days when this was a firing range. A little further on, on the Colina del Cuervo, stands the chapel of La Providencia, with its votive offerings, and a plaque with the poem «Asturias» by Rosario de Acuña. It is a good place to stop, and to cut the walk short if you want to go back by bus.
Serín, Estaño and La Ñora
From a viewpoint you see Serín beach below, 350 metres of sand at the foot of a high cliff, and next to it La Cagonera, a hidden little cove named after the seagulls' droppings. Further on is Estaño, about two hundred metres long, with the pozu'l Cura, a rock pool carved by the sea, and wooden bridges over the streams. Before the descent to La Ñora you pass royal fern, from a family of ferns dating back to the age of the dinosaurs.
The way down to La Ñora is cobbled, with steps. The path ends as you cross the footbridge over the river, which marks the boundary with Villaviciosa, where the parishes of Somió and Quintueles meet. From there another path continues upriver: La Llorea to La Ñora.
Checked
Facts checked in October 2026 against: Gijón City Council (Sendas verdes por el concejo de Gijón walking guide, El Rinconín–La Ñora path, and the Capilla de la Providencia page in its directory, with bus lines) and Turismo Asturias (La Senda del Cervigón en Gijón).
Quick questions
How long does the path from El Rinconín to La Ñora take?
The city guide reckons two and a half hours for its 9,280 metres, one way only.
Can you do it by bike?
Partly: the city guide says it can be done on foot or by bike, but not all of it by bike, and that it is not accessible.
How do you get back from La Ñora?
By retracing your steps or by taxi; to shorten it, you can leave the path at La Providencia, where bus lines 14 and 25 stop.