Canales – Sendero Real, Coastal Views and Mining History

On Route 7, the Ermita de San Juan is one of the attractions in Canales. The Mina de San Bartolomé, an open-pit mine, is also located in the village. The name Canales may derive from the Latin canalis and refer to channels used to wash the ore mined in this area at least since Roman times.

When booking a holiday apartment in Canales, you can compare travel dates, categories and cancellation policies on accommodation listings. For planning your days, you can choose between different focuses, including trails, coastal views, archaeological and mining-history traces, and festivals. These themes can be considered separately: the Sendero Real combines a clearly defined circular route with hiking and mountain biking, while the cave site, mine and festivals offer other ways to explore the area. This allows you to weigh up exercise, coastal panoramas, archaeology, mining history and regional traditions when planning your trip. Route 7 also creates its own focus with its course between Canales and Monte Corona.

Further destinations: Valoria.

Nature

The Sendero Real begins in the Barrio de Canales and is an 8.8-kilometre circular route for hiking and mountain biking. Along the route, there are views of the coast around Comillas and Oyambre. In places, the trail follows the route taken by Alfonso XII during his visit to Udías in 1882.

Route 7 begins in Canales and ends at the Ermita de San Esteban on Monte Corona. Canales also offers a panorama of the Cantabrian coast, with views of Oyambre and the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas.

History and Culture

The Cueva de Las Cáscaras is located in Canales and offers views of Comillas, the beach and the university. As an archaeological site, it contains a collective burial. Radiocarbon dating shows that at least one person was buried there in the Neolithic period, in the 4th millennium BCE.

Human remains were found in the Cueva de Las Cáscaras, including skulls, lower jaws and shells. There is also evidence of arrowheads embedded in some bones. The remains are held at the Museo de Prehistoria de Santander. Roman objects and coins found in the Mina de San Bartolomé attest to Roman activity in the Udías valley during Late Antiquity.

El Mozucu is recognised as a festival of regional tourist interest and includes a traditional cart parade that stops in Canales and La Hayuela. Every year, folk festivals are celebrated in all the villages of Udías. They include a mass, the dance of the Picayos for the saint, and a Romería and Verbena in the afternoon and evening.

Townscape

All the districts of Udías have traditional, adjoining Montañés houses that form streets or rows. These houses are mainly built of stone and wood and usually feature a south-facing solana on the main façade.

To the main travel overview: Udías.