Luarca

Luarca is a town and municipality in Asturias, situated in a narrow coastal ravine where the Negro river meets the Bay of Biscay. The town is often described as one of the most picturesque fishing ports on the Cantabrian coast, with white-painted houses stacked tightly in the ravine, a harbour jetty, and a clifftop chapel and lighthouse above the port entrance.

The cemetery of Luarca, perched on the clifftop above the town, is one of the more dramatically situated in Spain, with views over the Atlantic from between the grave markers. The town is also known as the birthplace of Ramón María Aller Ulloa, a noted astronomer of the early twentieth century, whose contribution to Spanish science is commemorated in the town.

For pilgrims on the Camino del Norte, Luarca is a major full-service stop and one of the most visually memorable towns on the Asturian coast, with the ravine harbour, the clifftop cemetery, and the lighthouse forming a concentrated historic ensemble.