Villaviciosa

Villaviciosa is a town and municipality in Asturias, widely regarded as the capital of natural cider production in Spain. The town occupies an inland position at the head of the Villaviciosa ría, an estuarine inlet from the Bay of Biscay, and has a compact historic centre with the Gothic collegiate church of Santa María de la Oliva and several stone townhouses.

The municipality is historically significant as the site where Carlos I of Spain first set foot on Spanish soil in 1517, arriving at the ría by ship from Flanders. The pre-Romanesque church of San Salvador de Valdediós, located a few kilometres from the town, is considered one of the finest examples of Asturian pre-Romanesque architecture, with ninth-century construction and remarkable surviving fabric.

For pilgrims on the Camino del Norte, Villaviciosa is a full-service town offering the combination of cider culture, historic architecture, and proximity to exceptional pre-Romanesque heritage.