Bulnes is one of the few villages in Spain you cannot drive to. It sits at 585 metres in a corner of the Cabrales district, at the foot of the Naranjo de Bulnes, and for centuries the only way in was on foot up the Canal del Texu, a hard climb of a little over two hours that carried everything: children to school, milk down, the doctor up.
That changed in 2001, when a funicular opened that crosses the mountain from inside. On Friday 16 October 2026 an event was held at Poncebos to mark its 25 years of service, which makes this a good moment to explain what it actually is and how it fits into a trip to Cabrales.
Twenty-five years in numbers
These figures give the measure of what this infrastructure means to a village of a handful of residents:
- Close to 1.66 million journeys recorded between 2001 and July 2026, according to the funicular’s official website (it counts journeys, not different people).
- 115,931 passengers in the past year, according to the regional government: the best figure in its history.
Recent improvements, according to the regional government, include a full renovation of the electrical control system, replacement of the braking carriages and an increase in the freight platform capacity to 9.6 tonnes. That last figure sounds minor and is not: everything the village consumes goes up that way.
More departures since this spring
If you have been up before and ran into a long wait, this matters. According to the regional government, since spring 2026 the service has increased its frequencies: from 22 to 26 in high season and from 16 to 20 for the rest of the year.
The funicular also has a digital 25th anniversary exhibition on its official site. Exact timetables and fares vary by season and are worth checking the day before on the official site, funicularbulnes.com, which also publishes the historical record of the infrastructure.
A commemorative exhibition, open now
For the anniversary, a commemorative exhibition has been installed in the station hall at Poncebos, which according to the regional government will stay open for the coming months.
If you go up this autumn or winter, do not walk straight past the hall on your way to the platform.
Not a tourist attraction: it is the village's road
It is worth seeing it that way, because it changes how the trip feels. Days before the anniversary, the funicular ran before dawn to evacuate a Bulnes resident suffering from colic. That is its primary function, and tourism comes second.
The funicular's own history is a small piece of Asturian politics: it was driven by Sergio Marqués and completed by Vicente Álvarez Areces, and both were remembered at the 25th anniversary event. A quarter of a century on, the underlying question is the one president Adrián Barbón raised there: that Asturias should be a place to live in, not only to visit.
Walking up, or taking the funicular
Both are legitimate and very different:
- By funicular. A few minutes through a tunnel cut into the rock and you are up there with no effort. The obvious choice with children, with limited time, or if the weather has turned.
- On foot up the Canal del Texu. A demanding, relentless climb with loose stone and considerable elevation gain, which we would not recommend in street shoes or in strong heat. The formula that works best: walk up and come down by funicular, or the other way round if it is your knees you want to spare.
The village itself takes little time to walk: stone houses, a couple of places to eat and, if the day is clear, the silhouette of the Picu Urriellu appearing above. The view of the Naranjo from the nearby viewpoint is one of those moments that justify the whole trip.
Combining it with the Cares Route
The funicular leaves from the same Poncebos as the Cares Route, so both fit into the same morning and the same car park.
A plan that works: an out-and-back stretch of gorge in the morning and Bulnes at midday. The trail has reopened along its full length after October's closure; the detail is in the trail's current status, and the notice of the day is on the Park's website.
From El Ardinal
From El Ardinal, in Arenas de Cabrales, the Poncebos station is 6 kilometres away: about 12 minutes by car. You can go up to Bulnes, eat up there and be back by mid-afternoon without rushing.
If you would like us to tell you how the service and the weather stand during your dates, message us on WhatsApp from the contact page.
To keep planning, there are the rest of the walks from Cabrales, the Lakes of Covadonga on the other side of the massif and, on the way back, a fabada in Arenas.
Source
- El Fielato, 16 October 2026.
