Some weeks back we spent a weekend in and around Puentedey, in the province of Burgos (northern Spain). If you haven’t heard of it, don’t worry; most people haven’t. It’s a tiny village (literally, it counts around 50 inhabitants) in Burgos built on top of a natural rock arch, river running underneath the houses. It´s part of the official ´most beautiful villages of Spain´ route.
Puentedey, Burgos: the village built on a stone arch
It was one of those, let´s go to the mountains but an 1+ hour only away from home, nothing further. It also happened to be the town´s festivities that week, so some processions went on, but in general it´s exactly the kind of place I love dragging everyone to: nothing to “do”, just cute, and quiet, and a little weird in a good way.
Weird in a good way because the whole village is built right on top of a natural stone arch, no exaggeration, the river carved it out over something like 90 million years and people have just been living on top of it ever since. There’s a legend that God himself made it so the villagers could cross the river, hence the name (Puente de Dios, bridge of God, twisted into Puentedey over time).
You can actually walk down and through the arch itself, under the houses, which is a bit surreal, and then climb back up to the old part of the village where there’s a small Romanesque church from the 11th century and an old stone palace, Palacio de los Porras, both barely take twenty minutes to see but it´s worth the climb. There’s a mirador as well if you want the classic postcard shot of the houses balanced on the arch (of course I did, see below). Down by the river there’s also a little swimming spot with a grassy area next to the local bolera; it was a good stop in high summer with a toddler who needed to burn energy.
Walking the Via Verde through Puentedey
The main draw for us was the Via Verde that runs straight through the village, an old railway line turned into a flat walking/biking path. Flat mattered a lot here because, you know, having a 2-year-old strapped to my back the whole time, and flat is basically the only terrain I sign up for these days. I only did a little piece now, but I´d love to come back and cycle a big piece of it!
The hike to Cascada de la Mea (bring low expectations in summer)
For now, we walked it out to the waterfall nearby, 5km there and back. End of June though, so, spoiler: barely any water. We stood in front of it like “…that’s it?” Bit of a letdown as a waterfall, not gonna lie, but as a walk it was great, shaded, easy, and being able to ´stand under the waterfall and take a shower ´ for my little one was nice.
If you´re hungry, the little cafeteria/restaurant Restobar La Cucaña, has some amazing tortilla combinations amongst others.
Where we camped: Área de Autocaravanas Santelices
As always, we found it on the app Park4Night, a free camper spot, no fee, decent and quiet. Bonus points because there’s a little bakery right next door, so morning coffee came with actual fresh bread instead of the sad emergency biscuits we usually have stashed in the van.
So yes, Puentedey: not a place to build a whole trip around, but if you’re anywhere near this bit of Burgos, or driving through on the way to Cantabria (which you should), worth the stop.
More to do around Puentedey: hiking, mountain biking and Ojo Guareña
If you’re not hauling a toddler and actually want to move, there’s more around here than the via verde suggests. Here some tips, which I did not try out myself yet: The GR-1 long-distance trail cuts straight through Puentedey too, so you can pick it up and just keep going as far as you want, proper mountain trail stuff, not the flat rail-bed version. For mountain biking there are a bunch of circular routes starting from the village itself, some of them genuinely brutal, we’re talking multi-kilometre climbs over 15% gradient through the Merindades hills, so bring the legs. And if caves are your thing, Ojo Guareña is a short drive away, one of the biggest karst cave systems in Spain, way more dramatic than anything we did with the stroller crowd. Orbaneja del Castillo, the other “waterfall village” everyone talks about in this area, is also close enough to combine with a Puentedey stop if you want to compare which one actually has water when you visit.
