Selaya: Heritage and Pasiego Landscape

Get to know Selaya through its historic buildings, museums, regional sweets and Pasiego cultural landscape. If you are looking for a hotel in Selaya, you can choose the focus of your trip accordingly: architecture, the history of sobao and quesada, a festival in the annual calendar or a named route each offer different insights into the town and its landscape.

Buildings from the Middle Ages to the Baroque period

The Palacio de Donadío, also known as La Casa de la Colina, dates from the late 16th or early 17th century. A mighty defensive tower of medieval origin is integrated into the building. This brings together two distinct periods in a single structure: the period when the palace was built and the tower’s older origins.

The Iglesia de San Juan Bautista retains its original furnishings in five altarpieces from the 18th century. The Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Valvanuz also combines different architectural features: it is a Romanesque religious building on a meadow at the foot of the San Bartolomé slope. Its three-tiered Baroque bell gable is decorated with Herrerian motifs. The Cubos and the Rollo Heráldico de Selaya were designated Bien de Interés Cultural in the Monument category on 3 April 2002.

Museums and regional specialties

The Museo de las Amas de Cría Pasiegas displays 300 photographs of wet nurses from 1880 to 1936, characteristic traditional costumes and a library. It is housed in the Casa de la Beata, next to the Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Valvanuz. The photographs and costumes offer insight into the museum’s subject, while its location also connects it with one of Selaya’s significant religious buildings.

The Museo del Sobao Pasiego presents the traditions of the Valles Pasiegos and the origins and development of the characteristic sweets sobao and quesada. The museum also includes ethnographic material and historical equipment. A glazed area offers a view of the production process. Sobaos and quesadas pasiegos are among the most important products of Selaya’s thriving food industry. The museum thus connects regional tradition with the development of these products, which are important to Selaya.

Pasiego landscape and routes

Meadows and huts shape Selaya’s typical Pasiego landscape. Numerous clusters of huts, with traditional stone enclosures, are also part of this landscape. The Río Pisueña rises in Selaya, and its source is also the destination of a named route.

The Nacimiento del Pisueña route leads from the Pisueña district to the river’s source. Along the way, it passes through groups of huts of ethnographic value and a landscape of enclosed meadows. The focus here is both the specific geographical destination and the cultural landscape with its huts and meadows.

The Los Picones de Sopeña route offers a different kind of experience: the ten-kilometre trail is a moderately difficult climb along the watershed between the Pas and Pisueña rivers. It runs from Alto de Caracol via Los Picones de Sopeña to Alto de la Braguía. Views extend across the Carriedo Valley, the Miera Valley and Vega de Pas. When choosing between these two routes, different features therefore take centre stage: the river source and cultural landscape on Nacimiento del Pisueña, and the length, difficulty and named viewpoints on Los Picones.

The GR-74 Corredor Oriental leaves Selaya via the Puente Piedra district and heads south towards Los Vaqueros and La Sierra. Together with the other two routes, it offers further perspectives on the landscape, although not all the paths follow the same course or have the same focus.

The Virgen de Valvanuz festival

The Virgen de Valvanuz festival on 15 August is recognized as a Fiesta de Interés Turístico Regional (Regional Tourist Interest Festival). It includes a procession of the Virgen on her triumphal carriage, Salto Pasiego and Jotas competitions, traditional costume displays and the Milla Urbana de Selaya sporting event.

The programme may vary from year to year. If you would like to plan your trip around the festival, check the dates and programme for the relevant year.

Discover more destinations: Trasvia, Anaz, Reocín, Ontón, Arredondo, Parbayón, Camijanes, Villamoñico

For the main travel overview: Cantabria.