Cabrales

Can you build a house on rustic land?

Asturias allows a new house on rustic land only where the town plan provides for it.

DL 1/2004, art. 124. A town plan can be stricter.

Plan in force: Normas Subsidiarias (an older, simpler plan), from 2003. The region's planning viewer ↗

The national urban information system (SIU) maps the land class for 100% of the municipality.

Only the town hall can confirm it, in writing: ask for a certificado urbanístico.

Is there water?

No well or borehole is recorded in Cabrales. That is not proof there is no water: ask local drillers. 43 springs are recorded.

Ground: 43% karstic or fissured aquifer, high productivity; 26% karstic or fissured aquifer, medium productivity; 20% practically impermeable; 10% low permeability, local groundwater only.

Choosing where to drill takes a hydrogeologist.

What to watch for

• 76 fires since 2016 reached the municipality: 4,644 ha in all, the latest in 2026.
• No mapped flood zone (only studied rivers are mapped).
• 46% of the municipality is Natura 2000: new works need the region's consent.
• 45% of the municipality is a protected natural area, whose plan limits what can be done.
• Not a radon zone.

Living here

• 4G reaches 95% of homes; fibre 58%. Averages for the municipality.
• Rain: 1,394 mm a year (1971–2000), about 1,184 by 2041–2070.
• Summer highs: 20.4 °C, about 22.7 °C by 2041–2070.
• Frost days: 78 a year, about 54 by 2041–2070.

Around it

Tresviso · Peñamellera Alta · Onís · Posada de Valdeón · Llanes · Camaleño · Cillorigo de Liébana