Activities

Daily and weekly activities Schedule each day

10:00 Formal classes begin (Grammar and vocabulary. Reading.)
10:50 10-minute break
11:00 Restart of class (Activities focused on speaking and listening skills)
12:20 10-minute break
12:30 – 14:00 Short video view (5 minutes) and class discussion.
14:00 – 14:20 Lunch
14:30 – 15:00 Disperse to activities
15:00 – 18:00 Tourist activity practicing Spanish, mainly listening and speaking skills
18:00 – 18:30 Travel back
18:30 – 19:30 Time for writing and writing assignments
19:30 – 20:30 Time for leisure and a walk through Oviedo.
20:30 – 22:30 Dinner
21:30 – 23:30 Time for reading or leisure or chat in Spanish with groupmates.

The days in which the afternoon activities are longer will be compensated with other afternoon days that will be shorter. When we talk about shortening the day we are referring to the time the Sherpa will spend with you.

In those cities and activities (which will be detailed below) in which it is not necessary to use the van for transportation, the activity will end on time or before (if it is a reduced shift) but the group or individual person can continue enjoying the city where we are as long as they want, since there is public transportation from those cities to Oviedo until 00:30. In summer, those hours are longer.

If you do not arrive by dinner time, the amount of that meal will not be refunded. If you notify at the beginning of the day that you will not return for dinner, a dinner, or at least a snack, can be prepared in a pack and left in your room. The Sherpa will finish his day at the stipulated time and will return home. It is the Sherpa’s decision if he or she wants to spend more time with you outside of the workday.

Some Activities within the program

Throughout the 20 days (except weekends), our activities will include:

Visits to nearby cities (travel by public transportation) where we will do different tourist activities, such as visits to monuments, the beach, or bike routes.

Oviedo
Gijon
Aviles
Candás
Luanco

Some possible activities further away where we will go by van (photos)

11. Lastres / La Griega / Jurassic Museum
12. Llanes and Gulpiyuri
13. Cabo Peñas, Cabo Vidio
14. Mining Museum-Langreo
15. Ribadesella / Tito Gustillo Prehistoric Cave
16. Pito Museum in Cudillero / Aguilar Beach
17. Mirador del Fito / Espasa
18. Funicular Bulnes / Cangas de Onís
19. Covadonga
20. Villaviciosa (Cider Museum) / Rodiles

Some weekend Activities outside the program

Turismo Asturias – Portal Oficial de Turismo de Asturias | Where is Asturias – Your complete travel guide to Asturias

If your wish is to spend every weekend in Asturias, we have a long list of places to visit or activities to participate in: jet skis, surfing, golf, paragliding, canyoning, canoeing, windsurfing, sailing, water motor bikes … as well as a series of tourist routes that we can recommend:

Ascent to the Lakes of Covadonga: Guía para visitar Covadonga, los lagos y alrededores – Turismo Asturias. Blog turístico
Route of the Dawn: Ruta del Alba. Rutas en Asturias (turismoasturias.es)
Route of the Xanas: Ruta de Las Xanas (turismoasturias.es)
Route of the Bear: Vía Verde Senda del Oso. Rutas en Asturias (turismoasturias.es)
Bear View (the best time is the end of April and May, and August and September): Somiedo Experience – Avistamiento de Osos, Rutas, Actividades y Experiencias, Parque Natural de Somiedo: el lugar en el que el tiempo decidió detenerse | Traveler, Viendo osos en libertad en Asturias (lavozdegalicia.es)
Route del Cares: Ruta del Cares. Rutas en Asturias (turismoasturias.es)
Visit Cabo Peñas
Jet Ski: Motos de agua en Gijón – Alquiler – Aquamoto Gijón (aquamotogijon.com)

We especially recommend the surf courses on Saturdays or Sundays.

They are cheap and fun, plus you are in contact with nature. It is a great way to practice your listening and speaking skills with colleagues and instructors, and above all, an easy and fast way to make Spanish friends with whom you can spend your free time on weekends and continue practicing real Spanish. You will not regret it. It is perhaps difficult to explain but there is a strange camaraderie among surfers. We have selected 3 different types of surf schools so that there is not too much contact among students and you are not tempted to speak your language.

Santiago's Road

If you still have time to spare once you spend 1 month or 2 months with us, we especially recommend the completion of The Camino de Santiago, for another 14 days because it fits perfectly with the program and will also help develop your language skills in Spanish and, above all, your communication skills since you will have a lot of time to chat with the rest of the pilgrims, many who are Spanish, who do the Camino in the summer. It’s a fantastic way to interact with others in a natural way. It is a low-cost route that suits all budgets. In summer, we do recommend booking in advance because there are a lot of pilgrims doing El Camino and the hostels are usually full, although less now with COVID.

The Camino is a very popular route in Europe and has had a greater global impact as a result of the movie starring Martin Sheen, “The Way,” in 2010.

For those who do not know El Camino, it is a route that today has several itineraries and has its origin in the High Middle Ages, following the discovery of the tomb of the Apostle Santiago in what is now Santiago de Compostela. Back then, what today is Santiago de Compostela was part of the Kingdom of Asturias and an Asturian king, Alfonso II, was the first pilgrim who traveled with his royal court from the capital of the Kingdom of Asturias, Oviedo, to pay tribute to the Apostle. That is why the first Way, called the Primitive Way or the Camino Original, is the route that goes from the cathedral of Oviedo to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela and is a 14-day walk. It is a natural way to meet people and interact with native speakers, although of course there are quite a few foreign pilgrims.

Today it has lost some of its sense of being a spiritual route. It is rather touristy and it is easy to chat with other pilgrims for hours while walking. In fact, for some, it never was a spiritual route because there are widely documented theories that say that the Apostle Santiago is not buried in Santiago, and that the route was an invention of King Alfonso II as a way to create a spiritual barrier and “a border wall” against the occupation of most of the Iberian Peninsula by the Muslims, a path that connected the two most important and largest Christian kingdoms in Europe, the Kingdom of Asturias and the Empire of Carolingian, from the time it was created in 800 AD. It is documented that Alfonso II and Charlemagne met in Aachen, the capital of the Carolingian Empire, several times before the discovery of the tomb of the Apostle. What is not documented is what they talked about. Whatever it was, today it is a route dotted with beautiful villages, simple but welcoming hostels, churches, monasteries and rural life. And each person may interpret it as he wishes. There are people who do it in a tourist sense and others who do it with a spiritual sense or sense of promise. There are several itineraries but the path that is most popular today is The French Way, which is the natural route of pilgrims who came from all over Europe to pay tribute to the Apostle Santiago, crossing the Pyrenees and the Castilian plateau. The Original or Primitive Way and the French come together in Lugo to continue together to Santiago de Compostela. BUEN CAMINO!!

Santiago's Road

The Camino is a very popular route in Europe and has had a greater global impact as a result of the movie starring Martin Sheen, “The Way,” in 2010.