Fossil Cliff, Mata dos Medos and Fonte da Telha beach

Behind the beach, the land rises in a sandstone cliff about 13 km long running parallel to the sea: it is the Arriba Fóssil, an old cliff that the sea stopped battering millennia ago, protected as a landscape since 1984. On top grows the Mata Nacional dos Medos, a pine wood that John V had planted in the 18th century to hold back the dunes and which is now a botanical reserve. The interpretation centre is on the Fonte da Telha forest road.

A good walk joins the cliff edge, with views along the whole coast to Cabo Espichel, with Fonte da Telha, a former fishing settlement at the foot of the wall, where the beach is wilder than in the centre. There are trails of about 6 to 8 km. Without a car, buses 3012 (from Cacilhas) and 3030 reach Fonte da Telha. Do not go near the edge: the sandstone crumbles.