41.72° N · 8.16° W
Portugal's only national park, right next to Ourense: granite mountains, waterfalls, reservoirs and granary villages. It needs a car and at least two nights.
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
A walk along the Roman road Braga – Astorga and the oldest oak wood in the park, from the border with Lobios. Route · 2–3 h · Families
The Gerês's two balconies over the Caniçada reservoir and the Gerês and Cávado rivers, a few minutes by car from the village. Viewpoint · 1 h · Everyone
24 granite granaries grouped on a threshing floor over the rock, beside a 16th-century pelourinho. Visit · 45 min · Everyone
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
From May to June, with the waterfalls full and the hills green, and in September and October. In July and August there are many people at the pools and on the road from the Portela do Homem. In winter it rains a lot and the high mountains may see snow.
How you travel
Choose how you're travelling and we'll tell you where to stay, how to get around, where to eat and which services you'll need. We only show the ways of travelling that make sense here.
Villages, viewpoints and waterfalls are far from one another, along narrow mountain roads: without a car the park shrinks to Gerês village. Enter from Ourense via Lobios and the Portela do Homem and sleep in two places so as not to repeat roads.
Wild camping is not allowed in the national park, so sleep at a campsite. Parque Cerdeira has the best facilities for motorhomes; Travanca is the base for the west side, for Soajo and Lindoso. The mountain roads are narrow: avoid tracks and unpaved side roads.
Wild camping is not permitted in the national park, but the campsites are part of the trip: pitches under the trees, a pool in summer and routes that set out on foot.
Who you're with
A trip with a toddler is not the same as one with a teenager. Pick yours to see what works and what to bear in mind.
The Gerês works for families if it is split into short mornings: a walk, a viewpoint and a swim. What tires is the car, not the routes.
With children under six, choose plans you reach by car and that last a short time: a viewpoint, a granary threshing floor, a boat.
The Gerês wins teenagers over with activity: ropes, wheels and water. The granaries are better as a short stop between one thing and another.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: A hotel with 53 rooms and 2 suites in the centre of the Gerês spa village, opposite the baths and spa, with a restaurant and terrace.
© Parque CerdeiraCampsiteWhy we like it: A campsite with granite bungalows, family rooms, cabins and motorhome pitches at Campo do Gerês, inside the national park.
Why we like it: A campsite among pines beside the Porta do Mezio, 6 km from Soajo, with pitches for tents and motorhomes and bungalows for two.
Services for this trip
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: the roast meat of the mountains and the view, by day: ask for a table by the picture window.
What to order: the Pedaço do Gerês, its version of bife à minhota; and order the kid or the bersame if you are a group.
What to order: the caldo verde with broa and the house roasts, after visiting the biological park.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
41.45° N · 8.29° W
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41.14° N · 8.61° W
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By car
Tips
The best-known pools and waterfalls fill up by mid-morning in July and August, and the car parks with them.
Wet granite beside the waterfalls is very slippery. The pools have currents and drops: swim only where you see local people.
It is activated by scanning a QR code at the accommodation and costs nothing.
Sleep one night in the village of Gerês and another in Soajo or Lindoso. That way you see both sides of the park without spending the day in the car.
It is the most photographed and the most crowded. Go first thing or swap it for the Ponte Feia, on the Geira, which is reached on foot from the Portela do Homem.
The park is large and mountainous, and the roads are slow: organise it by areas and sleep in two places if you can. There are three main entrances.
The Mata da Albergaria is an ancient woodland of oak, holly and strawberry tree, the heart of the park. The Geira, the Roman road that linked Braga with Astorga, crosses it and still keeps milestones in the forest. From the Portela do Homem, on the border with Galicia, follow the Geira on foot to the Ponte Feia, above a waterfall on the River Homem, and return by the São Miguel waterfall.
For the views, climb to the Junceda viewpoint, at 915 m, above the village of Gerês and the Caniçada reservoir, and to Pedra Bela, on the way to the Arado waterfall. In the village, the spa park and the fountains are a reminder that the Romans already used its waters.
In the Vilarinho da Furna reservoir a communal village lies submerged: the Vilarinho da Furna museum, in Campo do Gerês, tells its story, and the Geira museum, that of the Roman road. On the Caniçada reservoir there are pleasure boats from Rio Caldo.
In Soajo, 24 espigueiros, the granite granaries of the Minho, are grouped on a threshing floor over a great slab of rock, beside a 16th-century pillory of very unusual shape. In Lindoso, on the banks of the Lima and less than 5 km from the border, there are 64 espigueiros built between the 18th and 20th centuries around the communal threshing floor, at the foot of a castle from about 1250, from the time of Afonso III, later extended by Dinis. The two villages are about three quarters of an hour by car from the village of Gerês.
If you are travelling with children, Porta do Mezio, in Arcos de Valdevez, is one of the park's gateways with a biological park, an adventure park, stargazing and a pool that opens in summer until mid-September.
From Galicia it is the nearest foreign national park. From Ourense it is about 90 km to the village of Gerês, an hour and a half by car, crossing via Lobios and the Portela do Homem; from Vigo, about 140 km, a little under two hours, by motorway to Braga. From Porto it is about 95 km. To get around the park you need a car: the villages, viewpoints and waterfalls are far apart and the roads are slow.
The park protects a living mountain, with villages and animals loose on the roads. Drive slowly, especially at dusk. Wild camping is not allowed: sleep in the campsites and accommodation in the villages. If you stay in Terras de Bouro, the council's Gerês.Card gives you free entry to the Vilarinho da Furna and Geira museums and 50% off the Rio Caldo boat from 15 July to 15 September.
Questions
Two nights at the very least: one for the Gerês and the Albergaria, and another for Soajo, Lindoso and the Peneda. With four you can do long routes without hurry.
It is difficult: the villages, viewpoints and waterfalls are far apart. If you don't have a car, stay in the village of Gerês and do walks from there, or book an excursion.
In summer many people swim in river pools and reservoirs. There are no lifeguards at the pools: go in carefully and never in the waterfalls.
Granite granaries on pillars, for drying and storing maize away from damp and rodents. Soajo has 24 and Lindoso 64, grouped on communal threshing floors.
Yes. The Portela do Homem is a border crossing with Lobios, in Ourense, and the park continues in Spain as Baixa Limia – Serra do Xurés: together they form a cross-border biosphere reserve.
Yes. The walk along the Geira to the Ponte Feia is short, they like the espigueiros and Porta do Mezio has an adventure park and a pool in summer.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/portugal/northern-portugal/peneda-geres
