Explore Portugal with AtWill’s tips! Today: Serra da Estrela.
Serra da Estrela is a place of choice for the Portuguese to spend the winter holidays! Being one of the only places in Portugal that you can enjoy the snow, a lot of people like to spend Christmas and New Year’s Eve here, either being in a sky station or just relaxing by the fireplace. Even on summer time, Serra da Estrela is a great destination for a city-break and to get in touch with nature!
There are many places you can visit in this region: the main cities are Guarda, Manteiga e Covilhã; there are some ancient stone villages like Belmonte, Piódão, Monsanto, Castelo Rodrigo, just to name a few. You can also visit the Tower, the highest place in Portugal, located 1993 meters above the ocean level! Here’s where the lowest temperatures in the country are registered: during wintertime it can get to -20C!
Serra da Estrela is the only place in the country where you can practice ski, snowboarding or, if you’re not that adventurous, ride a snowmobile! There are a few ski places with infrastructure, as well as synthetic snow pistes that work all year long. It is also a great place for trekking, with more than 370km of marked trails of varying degrees of difficulty and breath-taking views!
Serra da Estrela has its own typical cheese, which is very famous and much appreciated both in Portugal and abroad. It also has its own dog breed, the Serra da Estrela dog, which is somehow related to the St. Bernard breed. Both the cheese and the dog are connected to the local ancient tradition of grazing sheeps!
We hope you liked our suggestion of visiting Serra da Estrela after exploring Porto with us! Check here other tips of places to explore near Porto.
And don’t forget: to see everything Porto has to offer, book a tour! We will tell you all about our beloved city and country :)
