Pedra Bela Trail

The park board is wiping its feet on a genteel explanation for tourists who want to visit the park. On the official website you will only find Portuguese information. Apart from a few sentences of explanation about the walks, you can pat your chin in terms of useful information.

This is no different in the park itself. One of the highlights, the Pedra Bela viewpoint, is only indicated at the very last with outdated wooden arrows. There is no parking space: a few recesses along the road should suffice. There are no information boards.

At Miradouro Petra Bela we have a panoramic view over the mountains around the rivers Rio Cávado and Rio Caldo. It is also the starting point of the Pedra Bela Trail.

After a long search we find a walk and we are ready for a trip of ten kilometers. The landscape of Peneda-Gerês is relatively unknown. We're not sure what to expect. Initially, the path is well signposted with markings, but these soon disappear. Fortunately, there are many visitors who leave stacked stones as a guide to the right path. On the difficult parts of the walk, however, these are absent and it is difficult to orientate.

The walk offers a nice variety of landscapes. At the start we imagine ourselves in El Torcal in Spain. Large boulders and jagged formations create a mysterious fairytale landscape.

A little later we are overcome by an intense pine scent in a forest. A little later we walk over a heath. Strangely enough, this reminds us of De Maasduinen National Park in the Netherlands.

The finale is a beautiful valley where a -now moderately- flowing river makes its way through a green landscape. Really beautiful and the ideal place to relax. That is also necessary, because the walk is difficult: it is a lot of climbing and descending. Our legs have known.

Normally there are waterfalls to see during the walk. But due to the drought and the period of the year, we have to make do with one waterfall that drips gently. In the spring, this should be worth it, because the waterfall is high and goes down in stages. However, today we very often go through the dry riverbed. We wonder how this is done when the river is higher in the wet season.

It's certainly not a walk for the faint of heart. It never gets dangerous, but you have to be in sufficient condition to bridge a significant difference in height in the scorching sun. The variety and the beautiful nature that you get in return are definitely worth it.