Peneda-Gerês National Park

Peneda-Gerês National Park (Portuguese: Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês) is a national park in Portugal and is the only national park in Portugal, covering an area of.

Understand
Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês (PAHRCK(ih) nuh-see-oo-NAHL duh p(ih)-NEH-duh zh(ih)-rihsh, /ˈpaɾ.kɨ nɐ.si.u.ˈnaɫ dɐ pɨ.ˈne.dɐ ʒɨ.ˈɾeʃ/) is in the districts of Viana do Castelo, Braga and Vila Real; set along the mountains of Peneda, Larouco, Geres, it is one of the most spectacular in the Iberian Peninsula.

Flora and fauna
The park has a large variety of fauna - including deer, wild horses, wolves and birds of prey - and flora such as pine, yew, chestnut and oak trees, as well as medicinal plants.

Get in
You can access the park via the A3 motorway (Autoestrada de Entre-Douro-e-Minho). Take exit 11 to the N203 road into the park.

The N103 road from Viana do Castelo, Braga, Chaves, and Bragança runs close to the park's southern edge. Connecting roads into the park include the N304.

It's possible to reach the town of Gêres by bus from Braga (main bus station) using the company "Empresa Hoteleira do Gêres". Note that service is very sparse on the weekends, check schedules here. From Gêres, the bus back to Braga leaves from the opposite side of the main downtown along the southbound one way main street. Buy your ticket on the bus, one way as of Apr 2022. Bus service also exists to Campo do Gêres from Braga using buses from the Transdev company.

Fees and permits
No fees or permits are required to visit the park.

Do
There are a couple of nice hiking opportunities in the park. You can get free maps and information at the tourist information centre in Gerês, but they only offer information for nearby tracks. For information on other tracks you have to go to an office of the national park itself.

Hiking tracks from Gerês
 * PR 3: starts and ends in Gerês; duration: 5 hr:
 * Goes up the mountain close to Gerês through beautiful forest until a viewpoint, where you can see all over the valley and the lake. Then, the trail goes on a plateau with very nice rock formations, where you can see some wild horses and cattle. Then down you go again through forest and the valley back on an asphalt road (no traffic) to Gerês.


 * PR10: “the lazy trail”: starts and ends in Gerês; duration: 2 hr:
 * A circuit through the forest at the mountain in Gerês.

Lodging
There is lots of accommodation in Gerês.



Go next

 * Arcos de Valdevez