Loop from Guarda

01 Church

Guarda Cathedral

Sé da Guarda

Begun in 1390, this granite cathedral blends the Gothic inherited from Batalha with Manueline flourishes completed around 1540. Step inside to follow the twisted columns of the nave to the stone altarpiece carved by João de Ruão. In the Renaissance chapel of the Pina family, the treasurer João de Pina lies stretched out on his tomb.

02 Castle

Centum Cellas

Torre de Centum-Cellas

On the hill of Santo Antão, the Centum Cellas tower raises its three roofless stone storeys, riddled with uneven openings. At the nearby interpretation centre, learn that it probably belonged to the villa of a wealthy Roman tin merchant. Legend, for its part, saw it as a prison of a hundred cells where Saint Cornelius was said to have been held.

03 Castle

Castle of Belmonte

Castelo de Belmonte

On its hill above the Zêzere, Belmonte castle belonged to the Cabral family, kin of the navigator who reached Brazil. Fernão Cabral, father of Pedro Álvares, received it in 1466 and gradually turned it into a lordly residence. Look above the south gateway for the armillary sphere and the Cabral coat of arms, then the Manueline window with its trefoil lintel.

04 Village

Sortelha

At some 760 metres above sea level, Sortelha gathers its granite houses behind 13th-century ramparts. Climb through the lanes to the castle to take in the tightly packed roofs and the surrounding plateaux from above. In the village, the Casa Árabe, a 14th-century house, owes its name to Gothic signs that the locals took to be Arabic.

05 Castle

Sabugal Castle

Castelo do Sabugal

Overlooking the crossing of the Côa, this castle owes its nickname, Castelo das Cinco Quinas, to its pentagonal keep. Follow the broad wall walk, where granite and schist mingle, along walls completed under Dinis in 1303. The poet Brás Garcia de Mascarenhas was held prisoner here in the 17th century.

06 Village

Penha Garcia

Penha Garcia castle crowns a spur above the village, given to the Knights Templar by King Dinis in 1303. Below, watermills dot the Ponsul, in a quartzite gorge marked by trilobites. Follow the Rota dos Fósseis of the Geoparque Naturtejo to read these grooves.

07 Village

Monsanto

Monsanto tucks its houses between enormous boulders, on a granite outcrop rising to 758 metres. Climb up to the castle of Gualdim Pais, ruined in the 19th century by the explosion of a powder magazine. A 1938 competition crowned it the most Portuguese village in the country, and a silver cockerel tops the Lucano tower.

08 Village

Idanha-a-Velha

09 Castle

Castelo de Castelo Novo

On a rock of the Serra da Gardunha, this castle, recorded as early as 1221, gave rise around it to the village of Castelo Novo. Observe the west gate, a pointed granite arch framed by two towers, one of which bears machicolations. Behind it, a square bell tower keeps its bell above a clock, near the ruined keep.

10 Museum

Museu de Lanifícios da Universidade da Beira Interior

Step into the dye works of the Real Fábrica de Panos, founded by the Marquis of Pombal in 1764, where excavations have uncovered cylindrical wells. The university museum tells the story of the wool of Covilhã and the Serra da Estrela here. Near the Ribeira da Carpinteira, râmolas once stretched the cloth out to dry.

11 Mountain

Torre

Drive up to the highest point of mainland Portugal, at 1,993 metres, a flat summit rather than a peak. The view plunges into deep valleys between schist and granite and, on clear summer days, reaches the sea towards Figueira da Foz. In winter, snow covers the plateau and the thermometer can drop to -20 °C.

12 Nature park

Betula pendula

Covão d'Ametade

At the head of the glacial Zêzere valley, in the Serra da Estrela, this grassy hollow opens at the foot of the Cântaro Magro rock face. Walk among white-trunked birches, along the young Zêzere as it runs between the boulders. Near Manteigas, the site remains freely open to walkers.

13 Viewpoint

Poço do Inferno

Stop at the edge of this small pool in the Serra da Estrela, where the ribeira de Leandres drops about 10 metres. The torrent slides over the granite, then leaps a bar of rock hardened by metamorphism. At 1,080 metres above sea level, the water stays icy and even freezes in harsh winters.

14 Village

Manteigas

15 Monument

Barragem de Vale do Rossim

In the Serra da Estrela, this masonry and concrete wall has held back the Ribeira da Fervença since 1956. Its crest closes off a small mountain lake at 1,437.5 metres. Through a 3,270-metre tunnel, its waters flow to the Lagoacho lake, serving a power station.

16 Monument

Barragem de Lagoa Comprida

At 1,600 metres, in the heart of the Serra da Estrela, a masonry wall 1,200 metres long holds back the waters of the Lagoa Comprida. Begun in 1910, the works continued through successive raisings until 1966. Follow the crest of this 29-metre wall, behind which a tunnel brings in water from the Covão do Meio.

17 Water sports  · Family

Loriga

Praia Fluvial de Loriga

The Ribeira de Loriga, coming down from the heights of the Serra da Estrela, spreads out in an old glacial valley. The clear water, awarded a Blue Flag in 2023, slips between small natural pools and waterfalls. Look up at the terraces carved into the slopes by generations of villagers.

18 Village

Piódão

Look first at the white church trimmed in blue, the only bright spot among the schist houses terraced on the Serra do Açor. This isolated village, home to just two families in 1527, long attracted fugitives, among them Diogo Lopes Pacheco, one of the alleged murderers of Inês de Castro. The road only arrived in 1972, and electricity in 1976.

19 Village

Avô

At the confluence of the Alva and the Ribeira de Pomares, Avô is reflected in a pool from which the island of Picoto emerges. Climb up to the ruins of the castle commissioned by Afonso Henriques, near the remains of the São Miguel hermitage. From 1187 to 1855, Avô was a municipal seat, as its sixteenth-century pillory recalls.

20 Village

Linhares

Perched at around 800 metres on the edge of the Serra da Estrela, Linhares takes its name from the flax once worked here. Dinis strengthened its castle until 1291, and 16th-century houses keep their Manueline windows. You may well see paragliders circling above the ramparts, as the village is a hotspot for free flight.