About
Serra da Estrela is the highest mountain range in Portugal, rising in the country's interior and offering a very different landscape from the coast. Its glacial valleys, granite peaks and wide views make it a place for visitors who want open air and high ground.
What a visit offers
- Hiking across the range, with routes through its valleys and up toward its peaks.
- Mountain views that stretch over the surrounding land from the higher ridges.
- Mountain villages, which are worth a slow walk for their own character and for a sense of life in the hills.
- Serra da Estrela cheese, the famed local cheese, well suited to tasting after a day outdoors.
Winter in the hills
In colder months the range can be covered in snow. Torre, the highest point on mainland Portugal, is the place many visitors head for at that time of year, which makes Serra da Estrela one of the few places in the country where a winter day can feel like a mountain holiday elsewhere in Europe.
Because the range is large and its weather can change quickly, it suits visitors who plan ahead, dress for altitude and are happy to base themselves in a village and travel out from there each day.