Peneda-Gerês National Park: Ponte da Barca to Lamas de Mouro

About this drive

The road through Peneda-Gerês National Park — Portugal's only national park — follows river valleys and climbs through granite upland between the town of Ponte da Barca in the south and the Spanish border near Lamas de Mouro in the north. The landscape is characteristically Minho: granite outcrops, rushing rivers, oak and pine forest, and the small stone villages that have been here since before the park was designated. Gerês itself — a small spa village at the centre of the park — is where most visitors base themselves, and the thermal waters have been used since Roman times. The road north from Gerês to Vilarinho das Furnas passes a village submerged when a reservoir was built in 1972, occasionally visible in its ruins when the water level drops in dry summers — a striking and melancholy sight. The Castro Laboreiro plateau in the north of the park is one of the most remote landscapes in Portugal, accessible via a minor road that climbs above the treeline to a moorland of granite boulders and wind-bent vegetation. The Garrano wild horses that roam the park are most commonly seen on this plateau in the early morning. The park shares its border with the Galician region of Spain, and the landscape continues without interruption across the border.

Stops along the way

• 🏛️ Espigueiros de Soajo · Historical

  A cluster of stone granaries raised on stilts, traditionally used to keep grain dry and away from rodents.