Retreat to the Mountains of Serra da Estrela, Portugal

Nearly six years ago, when we first arrived to get settled into our newly purchased apartment, as we met expats, waitstaff and locals in our hotel and bars and restaurants we often heard “you need to go to Serra da Estrela”. I don’t know if this is because we had told people we were from the state of Colorado and explained that there was snow and there were big mountains there, or if everyone really loves Portugal’s biggest mountain range but tell us to visit, they did. And now, six years later, we finally took their advice.

The mountain range and park are located in the northwestern portion of central Portugal. It contains the highest peak in Portugal, Torre, at 6,539 feet which has a road you can follow to the top. The region is known for its Estrela Mountain dogs, for a local cheese and for burel wool produced at a factory in Manteigas.

The landscape was formed 300 million years ago by shifting continental plates. Nomadic shepherds inhabited this area in summer and fall thousands of years ago. The regional capitol of Guarda was founded by the Lusitanians who resisted Roman rule until early in the 1st century AD. In 1881, a scientific expedition of the mountain range set out from Lisbon to survey the land, study the geography, flora and fauna of the region and to establish a meteorological post in the mountains. Today, the region has several small mountain cities and towns: Seia, Manteigas, Loriga, Folgosinho, Gouveia and Sabugeiro, a small ski resort (9 trails), streams and waterfalls, and over 200 hiking trails to enjoy. Weathered granite rock mountains and stone tors dot the landscape giving the tops of mountains an other-worldly feel. Roads cut through valleys and up over mountain tops winding their ways through the park.

The temperatures were markedly cooler as we arrived at our hotel above Manteigas. We immediately signed up for the wool factory tour and guided hike for the next day and then bailed on both wanting to do our own thing. Our hotel, Casa das Penhas Douradas, is owned and operated by the same company that makes the wool down in Manteigas. It felt kind of like a ski dorm with friendly clientele, excellent customer service and great food. We used the pool, the sauna and sat out on our terrace overlooking the lawn. We had lunch at the sister hotel, Casa de São Lorenço, checked out the privately-owned Swiss-style chalets (inhabited primarily during summer, if at all) and took the hiking trail (more like a road) down to the Lagoon in the Vale do Rossim which the guided hike was set to do.

We were there for a meeting about our visas in Guarda, which is always a bit of an anxiety-raising event even if you’re prepared and have done everything right, so it was a perfect little preparatory getaway to connect with nature and find some good karma.