Guarda

A vacation in the Guarda District takes you into the highest mountain country on the Portuguese mainland. This is where you'll find Guarda, Portugal's highest city, surrounded by granite castles along the Spanish border, the high pastures of the Serra da Estrela, and the prehistoric rock art of the Côa Valley.

Landscape and Towns

The district lies in the northeast of central Portugal. In the southwest, the Serra da Estrela rises to nearly 2,000 meters; Seia, Gouveia, and Manteigas sit on its slopes, the latter at the head of the glacial Zêzere Valley. To the east, a rugged plateau stretches out, dotted with granite boulders, oak forests, and small villages. Guarda itself sits at around 1,000 meters. Its Gothic cathedral of gray granite looks like a fortress, and the Jewish quarter recalls the long Jewish history of the border towns. Seia is the starting point for trips to the Torre summit and has a bread museum that brings the region's rural life vividly to life.

Sights in the Guarda District

Many of the "Aldeias Históricas de Portugal," the historic villages, are in this district: Almeida with its star-shaped fortress, Castelo Rodrigo with views across the border, Marialva with its castle ruins, Trancoso with a well-preserved ring of walls, and Linhares da Beira, where paragliders take off. In the north, near Vila Nova de Foz Côa, thousands of Paleolithic animal figures carved into the rock were discovered in the 1990s; the Côa Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a modern museum and guided jeep tours make it accessible. Farther northeast, the gorges of the Douro Internacional begin.

Food, Getting There, and the Best Time to Visit

Queijo Serra da Estrela, a soft sheep's-milk cheese curdled with thistle flowers, is the region's most famous specialty. Other staples include sausages, bean stews, lamb, and game dishes. Guarda is on the A23 and A25 highways and on the rail line to Spain. The best time for hiking is from May to October; in winter, snow falls in the Estrela, and many Portuguese experience snow for the first time here. In early summer, broom and heather bloom on the high pastures, and shepherds still drive their flocks up to the mountain meadows.