Arrábida Natural Park

Overview

The Arrábida Natural Park protects the limestone ridge that rises to 501 m straight out of the sea on the south side of the Setúbal peninsula, 176 km² of mountain, cliff and water made a park in 1976 and a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 2025, the one stretch of the Portuguese coast that looks Mediterranean, with white rock, dark maquis and turquoise water instead of Atlantic sand and grey cliff.

The park is free and always open; the visit is the coast road along the ridge with its viewpoints, the beaches of Portinho da Arrábida, Galapinhos and Figueirinha in the coves below, and the 16th-century Convent of Arrábida on the slope above them, now run by the Fundação Oriente.

History

The massif is the western end of the Tethys, the sea that became the Mediterranean, thrust up when Africa met Europe in the Late Cretaceous, and its rocks, dolomitic limestone laid down under a Jurassic sea and the breccia known as Arrábida marble that was quarried for church interiors, are its first claim; there are dinosaur fossils, mostly sauropods, around Cabo Espichel and karst caves including the Gruta do Frade.

Attempts to protect it began in the 1940s, a reserve was declared over the southern flanks in 1971, and the park followed on 28 July 1976 to cover geology, forest, wildlife and the human landscape of quintas and convents; in 1998 it was extended out to sea as the Arrábida-Espichel marine area, taking in the cliffs and seabird colonies of Cabo Espichel.

Visiting

From Setúbal take the road west along the foot of the ridge, past the cement works at Outão, to Figueirinha and Galapinhos and then Portinho da Arrábida, a horseshoe cove with a fort and a handful of houses under the mountain; above it, the upper road, the Estrada de Escarpa, runs along the crest with the coast 400 m below, and the turn-off to the Convent of Arrábida, whose white cells are scattered down the slope in a cork-oak wood, drops halfway between.

The park’s inland side is the wine and cheese country of Azeitão, with the Serra do Louro and the castle of Palmela on its northern rim, and the western end runs out to Sesimbra and the long cape of Espichel with its abandoned pilgrim sanctuary; from Sesimbra to Alpertuche the coast is high and abrupt, with coves reached only by boat.

Tips

• The beach roads close or fill by mid-morning in July and August; arrive before 09:00 or come in June and September, when the water is at its warmest and the fog off Espichel has gone.
• The convent is visited by guided tour on set days through the Fundação Oriente; check before driving up.
• Snorkelling off Galapinhos and the marine reserve is the best on the mainland; the diving centres are in Sesimbra.
• August afternoons on the ridge reach 28 degrees and there is no shade on the crest walk; carry water.

Nearby

• Setúbal: the eastern gateway.
• Palmela castle: on the northern edge.
• Sesimbra: the western end.
• Cabo Espichel: 15 km beyond Sesimbra.

Getting there

Setúbal is the base, an hour from Lisbon by train from Roma-Areeiro or by bus over the bridge; from Setúbal a car or the summer buses reach the beaches, and the crest road needs a car. Sesimbra, at the western end, has its own buses from Lisbon.