Free walking tours in Arouca and what to see

Must-sees

Arouca is a town in northern Portugal, surrounded by mountains and at the heart of the Arouca Geopark, recognised by UNESCO as a global geopark. In the centre, the highlight is Arouca Monastery, a large convent complex linked to Queen Saint Mafalda, whose church and museum of sacred art hold gilded altarpieces, choir stalls and religious pieces. The nuns also left a tradition of convent sweets that you can still find in the town's pastry shops.

Most visitors come for the Paiva Walkways, a wooden boardwalk that follows the Paiva river through a gorge between Areinho and Espiunca. Over the same valley runs the 516 Arouca bridge, a long pedestrian suspension bridge high above the river. In the Serra da Freita you can see the Frecha da Mizarela waterfall and the Pedras Parideiras («birthing stones»), a granite that sheds small dark nodules. In Canelas there is a museum of fossil trilobites.

Free tours and guided visits

There are no free walking tours in Arouca, but there are several organised activities. The most popular combines the Paiva Walkways with a crossing of the 516 bridge, with transfer and guide. There are also buggy routes on mountain tracks and canyoning descents of the Paiva river, a different way to see the gorge from the water. The suspension bridge can only be crossed in groups with a booked time slot.

How long to spend

The walkways and the bridge take a morning, or a full day if you do the whole route, because some stretches have lots of steps. Allow another half day for the monastery and the centre of Arouca. With two or three days you can go up to the Serra da Freita, see the waterfall and the Pedras Parideiras, and visit the trilobite museum in Canelas.

Where to stay

The most practical option is to stay in the centre of Arouca, near the monastery, where there are hotels and guesthouses with restaurants at hand. If you want to wake up by the river, the villages near the Paiva, such as Alvarenga or Canelas, have rural houses a few minutes from the walkways. In the Serra da Freita you will find more isolated mountain stays.