Gerês is a mountainous region that shares both Portuguese and Spanish land, though, the Spanish part is called Xurês by the Spanish locals.
Gerês is filled with amazing and mysterious places to visit, it’s home of the best sceneries in Portugal, like incredible viewpoints, landscapes and waterfalls with big natural pools of crystal clear water.
The Peneda-Gerês region has long been called a home by many agricultural communities, dating all the way back to 6000 B.C, thus, one can still find many megalithic, celtic, roman and medieval structures and artifacts up to this day, like, for example, large stone monuments, roman bridges, stone graves, amongst other examples.
One of the biggest reasons thousands of people visit the Gerês everyday is its amazing collection of waterfalls and pools of water ranging all the way from just off the road to as far as 2 hour walks amidst nature just to find them.
The most well known waterfalls and natural pools are :
– Tahiti waterfall (though it’s correct name is fecha das barjas);
– 7 lagoas (though not a waterfall per-say, still one of gerês’s top 3 places);
– Soajo’s waterfall trail ( a trail of 3 main waterfalls with huge pools of water);
– Portela do homem waterfall;
– Arado waterfall;
– Pincães waterfall;
– Cela cavalos waterfall;
– Pitões das júnias waterfall (only viewable from the viewpoint, hardly accessible);
– Ermida waterfall.
For the ones who prefer a calmer, more touristic approach to Gerês, there’s still many place to go, like, for example, many of Gerês’s small villages or viewpoints that are easily reachable and still provide plenty of Instagram-worthy moments.
Without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best, if not the best viewpoint in Gerês, is named the “pedra bela” viewpoint; it’s a particularly high altitude viewpoint that gives you a magnificent view of Gerês’s village as well as all of the villages along the cávado river that runs along this particular valley, so all-in-all, a legitimate sunset viewing spot champion.
The Serial Sunsetter 