“A quaint little town, perfect for one night and to use to explore Serra de Estrela. It’s quite spread out, but you only need to stay around (Paço 100 Pressa)” #notsponsoredyet
Unnecessary personal anecdote:
Back in my prime, I was big into gymnastics, despite lacking any natural skill and consistently overestimating my strength. One afternoon, whilst my mum was having a coffee with my grandma and her neighbour, I spotted the perfect tree for my talents. After being permitted to go climb it, I very quickly got myself stuck at the top. The only option I could see of getting down was to perform a move from my gymnastics class. Sadly, it slipped my mind that I almost exclusively fell when attempting it. Sure enough, I hit the ground, hard. Extremely embarrassed, and slightly afraid of my neighbour, I decided to hide myself and my newly broken arm until my mum found me behind the bins in their garden. Not wanting to miss that day’s Equestrian vaulting class, I pretended my arm was fine, until I got to the stables… I was 8 at the time. I did gymnastics until I was 14, never once questioning my abilities.
Things to do – Do you love all things parsnips? No? Oh, weird. Well there’s other stuff to do…
- Parsnip festival (~3rd week Sep) – Yes you heard that right! Live music, parsnips, and other, more normal things to eat. What more could you wish for?
- Vibes – Just walk around the old town, enjoy the vibes. Do the same walks at night. Enjoy the peace, the views, and the pretty cool street art.
- Local produce – There’s some great bread, cheese, honey, ham. Eat some.
Views – Would you rather be in the cave looking at the palace, or in the palace looking at the cave? (Karl Pilkington 2010)
- Miradouro Portas do Sol – Alright but a bit overrated and definitely not the best.
- Ponte da Ribeira da Carpinteira – don’t bother walking there on Google maps as you have to go a bit out of the town. Instead go to…
- Jardim Público da Covilhã – Good spot to look out over the whole city, and you can get the elevator down to the bridge from this side where the views are even better.
Where we stayed – Paço 100 Pressa.
- Right in the centre, nice clean rooms, good facilities
- Super friendly staff and really reasonably priced.
- You can also order massages to your room which are pretty cheap as well. Cant voucher for the quality though because they were closed on Sunday.
- Book it, tell them it was because of us, they share our page, we become famous and rich, you get good karma. Win-win.
Quick checklist – Here’s what to do:
- Get to Covilhã, you want one night to spend exploring the town, the rest you can just use to explore Serra de Estrela.
- Book yourself into Paço 100 Pressa.
- Walk around the town, see the viewpoints, get some food, enjoy the vibes.
- Decide whether you will do sunrise or sunset (or do both) and get to Torre de Estrela and make your way down the road towards Covilhã during the golden hours.
- Don’t miss the Nossa Senhora da Boa Estrela!
- Bring some warm clothes! Sleeping bags if you’re camping are a must! Don’t think just because it’s the summer in Portugal that you will be fine.
- Maybe download something like all trails, because there is very little info on google maps and basically no trail markings.
