Arrábida Natural Park

A protected natural area in Portugal’s Setúbal District, encompassing the Arrábida mountain range and parts of the adjacent coast. Its limestone landscapes, Mediterranean vegetation, and marine habitats lie close to the Sado estuary.

Connect

Serra da Arrábida: A limestone mountain range in Portugal’s Setúbal Peninsula, rising beside the Atlantic coast. The park takes its name from this range, whose steep slopes shape its inland scenery.
Arrábida Marine Park: A marine protected area along Portugal’s Arrábida coast, safeguarding coastal and underwater habitats. It extends conservation from the terrestrial park into adjacent marine waters.
Biodiversity conservation: The protection and sustainable management of variation among genes, species, and ecosystems. The park’s protected status is a local tool for conserving habitats and species.
Formosinho: The highest summit of the Serra da Arrábida, reaching about 501 metres above sea level. Its elevation gives a clear landmark for the mountain range at the park’s heart.
Setúbal Peninsula: A peninsula south of Lisbon, Portugal, bordered by the Tagus and Sado estuaries and the Atlantic Ocean. The park occupies the peninsula’s southern coast and mountainous interior.
Portinho da Arrábida: A small beach and coastal settlement on Portugal’s Arrábida coast. Its popularity illustrates the pressure that beach tourism can place on protected shores.
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub: A biome of drought-adapted forests, woodlands, and shrublands around the Mediterranean Basin. Arrábida’s vegetation belongs to this broader ecological region.
Cabo Espichel: A prominent headland on Portugal’s Setúbal Peninsula, west of the Serra da Arrábida. The headland marks the western coastal setting of the protected landscape.
Arrábida Coastal Lagoon: A sheltered coastal lagoon on Portugal’s Arrábida coast, known for clear water and sandy beaches. Its sheltered waters show how the park’s coastal habitats differ from exposed Atlantic shores.
Convent of Our Lady of Arrábida: A sixteenth-century Franciscan convent built on the slopes of Portugal’s Serra da Arrábida. The convent is a cultural landmark within the park’s mountain landscape.