Camping El Cares
Santa Marina de Valdeón, León · Sleeps 4–6
A family site high in the Valdeón valley, a few kilometres above the Cares gorge walk.
€
- Mountain views
- Family-run
- On a long-distance trail
Checked
Photographs by Parque Cerdeira, used with permission.
Parque Cerdeira
Campo do Gerês, Northern Portugal
Camping under oak and chestnut inside the Peneda-Gerês, Portugal's only national park.
Why we love it
Peneda-Gerês is the only national park in Portugal, a granite massif on the Spanish border with wolves still in it, waterfalls, and Roman road markers standing where the legions left them. Parque Cerdeira is inside it at Campo do Gerês, shaded by oak and chestnut.
Pitches, bungalows and pods, a restaurant using local produce, and walking straight from the gate. Canoeing on the reservoir below.
Best for: the only national park Portugal has, from inside it
Worth knowing
- Four nights minimum from 30 July to 30 August, and a reservation is required over those dates.
- No vehicle may move on the site between 11pm and 7am, and the silence rule over the same hours is enforced by expulsion without refund.
- The park shuts from 6 January to 6 February and again from 3 to 27 November, and the pool only runs 15 June to 15 September, closed on Mondays.
The practicalities
- Check in
- From 4pm for bungalows, PODs and family rooms; from 2pm for camping and caravanning
- Check out
- By 10am from bungalows, PODs and family rooms; by noon from camping and caravanning
- Wifi
- Patchy
- Included
- Free hot water in the showers and washbasins
- One parking space with each accommodation
- Bed linen and towels in the PODs
- Extras
- Adult on a pitch — €6–11 a night
- Child aged 4–10 on a pitch — €3–6 a night
- Car on a pitch — €4–7 a night
- Electricity, 10A — €3–6.30 a night
- Pets, maximum two — €3–6 a night
- Bedding — €5–9
- Swimming pool — €2–4 an adult, €1–2 a child
- Family private bathroom — €3–4 small, €5.50–10 large
Getting there
- Nearest station
- Braga — 26.3 miles
- Without a car
- Possible
Buses run from Braga bus station to Campo do Gerês with CIM Cávado and stop at the beginning of Rua de Cerdeira, four hundred metres from the park. Driving from Braga it is the EN 101 towards Vila Verde, over the Cávado, then the EN 205-3 through Terras de Bouro, Covide and Campo do Gerês; the park says the Portela do Homem and Serra Amarela approaches are not advisable with a caravan or motorhome.
What is around it
Walks
- Mata da Albergaria · 4.7 miles — One of the finest stretches of the national park.
Towns
- Campo do Gerês · 0.4 miles — Also called São João do Campo.
- Terras de Bouro · 9.1 miles
- Braga · 26.3 miles
Days out
- Museu Etnográfico de Vilarinho da Furna · 1.2 miles — Keeps the memory of the village drowned by the dam in 1972.
- Barragem de Vilarinho das Furnas · 1.5 miles
- Portela do Homem · 6 miles — The border crossing into the Spanish Xurés.
Where it is
Checked August 2026 · We re-verify prices and opening every quarter.
If you like this, you’ll like these
- Campsite
- Campsite
Storängens Naturcamping
Ransäter · Sleeps 2–6
Fifteen hectares of which only six are used, with ninety-nine pitches, eleven cabins and three safari tents.
kr
- Family-run
- Private woodland
- Glamping tents
Checked
- Campsite
Naturcamping Lagom
Värmland · Sleeps 1–13
Ninety-five oversized natural pitches among the forests and lakes of Värmland.
kr
- Lakeside
- Private woodland
- Huge pitches
Checked