Castro Laboreiro

Ruins of Castro Laboreiro's twelfth century castle tower over
the village

Castro Laboreiro is the largest village in the North of the park, in the Serra de Peneda accessible by bus from the town of Melgaco.

Castro Laboreiro has - like other large villages in the park - a number of hotels, restaurants and guesthouses though still retains much of its traditional agricultural life.

A leaflet on the official ADERE website, lists the hotels and guest houses and also identifies a walk along the tradtional paths from the inverneiras to the higher summer villages - "brandas".

There is a small museum with information on traditional village life (entirely in Portuguese), but the ruins of the 12th century castle built on top of a high rocky crag is the main thing to see. From the castle you look down onto the valley of the Castro Laboreiro river alongside which are the traditional inverneiras (lower, winter villages).

View from the castle, looking down the valley of the
Castro Laboreiro river