Family day trip from Lisbon to Serra de Aire and Foz do Arelho beach

Within a short drive from Lisbon many surprises await curious travelers to Portugal. If you feel you have seen Lisbon inside out and have a hire car at your disposal, explore further into the less known areas of the country.

Driving in Portugal is easy, roads are good, local people friendly. If you venture only a little off the beaten tracks you may find out that many sites – not necessarily listed amongst top-ranked tourist attractions in Portugal – are well worthwhile a day trip from Lisbon for you and your family.

The Serra de Aires mountains – a short drive from Lisbon

It only takes a comfortable 1.5 hour drive north from Lisbon to get to Serra de Aires e Candeeiros Natural Park. In fact the “mountains” are a limestone massif (mountain mass), elevating nearly 700 meters above sea level and with great views over the town of Mira de Aire.

Serra de Aires in Portugal is known mainly for three reasons, all of them potentially interesting for children of different ages: the Jurassic era dinosaur foot prints, local Portuguese Serra de Aires breed of dogs and spectacular caves, open for visitors.

The largest and most impressive of Serra de Aires caves are called Caves of Mira de Aire (in Portuguese: Grutas de Mira de Aire).

You can easily reach Serra de Aires from Lisbon heading north on the A1 Lisbon-Porto motorway towards Fátima in the North of Portugal. In order to get to Mira de Aires caves leave the A1 at Junction 7 to the secondary N243 road and follow the signs to “Grutas de Mira de Aire” for about 10 km / 6.2 miles.

Mira de Aire Caves – unusual sightseeing spot in Portugal

In Mira de Aires you will find the largest system of caves in Portugal. (Click on the Mira de Aires picture gallery in the right column to see more pictures)

Formed gradually over thousands of years through water erosion, the caves were first discovered in 1947, but only opened to public in 1974, the year of the Portuguese Carnation Revolution.

Mira de Aire Caves are frequently called the “Underground Cathedral” for their unique and unpredictable natural architecture and impressive formations of stalactites and stalagmites.

Underground lakes are extravagantly illuminated and water fountains were installed in many places creating surreal effects.

The Mira de Aire caves are treasured by the locals: is not unusual to hold wedding receptions in the purpose built underground ballroom and some of the caves are used for wine aging, taking advantage of the perfect humidity conditions of the caves.

Comfortable temperature of around 18 C remains steady in all parts of the caves and will surely be a relief from the merciless heat of the Serra in the hottest of summer days.

A 45 minutes guided tour of the caves is available daily from March till October. Watch over younger children as the cave’s many steps are slippery. Also, leaning over for better views in the upper sections of the caves is unadvisable. A lot of care has been taken to minimalize the human input into the natural cave formations and not to spoil it with excessive railings. In general, however, the caves of Mira de Aires are safe and recommended for families with kids.

In 2012, the entrance fee for Mira de Aire Cave is EUR 6 for adults (ages 12 and up), EUR 3.5 for children (ages 5 to 11).

Only a small section of the cave system has sufficient conditions for visiting. The speleologists are still discovering new cave openings in Mira de Aire, called galleries, many of them submerged

Serra de Aire Waterpark – pools and slides

If three quarters of an hour of cave exploring proves challenging for younger visitors, they will be happy to find, back to the surface, a small waterpark just next to the exit from the caves.

The park consist of a deep pool, a paddling pool and three fun water slides.

A life guard watches over the waterpark users’ safety and simple snacks and soft drinks are served in a small bar with a terrace overlooking the pools. If parents do not want to use the park facilities, they can stay in the bar without having to pay waterpark entry fees.

The entrance fees for the water park are: EUR 7.10 adults and EUR 5.65 for the full day. Reduced half-day fee is EUR 5.65 for adults and EUR 3.70 for children.

The tickets to the waterpark can be purchased together with tickets for the cave tour or independently, if you wish to come back to Mira de Aire just for some water fun.

Obidos Lagoon near Caldas da Rainha

Most visitors to Portugal will only be familiar with the beaches in Algarve and in the Lisbon Coast. Not an exception, Foz do Arelho beach, near Caldas da Rainha, is still greatly underrated even in most thorough of tourist guide books about Portugal.

If you are in Serra de Aire, do not miss the opportunity to visit this unique Portuguese beach before heading back to Lisbon.

There are two ways of reaching the Atlantic coast from Mira de Aire. For a full local experience take the curvy over-the-mountain road to Rio de Mouro and enjoy the unspoiled and peaceful scenery of the natural park, disturbed only by lazy cattle grazing amongst olive trees.

The quicker, although not the shorter way is to get back to A1 motorway heading south towards Lisbon, turn right to the A15 in direction for Caldas da Rainha and follow the signs to Obidos Lagoon/Foz do Arelho.

Foz do Arelho – great beach holiday solutions for families

If you have children of different ages and a compromise about how to spend your leisure time does not always come easy, Foz do Arelho is a perfect place for a day-at-the-beach outing.

In this strip of sandy beaches separating the Obidos Lagoon from the Atlantic, teenagers will have opportunity to enjoy fierce waves perfect for surfing. Within a short walk distance, at the lagoon shore, calm waters of the Obidos lagoon welcome younger children to play and swim in safety, while parents relax nearby. Not many beaches of the Silver Coast, as this part of the Atlantic coast is called in Portugal, offer similar safety conditions.

The Atlantic coastline of Foz do Arelho is as wild and unspoiled as at any other Silver Coast beach.

Foz de Arelho beach is life-guarded and has plenty of activities in the summertime. It is a very clean beach, bearing the EU Blue Flag awarded for good environmental and safety standards. Well maintained facilities such as showers, restrooms and first-aid stand are available for the bathers at Foz do Arelho.

Still yet to be discovered by international tourist, Foz de Arelho maintains the prices of food and accommodation at a reasonable level. For as little as 5 euros you can have an uncomplicated meal in many of the nearby cafes or venture for Portuguese traditional cuisine on a sea-facing terrace of one of the Foz do Arelho restaurants.

For more upmarked accommodation solutions, pensions and hotels, not to mention better shopping, try the nearby town of Caldas da Rainha.

Although a little off the beaten tourist tracks in Portugal, Foz do Arelho is amongst the next up-and-coming destination for beach holidays in Portugal.