the rail of Relic Forest, in the middle of Mata do Buçaco, consists of a small circuit, about 2km. Despite being small, this route has some steep and slippery climbs and descents, so you should be prepared to do this.
Additionally, be aware that the Mata has a entry fee of €5/car, so we recommend going early and making the most of the day inside the space. If you choose to do several trails, you can buy, for a symbolic price, the map in the souvenir shop next to the Convent. Speaking with the employee at the information point, the trail presented here was the one recommended for us to get to know this destination better.
Do not forget that the Mata Nacional do Buçaco is an extremely dense set of flora, so it ends up retaining all the cold. We visited on a day that was already cold (December 26) but the density of the forest doubled the cold, so we recommend that you take warm clothes or, if you visit in summer, a jacket.
The rail begins in the main car park, next to the hotel gardens. In this first phase, you will find some signs indicating the path to follow. In our case, we chose to take the first left towards Fonte do Carregal, passing by a small group of chapels called Ermida de São José.
Arriving at the fountain, there is a fork, and the trail continues to the right. From here, the route always follows the same path, through twists and turns, ups and downs, passing by several small chapels, until you reach a small set of buildings.
Here you can take the opportunity, for a few minutes, to explore the buildings and climb stairs to the top of one of the buildings, already having a higher view of the landscape. From here, you can choose whether or not to go to Cruz Alta.
The High Cross it is part of the trail but you will have to return by the same path. However, we 100% recommend visiting this part of the park: in addition to having a wonderful view of the forest, the path there is one of the most beautiful. For this part of the route, bear in mind that the path goes up a lot, so we recommend that you are wearing suitable footwear and have a minimum physical condition to withstand steep climbs.
Having visited High Cross, they return by the same path to the set of buildings mentioned above. From here, a half-hidden path appears next to the tower-shaped building.
Finding the way forward, the trail goes straight ahead, a good reference point being a large rock, being necessary to go under it to follow the path. This zone is known as adernal and is one of the densest and most primitive zones of the Forest.
From here, we recommend taking triple care with the path to follow – in our case, unfortunately, we missed the trail markings as they were hidden by the vegetation. Following the paths that appeared, we managed to return to the original route later, ending up not visiting another part of the trail: the Porta de Coimbra.
Afterwards, the route continues without major difficulties until they return to the car park next to the hotel and the Convent. Bear in mind that the Convent of Santa Cruz do Buçaco, next to the Hotel, has a specific opening hours, so you may (like us) be unlucky enough to finish the trail and it is already closed.
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