TESTIMONIALS! TESTIMONIALS!

Thank you everyone that sent us photos and testimonials troughout the summer of your vacations in Setúbal we have it all here:

Click on the button on the left

Special Promotion: Weekend 17-19 September

Stay at the stunning Quinta de S. Filipe, a luxury hotel in the Arrábida Mountain, for a very special price.

Follow the link: Quinta de S. Filipe

What's On in Setúbal?

Setúbal is a vibrant city and region with lots of events happening troughout the year. On our website we gather the ones you cannot miss, like these ones:

Day of Setúbal - 15 September

Still Living Statues in Setúbal

Click here if you want to be up-to-date with all the events: What's On in Setúbal

Portinho da Arrábida voted one of the 7 natural wonders

First it was the new 7 Wonders of the World announced in Lisbon in 2007. Then Portugal was inspired this year to choose its own seven natural wonders.

We’re proud to announce that the Portinho da Arrábida beach, one of the most stunning white sandy beaches in the Setúbal region has won in the category “Beaches and Cliffs”.

To know more click here: Portinho da Arrábida

Summer 2010 in Setúbal (in images)

Beach, Sports, Festivals, Food and music events, and much more took place this last summer in the region of Setúbal in Portugal. See the highlights in this video and visit the website Portugal Dream Coast to know more about this fantastic region!

Join us on Facebook

We work hard to promote the beautiful location of Setúbal in Portugal to the world and to bring you the best the region has to offer.

Join us on our new Facebook page and share it with your friends, we'll appreciate that. :)

Just click the link below or the image on the left:

Portugal Dream Coast - Yours in Setúbal

AND THE WINNER IS...

We have a happy winner of the competition "Win a Weekend". To check it, you just need to visit the competition page:

Win a Weekend

We'll be announcing the winner of the competition on the 24th August on Facebook

The 23rd August is the last day of the competition "Win a weekend in Setúbal" and on the 24th we'll be announcing the winning entry on our Facebook group.

You still have time to enter the competition and win a weekend on a romantic lighthouse in the Arrábida Mountain in Setúbal. Click here to participate: Travel to Portugal

And join us on Facebook to know the winner: Portugal Dream Coast Facebook

Bus Sightseeing Tour

Every Saturday you can now enjoy a Bus Sightseeing Tour which reveals Setúbal’s colourful region. This tour is created around a carefully designed route that takes you to the key places of interest, and a hop-on hop-off facility that lets you discover them.

Click here to know more about this lovely tour: Travel to Portugal

WIN A WEEKEND IN SETÚBAL WITH OUR WEBSITE!

We're happy to announce today the launch of the new website Portugal Dream Coast!

To commemorate we're offering you a wonderful weekend for two in a romantic windmill in the Arrábida mountain. All you need to do is visit the site Portugal Dream Coast, answer the question and enter the prize draw. :)

If you wish to give us feedback about the website, ask questions, give suggestions or just say Hi!, we would like to hear from you, please contact us.

Setúbal's Guide: Arrábida Mountain

Over the last few weeks we've been telling you about several lovely locations in the region of Setúbal. Now we want to tell you about one very special location considered by many as simply the heart of this region.

The originality of the scenery and harmony of Man in his environment reveal a perfect integration of the two in a natural and socio-cultural context which surround it.

These chalky hills have the only surviving example of primitive Mediterranean vegetation. Tucked away in the heart of Arrábida's Natural Park, the formation goes back 180 million years. The soil and mild climatic features, considered the best in Portugal, have produced a lush vegetation rich in species. The park covers the Arrábida Hills, which mediterranean-like vegetation and microclimate resemble Adriatic locations.

Although the 50km-long ridge of the Arrábida attains a maximum of only 501m (Alto do Formosinho), the views from the top are truly spectacular, giving the impression of much greater altitude. The strategic position of the Arrábida Marine Park makes it an ideal laboratory to travel for studies on marine biodiversity and climate change.

What to do in the Arrábida mountain?

Beaches: Relax on the sand at Portinho da Arrábida, a delightful small beach nestled in a bay with calm, crystal blue-green water that is excellent for swimming and diving. Make a visit also to Figueirinha, it looks out over the Bay of Setubal and has the beautiful backdrop of the Serra da Arrábida hills. The popularity of this beach is aided by both the ease of access and the calm waters and is suitable for windsurfing at low tide, when a cove is created by a sandbank.
Walking Tours: Travel here and dive yourself into the wild landscapes of the Arrábida mountain on a guided walking tour which offers you a chance to capture the true essence of the region.
Sports: Mountain Biking, hiking, sea kayaking are some of the many sports you can practise here, since the mountain and the bay below offers perfect conditions for these sports.
Jeep tours: This is the most popular safari trip practiced in the surroundings of Lisbon,with stopovers in places for fantastic views of the mountain and the ocean.. Tip: Combine the tour with a wine and cheese tasting.
Photographing: With a beautiful and breathtaking scenery, the Arrábida mountain is the place to travel and to be for landscape photographers.
Arrábida Monastery: Built on 1542 by Frei Martinho de Santa Maria, this monastery is hidden between the lush vegetation. Used by religious orders in the past, it has the "old monastery" with some rooms built inside the rocks and the "new monastery" where later was built the kitchen, library, watch tower and other rooms. The monastery is currently owned by the Orient Foundation, with many cultural events taking place.
Just relaxing: This location is perfect if you're looking for the tranquility and peace that only the contact with nature offers. A perfect place to meditate, relax or just listen to the nature sounds.

And why not combine several activities together to make the perfect holidays?

The Natural Park of Arrábida is an area of excellent views, culture, history and hundred-year-old traditions as well as having an economic importance regarding tourism. Add it to your travel guide!

The nature park (land and sea) is currently being proposed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site and was a "Gift to the Earth" by the Portuguese government through WWF in the International Year of the Oceans (1998).

Visit us on Facebook and watch the video with stunning photos from the Arrábida mountain.

Setúbal's Guide: Travel to Palmela

Palmela is a charming small town centred around a fortified castle at an altitude of 1200 metres at the edge of the Arrábida mountain range, 40km south of Lisbon and 10km north of Setúbal and it's a semi-rural town, right in the middle of Portugal's biggest urban area.

Portugal’s first king, Afonso Henriques, captured Palmela from the Moors in the mid-12th century after a surprise attack on the King of Badajoz. Its past strategic importance is evident given that the views from here are astounding, taking in vast expanses of farmland, the Sado estuary to the south and even Lisbon to the north.

Palmela lies at the heart of one of Portugal’s richest wine growing regions, reflected in the lively local annual festivities and the wines of this region have achieved international awards in several festivals like Bordeaux's.

What to do in Palmela:

• Castelo de Palmela: You cannot come to Palmela without a visit to the famous Palmela Castle. Originally a Moorish stronghold, with magnificent views on a spur of the Serra da Arrábida, the castle was constructed following the reconquest in the 12th century and remains a solid example of fine military architecture of the time. A monastery was also added to house the faithful of the Order of Santiago, and it is this part that has been painstakingly transformed into possibly Portugal’s most desirable pousada.
• Festa das Vindimas: Taking place on the first Sunday of September to celebrate the wine harvest, the town’s annual wine harvest festival (Festa das Vindimas) is one of the liveliest occasions in the region.
• Arrábida National Park: Palmela is also an excellent base for exploring the natural assets of the Arrábida National Park where ancient forests contain much wildlife and the secluded monastery.

As a curiosity, some famous individuals such as Hans Christian Andersen were briefly hosted in Palmela.

Join us on Facebook and see more photos of Palmela.

Bay of Setubal - One of The Most Beautiful in the World

The bay of Setubal was voted a member of the Most Beautiful Bays in the World Club. This cut out estuary is leaned with the buttresses of Serra da Arrábida and separates the Atlantic Ocean by the peninsula of Troia. 23000 ha are classified as natural reserve.

As the most important natural habitat for the conservation of the bottle-nosed dolphin, fulfilling one of the nature requirements demanded by UNESCO, The Bay of Setubal will benefit from added values, notably from the international projection of the city.

Its main aims are to link the city to the river and valorize the environment. In particular the Sado Estuary Nature Reserve and the Arrábida Natural Park, which has unique characteristics and contains species that can only be found in areas near the Mediterranean.

There are also excellent beaches, especially Figueirinha, Galapos and Portinho da Arrábida (a magnificent sheltered bay), And on the other side of the River Sado, within easy reach by ferry, there is the Tróia peninsula with about 18 kms of beaches and a golf course.

Setubal. Beautifully Yours