Wild Dolphins on River Sado, Portugal

They’re friendly, cute and crazy about children. They’re a family of resident dolphins that live in the Sado estuary called “bottlenose”, a very common specie of dolphins. We all love to see dolphins and for many people the only way to do this is by visiting an aquarium. In Troia in Setubal you have the opportunity of seeing them in the wild all year round.
Each dolphin has been identified and has a name. There are at the moment 3 baby dolphins, 5 teenagers and 17 adults. And how are they identified? Using the appearance of dorsal fins to identify dolphins in the wild. Like a human fingerprint, there are no two dorsal fins that are exactly identical. Each has its own unique shape, height, thickness, and notches.


They are very happy to interact with people so if you’re on a boat trip you might get the chance of having them making you a visit. They’re so happy to see people that when they’re at surface they like to show what they can do like graceful jumps, jumping anywhere from 15 to 30 feet above the water. They use side-flopping and upside-down lobtailing to communicate motivation. They are a font of serenity , uplifting the spirits of everyone around.

Don’t miss the chance to visit this lovely family of wild dolphins when you’re visiting Setubal.
Dolphin Watching Boat Tours
There are several boat tours to watch dolphins on the Sado estuary. You can chose to only watch the dolphins or visit other locations by boat on the same day. A great day for all the family!

For bookings, watch video about it  and more information please contact us : http://www.portugaldreamcoast.com


 

 Coelho´s beach on Arrábida Hills

Very nice and quiet beach surrounded by forest.
Coelho´s beach on Arrábida, Setubal its a small cove paradise situated at the foot of the Natural Park of Arrábida, white sand, gentle and bathing transparent and peaceful.
It has a small bar support and because is small, there era not place for too many people. The access could be direct, via Galapos beach or by boat.
Parking: Outdoor hard, very limited parking.
Hunting underwater fishing, swimming, scuba dive

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We invite you to spend some of your vacations and holidays time visiting Arrábida Hills and Troia. We invite you to visit Setubal and to visit Portugal. Just take your flight to Faro airport or Lisbon Airport, reserve accommodations, hotel, choose a restaurant and activities and welcome to Portugal Dream Coast.

Setúbal Traditional Festivities

We can already smell the Summer in Setúbal Region and the city is organizing the forthcoming Traditional Festivities. On 10 and 11 June besides the parades, you can taste the amazing gastronomy of Setúbal region (Sardines that you will love forsure) , taste amazing wines, drink Moscatel and see the parades at Praça de Touros Carlos Relvas .

The show will start at 10pm with several local clubs that prepared an amazing parade, special for you that will travel to Setúbal . The price of Tickets will be 2,5 € and colours , happiness and funny moments we grant it ! Later, on 18 June , the best ten marches of these two days goes to the finals at Av. Luisa Todi (10 pm).

From 20 June till 4 July, it will be possible to visit an exhibition of the arcs used during the parades on the Traditional Festivities. They will be available at Paços do Concelho .

Travel to City of Setúbal , Gastronomy, Traditional Festivities are waiting you. During the day, we suggest you a visit to Arrabida Hills , Wild Dolphins, a boat tour on Sado Estuary .

Grandola's Chocolate Festival in pictures

Missed the fantastic Chocolate Festival in Grandola? We bring you the tasty pictures first hand!

Check it out:

Chocolate Festival in Grandola

Win 4 days in Setubal!

Portugal Dream Coast would like to thank everyone that follow us and make this project a real dream come true. In order to give a big fat thank you, we’re offering together with our partners* a special prize based on the theme “Dia de S. Martinho” (Saint Martin’s Day) on the 11th November.

Visit the website to know more:

St. Martin's Day Prize Draw (English)

Passatempo Dia de S. Martinho (Português)

Visit Setubal on a bike!

The region of Setubal is wonderful for bycicle rides and also a good way of knowing several locations while feeling the amosphere.

The region offers several options, from luxury bike tours to mountain biking on the Arrabida Hills.

Click below to know more and enjoy your ride!

Setubal Bike Tours

Be the first to know!

Would you like to be the first to receive news and promotions of the region? You only need to sign up our monthly newsletter.

Click on the link below:

Portugal Dream Coast Newsletter

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

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

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.

Prada postcard sunglasses from Setubal

The luxury fashion house Prada is launching by the end of March a limited edition summer collection of sunglasses that represents 6 cities across the world that are a holiday resort and on Prada’s city trip list.

And one of the destinies is Setubal.

Part of the collection "Postcards Sunglasses" with 6 six different sunglasses, the Setubal ones are totally in mat black with a retro design and tinted lenses in vogue this season.

Prada explains why it choose Setubal:

"Setubal has one of the most beautiful bays in the world. And recently they found more then 200 sea species at Arrabida. Setubal is bright yellow facades and balconies jutting out, welcoming. The famous old Mosteiro de Jesus topped with lace patterned stone and the great, colored ships in the port look, from a distance, like bobbing toys.

To celebrate the new Postcards line, Prada unveils a new short audio-tale by long-time collaborator Steven Meisel accompanied by this delightfully quirky fashion prose:

"We were at the seaside

Water the color of a cloudy bottle.
Maybe Forte dei Marmi or Montauk,
Biarritz or Setùbal.
A faded postcard is my sacred relic.
In lavender ink and her loopy hand:

Wish we were here."

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

Your holidays in Setubal

Commemorations of João Vaz's work in Setubal

On the 27th February at Casa da Baia is going to take place the exhibition and conference "João Vaz and Setubal", to commemorate the work of the deceased João Vaz, a well-known painting artist from Setubal.

If you're visiting Setubal and want to know more about this region this is an excellent opportunity, since the strong bond between this artist and Setubal is present in all of his works. Most of his beautiful paintings are landscapes of the region of Setubal: the salt marsh, the bay, Arrabida, but he also has some more urban paintings of the city as well.

João Vaz (1859-1931) had a very distinct technique and was one of the first painting artists using photographs. Surely an event not to miss.

What can you enjoy in Troia

This region has been a major touristic attraction for many years due to its excellent location and many, many options available. Although a touristic place, it is also quiet and peaceful and here you're surrounded by mother nature: from one side you have the Atlantic ocean and white sandy beaches, on the other you have the 500-metre high Arrábida Mountain range, which soon will be considered world heritage due to its beautiful nature reserve.

Here you can breathe in the fragrance of pine groves or also acquaint yourself with the golf course fairways. A unique, unspoilt place offering unforgettable experiences. Here, sky's the limit.

Holidays in Troia can include:

- enjoying the sun in one of the many lovely beaches,
- indulging yourself in a round of golf on some of the most challenging and breath-taking golf courses in the country,
- embark on nature walks or biking on the Arrabida (The Arrábida Natural Park, covering an area of approximately 26,687 acres, has predominantly Mediterranean vegetation, with some rare species unique to the region),
- go on a boat trip and you may be able to see pink flamingos flying above you and lovely friendly dolphins swimming below you. Truly an experience you'll never forget!
- Sailing, diving and kite-surfing are also activities you can enjoy here.

And to end a perfect day in Troia, and before you taste the wonderful Portuguese cuisine, why not watching the sunset on Melides Beach?