Mondego Boardwalks – Passadiços do Mondego | Eurico Oliveira

Intro

Passadiços do Mondego, aka the Mondego Boardwalks, in the Serra da Estrela Mountain range near Guarda, Portugal are a bucket list item for anyone who loves the outdoors. You simply have to do it at least once in your lifetime. The 12 Km is very popular but there are shorter distances as well.

Thanks to the success of the Passadiços do Paiva project, there are an increasing number of boardwalk hiking trails in Portugal. These wooden platforms, built onto the hillsides, allow you to appreciate parts of the countryside that were previously extremely challenging or impossible to walk, especially remote river valleys like the Mondego. 

My friends and I went on an icy but gloriously sunny Sunday in January and were impressed, not only with the feats of engineering involved in creating the boardwalks but also with the level of organisation involved.

What I hadn’t anticipated, having done almost zero research, was that not all of the 12 km trail is boardwalk and there are at least three short suspension bridges to cross. 

Julie Dawn Fox