About Cascata de Cela Cavalos
Cascata de Cela Cavalos is more of a swimming hole, but it does feature an attractive 10m or so rounded dual-segment waterfall that’s also quite photogenic.
That said, in order to experience this, we had to go on a very unshaded upside-down hike that took us under 3 hours to complete (though we did spend over 30 minutes at the waterfall itself).
It seemed like this waterfall was visited primarily by Portugese-speaking visitors (we met a friendly Brazilian-Portugese couple here) as this place felt quite off the beaten tourist path.
That said, I noticed that not many non-Portugese-speaking people visit Peneda-Gerês National Park (outside of Gerês town) so it wasn’t surprising to us that we only shared this place with a handful of other people.
Our visit happened in mid-June 2024, and as you can see from the photos on this page, the waterfall had a pretty healthy flow.
However, I’ve also read that this place can dry up so like other Mediterranean climate places, it all comes down to precipitation accumulations in the Winter and Spring, and how much time has elapsed since the last significant rains.
Signed Hiking Route to Cascata de Cela Cavalos
Our experience started from a signed trailhead right beneath the M308 Road (see directions below) near the sleepy village of Cela.
From there, we descended along a 4wd road about 500m towards a junction by the Capela de Santa Luzia (a lone chapel in an open agricultural landscape).
During this part of the descent, I noticed some water channels indicating that they were probably diverting some of the Ribeiro de Sela Cavalos for the purposes of allowing cattle to drink or to supply water for the village of Cela.
Anyways, the path coming in from the left came from the village of Cela, which we didn’t get to explore, but it did seem like some people did this trail from that direction as well.
Continuing downhill past the chapel, we hiked another 1.6km in a wide open, unshaded, and quite hot (at least on our mid-June 2024 visit) road past some cow pastures while getting sweeping views of the mountainous landscape around us.
During this part of the hike, we noticed a few fountains or spigots that I believe were meant for cattle to drink.
While the basin water looked stagnant, the dripping water (if it’s flowing) were actually quite handy for putting water on the head for cooling off (especially on the return hike).
Given the length of this stretch of the downhill hike out in the open, we knew that it would be quite the tiring hike on the way back to the car.
In any case, once we got down towards the Ribeira das Cavadas, we reached a bridge over the creek and then a trail junction.
We then went right at this trail junction for the final 100m or so before reaching the Cascata de Cela Cavalos.
At this waterfall there were dual segmented strands each spilling into their respective plunge pools, where the plunge pool on the left was deeper while the one on the right fed more cascades (and was thus shallower).
The slabs of rocks were flat enough for the people who made it down here for some sunbathing, but we definitely had to be careful about our footing because the slabs were quite slippery when wet.
Around the Cascata de Cela Cavalos, I did notice what appeared to be some kind of mill as well as a cross perched above some of the cliffs nearby, but I’m not sure what their significance to this area was.
After having our fill of the falls, we then went back the way we came, which meant the roughly 2.1km hike back was all uphill and quite exposed to the sun (so those spigots came in handy).
Unsigned Hiking Route to Cascata de Cela Cavalos
If you were wondering where the other path went from the footbridge over the Ribeira das Cavadas, well it turned out that it was an alternate trail going back up to a different part of the M308 Road.
I called this an unsigned hiking route because there was no signage suggesting that this path was available.
I guess it’s one of those things where if you know, you know.
The hiking trail was about 500m from the bridge to a junction with an unpaved 4wd road, and then another 600-700m to get up to the M308 Road, where there’s some informal pullout spaces.
Thus, the out-and-back hiking distance of this route would be about 2.4km round-trip, which would cut off about 50% of the overall distance of the excursion.
Although I did see this option on Gaia GPS, I didn’t trust that the trail was a sanctioned one or if it went across private property.
But if we’re fortunate to return here in the future, I’d certainly consider this shorter route.
Authorities
Cascata de Cela Cavalos is located in Peneda-Gerês National Park near the village of Outeiro in the municipality of Montalegre of the Vial Real District of the Norte Region of Portugal. It may be managed by the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests Municipality or the local parish of Outeiro. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Natural.pt website.
Cascata de Cela Cavalos is situated towards the east side of Peneda-Gerês National Park near the village of Outeiro in the municipality of Montalegre.
That said, I’ll describe the driving directions as if we were driving from Gerês since that was where we were staying when we made our visit to this waterfall.
Note that I’ll also describe the directions from Pitões das Júnias since we came from there to get to the Cascata de Cela Cavalos.
Coming from Gerês to Cascata de Cela Cavalos
So from Gerês, the easiest route would be to drive south on the N308-1 Road for about 7km before crossing a bridge over part of the reservoir joining a round-about hooking up with the N304 Road.
Then, we’d take the N304 Road over another bridge over part of the reservoir, and then we’d follow this road for about 1.5km to the M529 connector road on the left.
This single-lane connector road then went uphill for about 1km towards the CM1392 Road, where we veered right at a fork and took that road another 1.8km to the larger N103 Road.
Turning left onto the N103 Road, we then followed it for about 15km before turning left onto the CM1397 Road.
Next, we’d follow the CM1397 Road for about 1km, and then we kept right to continue on the CM1021 for about the next 3km (crossing the reservoir of the Albufeira de Salamonde along the way).
Afterwards, we then continued on the CM1021/M308 Road keeping to the right at the next junction before Cabril, where we’d then follow the M308 for another 7km before the CM1021 became the M308.
Finally, we’d follow the M308 for about 9.5km before reaching the signed turnoff on our right for the Cascata de Cela Cavalos.
Overall, this drive would take us between 60-90 minutes.
Note that the alternate trailhead was about 4km before the signed turnoff for the Cascata de Cela Cavalos, but since it was unsigned, it might not be obvious to know when to slow down the car and stop at the corresponding pullout.
Coming from Pitões das Júnias to Cascata de Cela Cavalos
Coming from Pitões das Júnias, we drove about 2km going east on the M513-1 towards the M513 Road.
Next, we drove about 5.5km south on the M513 to the M308-5 Road at Covelães.
Turning right to go west on the M308-5, we then drove 5.5km to the M308-4 Road in Outeiro before turning left onto the M308-4 Road.
Then, we followed the M308-4 Road for a little over 4km before turning right onto the Rua Barragem/M308 Road at Paradela.
Finally, we drove a little over 5km along the M308 Road towards the signed turnoff on our left for the Cascata de Cela Cavalos.
Overall, this drive took us around 40 minutes.
Note that if we wanted to get to the unsigned alternate trailhead for the Cascata de Cela Cavalos, we’d drive another 4km to the unsigned pullout at a bend in the road to the left.
For context, Gerês is about 43km (about an hour drive) northeast of Braga, 82km (about 90 minutes drive) east of Ponte de Lima, about 96km (over 90 minutes drive) northeast of Porto, 65km (over 90 minutes drive northwest of Mondim de Basto, about 213km (over 2.5 hours drive) north of Coimbra, and 406km (over 4.5 hours drive) north of Lisbon.
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Bottom up hook sweep following both segments of the waterfall as seen from further downstream in front of a lower cascade
Somewhat haphazard sweep from atop a flat boulder right in front of the falls showing both tiers
Checking out both segments of the falls from a more elevated position set back from the boulders
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