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.
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