About Cascata de Monte Sete (Cascata de Sao Juliao)
Cascata de Monte Sete (also known as the Cascata de São Julião as well as Cascata do Monte Sete) is one of the more impressive waterfalls in the Alentejo Region of South-Central Portugal.
Situated in the Parque Natural da Serra de São Mamede in the Portalegre District of the region, it’s off the beaten path of most tourist itineraries, which tend to focus more on Lisbon, Porto, Sintra, and the Algarve.
Thus, this waterfall seemed to be delightfully lightly-visited while it also provided us an excuse to explore the medieval castles and villages dotting the Portugese-Spanish border (we happened to visit one such place in Marvão).
To our naked eyes, it seemed like the Cascata de Monte Sete was impressively tall, which we could appreciate in the initial parts of the descending trail.
However, as we got closer to the Río Xévora (the river responsible for this waterfall) along its upside-down trail, it seemed like we saw less of its overall drop thanks to the presence of so much vegetation cover during our early June 2024 visit.
Indeed, when we got to the base of the waterfall, it seemed to appear much shorter as the upper parts were hardly visible among the thick vegetation cover so we could only see the lowermost portion of its drop.
According to my Topo maps, the path of the Río Xévora descends roughly 40m.
However, I’ve seen estimates that its main drop could be as little as 10m, which seemed very pessimistic and discounting the taller upper parts that we noticed earlier on in the hike.
Nevertheless, this mountain area on the eastern frontier of Portugal is one of the few parts of the Alentejo Region that can actually get snow, and thus it’s said the waterfall can be enjoyed year-round.
Accessing the Cascata de Monte Sete
While I’ve seen trip reports that it’s possible to drive to the village of Monte Sete and then hike from the village down to the waterfall, we took a different approach advocated by signs in the vicinity.
From the trailhead in an open area atop a plateau (see directions below), we then descended a steep path along a well-defined trail leading down to a network of trail junctions around a picnic area.
This initial descent was roughly 250m long while losing about 40m in elevation.
The trail coming in from the opposite side was a shorter path that came from the village of Monte Sete, which I can’t describe in any more detail because we didn’t go that way.
So veering left to continue the descent, we’d eventually encounter steps leading down to a switchback roughly 130m from the earlier trail junction while catching glimpses of the upper drops or tiers of the Cascata de Monte Sete.
After the switchback, the trail then descended all the way to the banks of the Río Xévora (roughly 100m from the switchback) while revealing more of the upper tiers of the main waterfall along the way.
Once at the banks of the river, it was a little bit of a bedrock river scramble to try to improve the viewing experience of the Cascata de Monte Sete, but I really had to exercise caution given how slippery the rocks here were.
While at the base of the Monte Sete Waterfal, I couldn’t help but notice some kind of building or mill adjacent to the waterfall though I wasn’t sure what it was for.
There also appeared to be some faint trails climbing steeply above the building by the cascade, but they seemed too sketchy to pursue.
After having our fill of the Cascata de Monte Sete, we then backtracked the way we came.
The return hike was pretty much all uphill, which made the overall hiking distance on the order of about 1km with 70m elevation gain.
The entire hike took us about an hour at a leisurely pace.
Authorities
The Cascata de Monte Sete Waterfall is located near the town of Portalegre in Portalegre District of the Alentejo Region of Portugal. It appears that the waterfall is administered by the authorities and/or local landowners of the villages of Monte Sete or São Julião, or the town of Portalegre. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Alentejo Tourism website.
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