Fisgas de Ermelo

Ermelo / Mondim de Basto / Parque Natural de Alvao, North Region, Portugal

About Fisgas de Ermelo

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Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

Fisgas de Ermelo has to be one of the tallest waterfalls in Portugal, especially when you’re talking about the mainland.

Situated in Alvão Natural Park in the north of Portugal, the Rio Olo makes several disjoint drops over a cumulative height of a reported 200m.

Fisgas_de_Ermelo_217_06102024 - Fisgas de Ermelo Waterfalls
Fisgas de Ermelo Waterfalls

Given the size of this waterfall, there were many ways to experience it, and we managed to do it in quite a few ways, which we’ll describe on this page.

Indeed, there were a handful of lookouts to witness various parts of this waterfall’s drop, but there were also swimming holes on the Rio Olo in and around the waterfall itself offering the chance to cool off.

While this waterfall can be considered a major natural attraction in Portugal, its remote location (the nearest town of any significant size was Mondim de Basto to the northwest) meant the place was delightfully uncrowded.

In fact, we actually had to earn our experiences with a bit of hiking, and this included a tricky (if the goal is not to get wet) river crossing.

Fisgas_de_Ermelo_152_06102024 - Checking out some of the waterfalls making up the Fisgas de Ermelo
Checking out some of the waterfalls making up the Fisgas de Ermelo

So we’ll delve into exactly how we managed to explore this place to give you an idea of how it can be done with what I think is the minimal amount of effort to properly experience this place.

In summary, we hiked a total of 4.6km (which was really comprised of different excursions in and around the Fisgas de Ermelo Waterfall), and we spent about 4 hours cumulatively away from the car.

The Fisgas de Ermelo Viewpoint

The first way we experienced the Fisgas de Ermelo Waterfall was for the Miradouro das Fisgas de Ermelo.

Although there was a road that goes right to the viewpoint area, I had to hike to that viewpoint due to the road being closed to vehicles.

Fisgas_de_Ermelo_006_06102024 - The Capelinha do Fojo, which was pretty much the starting point of the brief hike to the Miradouro Fisgas de Ermelo
The Capelinha do Fojo, which was pretty much the starting point of the brief hike to the Miradouro Fisgas de Ermelo

Therefore, I started the hike from some parking spaces around the Capelinha do Fojo or before the Centro Interpretativo Fisgas de Ermelo.

From there, I then walked the mostly gentle 1km distance to a switchback or bend in the road.

That was where there were what appeared to be parking spaces, some porta-potties, and an interpretive sign as well as a scrambling area for a more edge-of-the-world view of the Fisgas de Ermelo Waterfall.

At this vantage point, I was able to get a partial view of some of the lower drops of the Rio Olo.

Fisgas_de_Ermelo_052_06102024 - Closer look at some of the tilting quartzite cliffs around the lower sections of the Fisgas de Ermelo
Closer look at some of the tilting quartzite cliffs around the lower sections of the Fisgas de Ermelo

Meanwhile, this part of the waterfall carved into the quartzite cliffs (almost like the countertops you might encounter in a kitchen or bathroom remodel).

However, these “countertops” had a bit of a slanted angle, which made me wonder what kind of geologic processes that took place to make the land tilt that much.

Unfortunately, this was the extent of experiencing the Fisgas de Ermelo Waterfall in this manner because I wasn’t able to get any closer into the gorge for a more intimate experience.

That said, just this teasing taste of the waterfall certainly whetted the appetite to see what else this Portugese giant had in store.

Fisgas_de_Ermelo_039_06102024 - Looking back at the car park and bend in the road where the interpretive sign for the Miradouro de Fisgas de Ermelo was
Looking back at the car park and bend in the road where the interpretive sign for the Miradouro de Fisgas de Ermelo was

After having my fill of this spot, I returned back the way I came though I did see some people continue to hike up the road switchback and make their way towards other viewpoints like the Canhão das Fisgas and Cancela do Miradouro.

The Pioca de Cimas Swimming Hole

The next two ways of experiencing the Fisgas de Ermelo Waterfall can be combined into a single extended excursion.

However, if you don’t really care about exerting more effort for more photo ops of the waterfalls, then visiting the swimming holes of the so-called Pioca de Cimas might be the way to interact with the Rio Olo.

Starting from the Tatouça Trailhead (see directions below), we hiked downhill roughly 350m to a cutoff trail veering further downhill to the left.

Fisgas_de_Ermelo_089_06102024 - Looking in the general direction of Mondim de Basto while hiking the initial part of the Fisgas de Ermelo Trail from Tatouça Trailhead. Notice the Santuário da Senhora da Graça to the topright of this photo
Looking in the general direction of Mondim de Basto while hiking the initial part of the Fisgas de Ermelo Trail from Tatouça Trailhead. Notice the Santuário da Senhora da Graça to the topright of this photo

During this wide open initial stretch of the hike, we were able to witness the town of Mondim de Basto in the distance while also noticing the Santuário da Senhora da Graça atop one of the neighboring hills.

Upon descending the cutoff trail for another 125m, we encountered a series of trail forks.

By the way, you can also not take this cutoff and head towards the Cancela do Miradouro lookout before cutting back, but that would significantly extend the hike by another 500m.

Anyways, at this trail junction, we had the option of keeping to the right, which would descend right towards the Pioca de Cimas.

Fisgas_de_Ermelo_110_06102024 - Approaching the cutoff trail descending to the left in this photo, which was the path we took to get closer to the Piocas de Cima swimming hole
Approaching the cutoff trail descending to the left in this photo, which was the path we took to get closer to the Piocas de Cima swimming hole

Unfortunately, in order to access the pools from that side, you’d have to do a rather daring rock scramble down to the Rio Olo, and then you’d have to find a way to wade across the river at or around some of the tiers of Fisgas de Ermelo.

Indeed, it was a bit sketchy so we opted to keep to the left of the fork and head down towards the Rio Olo that way.

Now during our visit, we did notice a lot of people taking the sketchier path on the right, but I don’t think any of them (or not many at least) were able to access the Pioca de Cima from there.

So as we continued to descend on the left fork path for another 350m, we noticed that there was an informal scrambling path leading right down to the Rio Olo and an apparent crossing of it.

Fisgas_de_Ermelo_141_06102024 - This was the spot where we crossed the Rio Olo while minimizing the likelihood of getting our feet wet (with the aid of trekking poles and Gore-tex hiking boots, of course)
This was the spot where we crossed the Rio Olo while minimizing the likelihood of getting our feet wet (with the aid of trekking poles and Gore-tex hiking boots, of course)

However, we ultimately opted to keep going straight for another 200m more before the trail bottomed out right at a ford of the Rio Olo (where the other side was a road that was coming from the village of Varzigueto).

It didn’t seem like it was possible to cross this creek without getting the feet wet so we eventually went right and followed the bouldery riverbed for yet another 200m before reaching the river crossing that we witnessed earlier on.

At that point, we then crossed the Rio Olo (trekking poles and hiking boots helped me to keep my feet dry, but both Julie and Tahia got their feet wet).

Once upon the other side of the river, we then went another 250m to the ourcrops overlooking the Piocas de Cima.

Fisgas_de_Ermelo_155_06102024 - Looking down at the Piocas de Cima swimming hole, where some of the younger folks were chilling out for most of the day.  Notice the rugged cliffs and rocks to the right side of this photo, which was the scramble we would have had to do if we took the other fork from the cutoff trail
Looking down at the Piocas de Cima swimming hole, where some of the younger folks were chilling out for most of the day. Notice the rugged cliffs and rocks to the right side of this photo, which was the scramble we would have had to do if we took the other fork from the cutoff trail

There were mild scrambling paths descending from the outcrops to the fringes of the plunge pools of the upper tiers of the Fisgas de Ermelo Waterfall.

It was from this perspective that I saw how sketchy the scramble from the other side of the river to access the pools were, and I personally wouldn’t recommend accessing the Piocas de Cima that way.

In any case, I noticed that most people opted to choose to stay at the pools to swim, sunbathe, or just have a smoke or something.

Overall, if we turned back to the car after experiencing the Piocas de Cima, then I’d say the overall distance here would be around 2.4km round-trip involving some mild elevation loss/gain of a little over 100m.

Fisgas_de_Ermelo_167_06102024 - From the Piocas de Cima, it was a pretty short hike following along this line of rope railings to get to perhaps the best view of the Fisgas de Ermelo Waterfall.  So it made sense to extend this excursion just a bit more
From the Piocas de Cima, it was a pretty short hike following along this line of rope railings to get to perhaps the best view of the Fisgas de Ermelo Waterfall. So it made sense to extend this excursion just a bit more

That said, the Piocas de Cima were reasonably close to the best views of the Fisgas de Ermelo Waterfall that I felt it was worth the added effort to properly experience perhaps the best waterfall on the Portugese mainland.

The Alto da Cabeça Grande Viewpoint

While the Piocas de Cima swimming hole would be the destination for many people experiencing the Fisgas de Ermelo, I think the best view of the waterfall comes from the Miradouro de Alto da Cabeça Grande.

It’s not even that much of an extension to the hike from the Piocas de Cima so it was a no-brainer for me to continue with the hike from there to this viewpoint.

So from the Piocas de Cima, I backtracked to the main PR3 trail and continued along it for around 300m before I noticed some signage and spur trails leading back towards the Rio Olo.

Fisgas_de_Ermelo_171_06102024 - Profile view of the Fisgas de Ermelo Waterfall as I encountered what I call a rope railing somewhere downstream of the Piocas de Cima swimming hole
Profile view of the Fisgas de Ermelo Waterfall as I encountered what I call a rope railing somewhere downstream of the Piocas de Cima swimming hole

Thus, I followed these paths for another 50m or so before I reached a lookout with rope railings yielding a profile view of the main drops of the Fisgas de Ermelo Viewpoint.

After having my fill of this spot, I then followed along the rope railings in the downstream direction for another 250m before I reached the Alto da Cabeça Grande Lookout.

This lookout had additional rope railings as well as an interpretive sign singing the praises of Alvão Nature Park.

As far as I was concerned, this should be the turnaround point of the hike because I found that the sanctioned trail didn’t yield any better views than this one.

Fisgas_de_Ermelo_210_06102024 - Context of the Alto da Cabeça Grande Viewpoint and the Fisgas de Ermelo Waterfall
Context of the Alto da Cabeça Grande Viewpoint and the Fisgas de Ermelo Waterfall

So if this was the turnaround point, then the total hiking distance from the Tatouça Trailhead to the Alto da Cabeça Grande and back would be on the order of 3.6km round-trip (maybe 4km if you add all the scrambling and route-finding).

When we did this hike, I would say that we probably spent around 2-3 hours away from the car, but this doesn’t count the time I spent doing the solo out-and-back walk to the Miradouro de Fisgas de Ermelo (i.e. the first section of this write-up).

Other Options

I actually did some additional 425m of hiking as I explored the PR3 trail further downstream of the Alto da Cabeça Grande Viewpoint.

And as I did this, I noticed some other things worth mentioning about this hike and some of the other benefits of extending this hike even more.

Fisgas_de_Ermelo_223_06102024 - Looking back at the PR3 Trail coming from the village of Ermelo towards the Alto da Cabeça Grande Viewpoint
Looking back at the PR3 Trail coming from the village of Ermelo towards the Alto da Cabeça Grande Viewpoint

First, I saw lots of people sweating big time as they did a predominantly uphill hike from the village of Ermelo to the Alto da Cabeça Grande Viewpoint.

The village of Ermelo can be the starting and endpoint of an 8km loop hike that would not only take in all the benefits of how we experienced the Fisgas de Ermelo, but they’d also take in the Piocas de Baixo swimming hole.

I also saw that there seemed to be a lower trail descending from the Panoramica das Fisgas de Ermelo viewpoint, but I’m not sure if the authorities have sanctioned that trail or not.

It certainly didn’t look like there was any signage nor any infrastructure suggesting that you can and should do those trails down there.

Fisgas_de_Ermelo_226_06102024 - This was a taste of what the long uphill hike from the village of Ermelo would look like when approaching the Alto da Cabeça Grande Viewpoint
This was a taste of what the long uphill hike from the village of Ermelo would look like when approaching the Alto da Cabeça Grande Viewpoint

Finally, you may see in the literature (primarily private blogs and/or TripAdvisor reviews) showing some swimming holes backed by two or three impressive tiers of the Fisgas de Ermelo.

Well, it turns out that there’s a direct scrambling path from somewhere between the Alto da Cabeça Grande Viewpoint and the spot with the rope fencing offering a profile view of the waterfall.

I suspect that the authorities put up the rope fencing in order to obscure and discourage doing the steep scramble down to the pools beneath the main tiers of the Fisgas de Ermelo.

So as far as I’m concerned, it’s a case of an unsanctioned way to experience the Fisgas de Ermelo, and it should be treated as a risky excursion that should not be attempted unless you’re comfortable with the risks.

Fisgas_de_Ermelo_238_06102024 - The scramble to the base of this main tier of the Fisgas de Ermelo Waterfall was either too steep, too sketchy, or obscured by roped railings.  I got the hint about the authorities not wanting us to go down there so I didn't bother
The scramble to the base of this main tier of the Fisgas de Ermelo Waterfall was either too steep, too sketchy, or obscured by roped railings. I got the hint about the authorities not wanting us to go down there so I didn’t bother

That said, I’m not sure if there’s an authority figure catching someone doing this and fining the perpetrators, but you never know about things like this, especially if barricades have been erected to prevent such maneuvers by the public.

Authorities

The Fisgas de Ermelo Waterfall is in the Alvão Natural Park near the town of Mondim de Basto in the Vila Real District of the Norte Region of Portugal. It is managed by the Municipality of Mondim de Basto. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Mondim de Basto website.

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Tagged with: ermelo, vila real, alvao, mondim de basto, north region, portugal



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