Penha Sanctuary

The Monte da Penha rises to about six hundred metres above Guimarães and its summit is a chaos of enormous granite boulders, split, stacked and hollowed, with paths, tunnels and stairs threading between and under them - the Gruta de Santo António and other cavities are walked through rather than looked at. Among them stands the Santuário da Penha, a church built between 1930 and 1947 by José Marques da Silva in a stripped modernist manner, granite and severe, deliberately sited so that the rocks crowd it. A cable car of 1995 runs up from Guimarães in about ten minutes, which is the pleasant way to arrive, and the terrace gives the city, the Minho and, on clear days, a long way north. There are picnic areas, a campsite, restaurants and gardens on the summit, and it is where Guimarães goes at weekends.

Highlights

• The boulder field - granite blocks with paths, tunnels and stairs cut between them.
• The sanctuary - a stripped modernist church of 1930-47 set among the rocks.
• The cable car - a ten-minute ascent from the city.
• The terrace view - Guimarães, the Minho and the country north on clear days.

When to go

April to October. Two to three hours. Weekends are busy with local families. The cable car has seasonal hours and closes in high wind.

Things to know

The cable car does not run in strong wind or bad weather, leaving the road as the alternative. Boulder passages are narrow, dark and awkward. The summit is developed with restaurants and a campsite rather than wild. Cloud can close the view.

Nearby

Guimarães castle and the historic centre are below; Braga is west.