Designated in 1979

Located in the west-central mountainous area of Portugal, this Park has a minimum altitude of 200 m and a maximum of 678 m in the Aire mountain chain. The Park includes a significant part of the Estremadura limestone mass, the Aire and Candeeiros mountain chains and the Santo António and S. Mamede tablelands. The limestone rock and the absence of waterways on the surface create a unique karst landscape. Of the original flora there are still some specimens left of Portuguese oak Quercus faginea, holm oak Quercus rotundifolia and cork oak Quercus suber in some of the valleys and lower parts of the ridges. In most of the Park, these species have been replaced by holly oak Quercus coccifera and rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis, together with other species of culinary and medical interest and now abandoned olive cultivation. The fauna associated with this environment is also very diverse, including 100 species of nesting birds such as the chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax. The mammals include some outstanding colonies of cave bats. The important dinosaur footprints, 170 million years old, have been classified as a Natural Monument. There are about two dozen tracks in an area of approximately 60 000 m2, the longest one being 147 m (among the longest in the world).

The rocky soil and landscape and the absence of surface water have determined human activities in the area, giving rise to a fragmented land and scattered ownership in which non-irrigated farming is associated with olive cultivation. In fact, olive trees are a dominant element of the non-spontaneous vegetation, as a result of the work of the monks of the Cistercian monastery at Alcobaça, who started farming here in the 17th century. Olive cultivation is associated with the traditional subsistence farming still practised today in the lower areas, going up to 300 m where fertile soil has accumulated. The human presence dates back to Roman settlements – there was a Roman road linking Scallabis (Santarém) and Collipo (Leiria) – although there are remains from the Chalcolithic in some of the park’s caverns. Some medieval castles and Alcobertas church (with a dolmen in one of its side-chapels) give the region a monumental attractiveness. The emergence of industries such as textiles, tanning, stone and clay extraction and intensive cattle raising have led to an increase in the local population, which is currently 32 400, mainly concentrated in the outskirts of the Park.