Rock climbing in Central Portugal around Lisbon

The climbing screen around Lisbon is very well developed and has the largest concentration of crags in Portugal, including the famous granite bouldering at Sintra. There is also trad climbing on the granite sea cliffs of Cabo Da Roca to the west of Lisbon, and sport climbing on the limestone sea cliffs of Cabo Espichel and Arrabida to the south of Lisbon.  The map shows the location of all these main crags.

Montejunto is located in the cool, fresh mountains and is a great place to visit to escape the hot summer months. These limestone crags offer around 80 sport routes with grades from F3’s to F8’s. Trad routes are found at Casal Pianos where the basalt rock is highly featured with many crack lines that has been compared to a smaller version of Indian Creek by the sea!

Sintra with its palaces and castles, is situated high in a forest in an atmospheric environment that is often cooler than the beaches a few kilometres away. Sintra is famous for its excellent granite bouldering that is spread across 11 different areas with some of the most popular being Malveira, Capuchos, Peninha, and Albarrasintra. The style of bouldering is huge at Sintra, where the granite rock provides an abrasive grip that involves compression moves, insane crimps, technical vertical walls, friction slabs, and some highball problems. In this vast Sintra bouldering area there are 1,300 problems across a wide range of grades from Fb 3’s through to Fb 8b+, with many of the areas having good landings. The definitive Sintra Bouldering Guidebook details these 1,300 problems, and is available to buy from our shop.

There is also sport climbing to be found at Sintra with the largest crag called Penedo Da Amizade. Here the climbing style is all about slabs and vertical walls with many routes graded between F4’s and F6c.

The climbing at Cascais and further north around the coast at Cabo Da Roca is all about sea cliff climbing in great locations. At Guia, near Cascais, it is sport climbing with around 100 routes (mainly F4’s to F7’s) on limestone rock.

The sea cliffs of Cabo Da Roca is all about trad climbing on beautiful orange and yellow granite rock. There are various coves and bays that provide some excellent adventurous climbing. Noiva in the north is home to some of the region’s most iconic multi-pitch routes that are easily accessible. To the south are the Espinhaco and Ponta Atlantica crags offering multi-pitch trad routes up to 120m long. At other crags along this coastline, there are also some single pitch trad routes along with a few sport routes.

To the south of Lisbon are the hills of Arrabida National Park and the sea cliffs of Cabo Espichel near the town of Setubal. Stretched along this rugged coastline are 10 sport climbing areas offering over 700 routes across a wide range of grades. These limestone cliffs are among the best sport climbing to be found in Portugal. The routes at Meio Mango and Fenda are steep with many routes in the F7’s and F8’s, whilst at Azoia the routes are friendlier with many routes around F6.

The Lisbon Climbing Guidebook is a comprehensive guidebook covering the sport climbing and trad climbing around Lisbon. It describes almost 1,300 routes from F4’s to F9a, across 6 major areas covering 18 crags.

The Portugal rock climbing guidebook is a selective guidebook covering the best sport, trad and bouldering routes around Lisbon, as well as the whole of Portugal.

The definitive Sintra Bouldering Guidebook describes 1,300 problems across 11 different areas of Sintra, including the popular Malveira, Capuchos, Peninha, and Albarrasintra areas.

Buy these rock climbing and bouldering guidebooks for Lisbon from our shop.