Setúbal Peninsula
Costa Azul has the Tagus River (Tejo) as the northern frontier (below the Portuguese capital - Lisbon) and Mira River as the southern. On the west frontier you have the Atlantic Ocean and on the east side, Alentejo and Ribatejoborder most of the area of Costa Azul. The Tourist Region of the Costa Azul represents 5.6% of the country and 7% of the population of Portugal. Throughout the 5100 km² the diversity of landscape and the variety of the environment are most notable.
Arrábida Natural Park
Along the coast between Setúbal and Sesimbra, the Serra da Arrábida stretches up. These chalky hills have the only surviving example of primitive Mediterranean vegetation. Tucked away in the heart of Arrábida Natural Park, the formation goes back 180 million years. The soil and mild climatic features, considered the best in Portugal, have produced a lush vegetation rich in species.
The Arrábida Natural Park was formed in 1976 and covers an area of 10,800 hectares. Setúbal, Palmela, Azeitão, Sesimbra and the sea make up its boundaries. The countryside is hilly and we can find the Serra dos Gaiteiros, S. Luís, S. Francisco, Louro, Risco along with the highest hills, the Serra da Arrábida which stands at 499 metres high. This ends abruptly and cuts into the sea, providing a scene of picturesque beauty with the lush green vegetation and the chalk white face of the cliffs, such beauty which inspired poets.
On the coast, between the sandy beaches and clear water, up above, breeding grounds for birds of prey abound and one can also find a typical maritime flora which extends as far as the Serra do Risco, the highest coastal point of continental Portugal (300 metres above sea-level). In Creiro, around the Pedra da Anicha, an island traced above the sea leads us to the only zoological reserve of the Natural Park, named so because of the value of underwater plant species found there.
Natural Reserve of the Sado Estuary
To the south of the Setúbal peninsula, the Sado Estuary twists to through diversified countryside. Huge rural properties connected to agriculture and forestries, areas rich in fish and seafood, salt pans, urban occupation, buildings of great architectural and historical value as well as dunes, marshes and areas rich in rushes.
The Natural Reserve of the Sado Estuary, created in 1989 covers an enormous area of 23,160 hectares. It was created to conserve nature and preserve values found in and around this magnificent estuary.
From a natural point of view, this protected area presents a huge ecological contribution with vegetation extending as far as the salt water at the river mouth, marshes, loam which comes and goes with the tide and the many species contained therein. One can also find playful dolphins, herons, white swans, flamingos, river birds, ducks, birds of prey along with the European otter and bucks amongst other species which just show the diversity of life in the estuary. In the Botanical Reserve amid the dunes in the Tróia peninsula, the amazing variety of flora from the estuary to open sea is also the object of special protection.
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