The Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina is an impressive combination of coast and hinterland that starts in Sines in the north and covers Odeceixe, Sagres and the south west of Vila do Bispo.
It is a wild environment, a rough landscape, where nature and history meet, creating breathtaking sceneries. Since 1995, the region is officially a protected area.
With its 74 786 hectares, the park is the biggest protected area in Portugal.
During centuries, the population lives of fishing, farming and livestock although nowadays, especially in the Alentejo, tourism has a very important role.
In the Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina grow around 750 different types of plant, a medley of Mediterranean, North Atlantic and African flora. Some species are protected and unique worldwide.
The west coast is also one of the main European nesting places for sea and land birds that migrate to Africa and back. More than 200 kinds have been observed, some of them very rare.