the aldeias do xisto
A unique cultural landscape in Central Portugal. The Schist Villages are the gateway to a diverse range of tourism and leisure opportunities in close contact with nature and the region’s culture.
5,000 km2
27 villages
4 territorial units
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Territorial Units
The Villages are spread across four Territorial Units, reflecting the geomorphological characteristics of these landscapes, as well as the architectural features and urban typologies of this group of villages. Although the territory is mainly made up of schist it is also quite diverse.
Visit & Enjoy
The Aldeias do Xisto are the gateway to a wonderful land with diversified tourism and leisure opportunities in close contact with Nature and the region’s cultural traditions. Every village offers properly certified walking trails. Cycling enthusiasts will be amazed by the variety of mountain biking trails and road routes. In summer, the network of river beaches offers refreshment and tranquillity in the country's purest waters. The shops of the Aldeias do Xisto are well stocked with traditional and contemporary products, which you can enjoy while sipping a cup of tea. Explore our events schedule - there is always something surprising happening here. And, at the end of the day, relax in comfortable village accommodation. When you wake up you will be ready to start all over again.
Create and Learn
The villages are schools, learning spaces where bread, cheese, vegetables, olive oil, walls, houses are made traditionally and where the whole landscape is a book. In the Aldeias do Xisto Villages, tacit, traditional know-how is combined with scientific, technical and artistic knowledge, through workshops, residences and deep immersion projects. The aim is to generate new products and services, prototypes and experiences that enrich the potential to make and market new commercial and strategic links with the market.
Live and invest
The Aldeias do Xisto (Schist Villages) are a brand destination that, over the past few years, has managed to establish a unique enclave within the Central Region, and in the country as a whole, based on tourism, innovation and intuition – a place to live, invest and create. They have done so by always seeking out what is most distinctive and authentic in the landscape and communities, attracting investment and opening the door to projects that start innovating from the very essence of these places. To defend and promote artistic trades, research, creativity and daring, experimentation and life change, in short, the settlement of people, projects and investment, these are the principles Aldeias do Xisto holds closest.
A year-round agenda for the whole family
The Schist villages are cultural heritage made of stones and people, the merging of man and nature where we can return to what is essentially human, where it is still possible to imagine a future that trades egocentricity for ecocentricity. Our events calendar has experiences for everyone all year round, with the same common denominator: bringing people together and uniting different world views, creating bridges between ancestry and modernity, stimulating challenge, immersion and contact. In short, to allow the truly human dimensions of being to surface and reconnect with ourselves through all the senses and emotions.
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What are the Aldeias do Xisto
The Aldeias do Xisto Network is made up of 27 Schist Villages in the interior of the Central Region of Portugal and is a sustainable development project which encompasses the entire region, headed by ADXTUR - Schist Villages Tourism Development Agency. ADXTUR's mission is to generate interest in the region, stimulating sustainable, inclusive and shared social and economic development. The Aldeias do Xisto (Schist Villages) are a brand destination that, over the past few years, has managed to establish a unique enclave within the Central Region, and in the country as a whole, based on tourism, innovation and intuition – a place to live, invest and create.
Aldeias do Xisto have been promoting Portugal’s image externally through the marketing of goods and services produced in the interior of the country and the reinforcement of their eminently rural identity. With a coherent and consistent communication effort, ADXTUR has created a new, positive, forward-looking and innovative collective identity in the Villages. Starting from tourism as the main sector for the implementation of a joint vision, it is also important to act in related areas to support the supply of goods and services, of which the forest, local products, manufacturing industries, mobility and social action, amongst others, stand out.