Expert mountain bike ride. Very good fitness required. Advanced riding skills necessary. Some portions of the route may require you to push your bike.

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2. Eco-Track of Porto de Mós – Pia do Urso MTB Center loop from Cortes

134km

11:41

2,390m

Expert mountain bike ride. Very good fitness required. Advanced riding skills necessary. Some portions of the route may require you to push your bike.

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3. Terra Chã Viewpoint – Rio Maior Salt Pans loop from Rio Maior

30.4km

02:23

500m

Intermediate mountain bike ride. Good fitness required. Advanced riding skills necessary.

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Intermediate

Tips

Cláudio Costa (Trilhos Sem Fim - Leiria)

April 26, 2022

The Salinas de Rio Maior are located about 3 km from the city center and are located in a valley at the foot of the Serra dos Candeeiros, in the heart of the Serras de Aire e Candeeiros Natural Park. Classified as a Property of Public Interest since December 1997, these are the only inland salt pans in Portugal, and the only ones that are fully operational in Europe. The first reference to its existence dates from 1177, but it is thought that the use of rock salt would have been made since prehistoric times.

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May 10, 2025

Salt is extracted from compartments – pits – made of cement or stone, of varying sizes and shallow depths, to which salt water is taken from a well through irrigation channels.

Currently, the water is raised by means of a motor and distributed according to a system that is jointly accepted and respected (not always) by all the owners. The sewers, threshing floors and wooden houses for storing salt complete the set of what is called the Salt Mines of Rio Maior.

According to technicians, a large and deep rock salt mine, crossed by an underground current that feeds a well, makes the water extracted from it salty, seven times saltier than that of the sea. The salt is obtained from its exposure to the sun and wind and the consequent evaporation of the water, deposited at the bottom of the pits, which is then placed in pyramid-shaped piles to dry until it is collected.

The process is rudimentary and similar to that used in the salt mines on the seashore. The only difference is the picturesque valley that surrounds them, the well, the unique style of the sailors (as the men who work in the salt mines are known), the wooden houses and the country air that can be breathed.

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Elevation 130 m

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Sunday 26 October

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Max wind speed: 7.0 km/h

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Location: Rio Maior, Santarém, Portugal

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1. Memory Arch – Rio Maior Salt Pans loop from Batalha

2. Eco-Track of Porto de Mós – Pia do Urso MTB Center loop from Cortes

3. Terra Chã Viewpoint – Rio Maior Salt Pans loop from Rio Maior

Other Popular Places to Check Out

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